Astatotilapia latifasciata male

[Malawi Eye Biter]

Hi

I require some advice about my Astatotilapia latifasciata male. He is a beautiful fish, black with red highlights - really stands out from the crowd.

In my 150 gallon tank, I have 9 Astatotilapia latifasciata. The male to female ratio is 4 males and 5 females. This is a bit high, I know and is part of the reaon I need advice about this.

My little black male is the dominant fish, even though the other 3 males are much larger than him. You can see from the pictures that the other males don't have much coloration when compared to the dominant male. He breeds a fair bit with the other females aswell whereas the other ones don't. When I first bought the male as a juvenile, he was much darker with more colour than the other ones aswell, even from a young age.

Do the other larger males get this dark aswell? they are silverish with yellow and a small patch of red like most of the pictures I see on the web, whereas the dominant one is dark all the time.

I am considering reducing the male population side of things as the dominant male, being smaller is sustaining some injuries, especially around the mouth from fiighting so much. What ratio would be good and do the other males colour up at all? (hoping the answer isn't that I need to remove all the other males)

This picture shows the size comparison of the smaller dominant male to a larger male
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This one is a colour comparrison

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And this one shows some damage he is getting around the mouth area from fighting. He is still in good health at present though.

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Thanks

[StructureGuy]

It is my opinion that you have a hybrid and not a pure Astatotilapia latifasciata. The body shape and color isn't quite right. The body should be more elongated and the mouth should not be as pointed as the one in your pictures. It looks like it might be a Haplochromis sp "thickskin" (aka sp #44) and A. latifasciata mix to me. That might help to explain his more aggressive temperment as well.

Kevin

[Malawi Eye Biter]

Thanks for the advice. I hadn't thought about it being a different species or hybrid as they were all in the same tank when they were sold to me. He is defintely more aggressive than the others. I had a look at the thickskin and my one is curiously darker around the dorsal fin than the photos I have seen. He also has a touch of green.

Having researched a bit on the web, I have seen some pictures of Astatotilapia Nubila and they look a little similar.

Here is a more detailed picture of the fish in question when he isn't agro - you'll notice that he sort of takes on a greenish tinge below the dorsal fin but when he's agro, it all goes black.
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Cheers

[StructureGuy]

Astatotilapia latifasciata below;
http://www.cichlidforums.com/gallery/data/505/medium/100_1767.jpg
http://www.cichlidforums.com/gallery/data/505/medium/2009_0118011909vics0006.JPG
Elongated body & red at the bottom front of the (male) fish.

Haplochromis sp #44
http://www.cichlidforums.com/gallery/data/505/Astatotilapia_Sp_Redtail02.jpg
http://www.cichlidforums.com/gallery/data/505/Astatotilapia_Sp_Redtail03.jpg
Bulkier body (with age) & red dorsal fins and black or gray below the dorsal plus pointier mouth

Astatotilapia nubila
http://african-cichlid.com/Nubila3.jpg
All black with red on fins but not even a hint of stripes

Kevin

[Malawi Eye Biter]

OK thanks, you are spot on - he looks like the one from the fourth picture down. Guess I got a surprise package when I bought him!

[Jeff F.]

Here's another picture of one of mine. They're very beautiful fish. I've been on vacation for a few and need to get mine sorted. I've got some juvies starting to show some nice color that I'll be selling pretty quick here.
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o34/wildchild692007/2009_0408040809fulu0003.jpg

[Malawi Eye Biter]

Nice fish,very striking colours. I like how their colours can change so dramatically depending on their mood. When they are juvies they are dark but the other colours show through a bit more when they get older. Even as a juvie, my one was quite dark. My little fella is half to one third the size of some of my other fish, but he's still become the boss of the tank.:rofl2:

[ga_cichlids]

Some pet stores buy off customers and some customers keep their vics in the same tank, and I've heard some of the less reliable fish farms do the same think. I've seen some awful crosses that some pet stores took from customers. My male A. latisfasciata is larger than my females, in my experience most females won't mate with smaller males, but the males grow fast to overtake them.