Haplochromis Blue Neon Auction

[SGypsyMermaid]

anybody know anything about these beauties? i'm so excited about winning this auction!:dance:

http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/closed.cgi?view_closed_item&fwcichlidsv1060354542

[SGypsyMermaid]

http://cichlidae.netliberte.org/CICHLIDS/redtail.htm

[SGypsyMermaid]

i've also seen it labelled "astatotilapia sp. blue neon", but still can't find much info on it. i'm going to order the back issue of cichlid news where it's called by this name.

[merlyn2221]

It certainly seems nice looking.

Looked at that auction myself. Good luck with them and let us know more when you find out about them.

[samak]

hi to you, blue neon is the Haplochromis red tail sheller, a molluscivorous species found in the Kenyan shore(Hippo point or Mbita point)it reach to a 14 cm long size and seems close related to H."Platytaenniodus"degeni.
Chris

[SGypsyMermaid]

i think that my trio has turned out to be 3 males.:( but i have 3 more coming next week...hope there's a female in the bunch. hey kevin b., do you have any good pics of your females?

[StructureGuy]

Sure, (but Astatotilapia sure looks wrong)

http://www.african-cichlid.com/BlueFireFin.htm

female:
http://www.african-cichlid.com/RedTailShellerF350J.jpg

Dominant male with subdominant male:
http://www.african-cichlid.com/RedTailShellerM350H.jpg

Right after the blue rock kribs, this is my favorite victorian!

Kevin

[SGypsyMermaid]

your pics confirm it--3 males! bummer.:bawl:

[z rock]

Anything I might know about Victorians would've come from here.
http://www.theaquariumexchange.com/vcichlids.html
Maybe It won't be some kinda wise guy ERROR page!

[SGypsyMermaid]

LOL! yes, i'm familiar with sean's webpage.:)

[SGypsyMermaid]

kevin, the second group that i got looks like yours, but the males don't look exactly like the males in my original group. what was the name that they were sold to you under?...i think that they may have been properly labelled after all, and are not red-tail shellers. my original group has a steeper slope to the head...the new ones have a very slight "nuchal hump" which is apparent in your pics.

[StructureGuy]

Mine were sold to me as Hap "blue fire fin" but I'm fairly certain that mine are Hap "red tail shellers". Go to Greg's (GAS) web page and look at one of those pictures and see what you think. To be honest, all the pictures that GAS has under "blue fire fin" don't look like the same species to me. Also Larry C. (AfraBoy) has some Hap "fine bar scrappers" that look a bit similar to the "blue fire fins" too.

Kevin

[SGypsyMermaid]

i couldn't find his pics of the red tail shellers...maybe he took them down? site's been re-vamped since i last saw it.

[SGypsyMermaid]

this is what my original group look like when not colored up...notice the thicker bar and the uninterrupted slope to the head.
http://www.victoriancichlids.de/hrts.htm

[SGypsyMermaid]

i'm finding a lot of fish that look like hap. sp. "blue bar" labelled as red-tailed shellers.

[SGypsyMermaid]

ugh!!! i'm getting that lake-victoria-taxonomy headache, again! the second group displays vertical bars in addition to that horizontal line!

http://www.victoriancichlids.de/hrts.htm

EDIT: i just noticed that you already had this discussion on gas' forum.:oops:

[StructureGuy]

My males display a very different intensity of blue & red color in different moods. When breeding or fighting they are almost black and the red gets brighter. They can also look either bright blue or dull grey. In the picture (with two fish), the dominant male is darker and in the background and the lighter colored one is the subdominant male in the foreground.


Originally posted by SGypsyMermaid my original group has a steeper slope to the head...the new ones have a very slight "nuchal hump" which is apparent in your pics. Nuchal hump? Mine don’t have even a hint of a nuchal hump. You aren’t referring to the eyeballs on the opposite side of the subdominant male in the foreground of the picture, are you


Originally posted by SGypsyMermaid I couldn't find his pics of the red tail shellers...maybe he took them down? site's been re-vamped since I last saw it. Oops, my mistake. I meant the blue fire fin picture on that site. But Greg has removed the picture I was referring to very recently.


Originally posted by SGypsyMermaid ugh!!! The second group displays vertical bars in addition to that horizontal line! I’ve never seen even a hint of vertical bars on any of mine. The biggest difference I see is that Stan’s red tail shellers are a bigger bodied fish. Mine are very elongated.


Originally posted by SGypsyMermaid i'm finding a lot of fish that look like hap. sp. "blue bar" labelled as red-tailed shellers. I’m not sure how anyone can make that mistake other than the similarity of the name itself. The Haplochromis sp “Hippo Point blue bars” are not even similar looking at all.

Kevin

[SGypsyMermaid]

"Nuchal hump? Mine don’t have even a hint of a nuchal hump. You aren’t referring to the eyeballs on the opposite side of the subdominant male in the foreground of the picture, are you"

yes, i guess that's what it is, but in any case, it is a difference between the fish...a much larger, or differently placed eye. on the fish in my first group when viewed from the same angle, the top of the eye would not be visible. i haven't been able to get my camera to work with xp, but if i get some time, i'll try to get some pics.