ID please...pic attached

[Lox]

:) hello all I was hoping to get an ID here on my long time friend he's been with me a about 2 years and I want a "positive" ID on him. I rescued him from a lfs that had him with a Texas* that almost mangled him to death, he has had his bumps in life as I have...he has fully recovered and happy now :D ...Anywho who I was thinkn from my knowledge maybe a Malawi of a sort? Not an expert on Cichs tho so...What would a female look like of his kind, anyone have any pics of a female opposite to him? Any kind souls could help me out I would greatly appreciate it thank you!
Lox

[MalawiMayhem]

A Melanochromis auratus male....looks like he may be bloated too.

[Lox]

So are you calling him fat? haha just kiddin..lol...My ex use to tell me the same thing when she didn't know how to tell me I needed to lose weight ...lol anyway..TY for answering my que if he does have bloat then he has lived with it all his life for the most part I feed him a pure vegi flake and plankton pellets...when I bought him he was the same way I had heard of "bloat" mainly in African Cichlids and they said it was a possible genetic with him...he acts totally normal, good appetite..don't know what to say...would you recommend anything

[jimez]

Actually, I belive that it is a Melanochromis Chipokae. Close to the same as an Auratus but an Auratus only has the multicoloring on the top half of the tail, not all the way through like yours. Also Chipokae has wider white bands separating the colorbands on the body. A female is bright yellow with white and black bands running the entire length for the body. Your fish started out that same color too but changed as it became older.

[Vip]

i think jimez might be right, i just had a look at my auratus and it has color on the top half of its tale

[SGypsyMermaid]

i would let that fish fast for several days. how often/how much do you feed him?

[StructureGuy]

Originally posted by jimez
Actually, I belive that it is a Melanochromis Chipokae.

Gotta disagree with you on this one. The chipokae male has a much more pointed "snout" than the one in the picture. I guess we will see for sure once the color change is complete.

Kevin

[MalawiMayhem]

Not a chipokae.

What you could do, fast him or feed him less. Overfeeding and bloat are a #1 cause of death in Malawi africans....

[Lox]

Thanks for all the replies I just did a thorough cleaning of tanks today so I'm gonna post some more pics when all stuff settles down, I'll try to get some more angles on him...

Regards to feeding: I feed him 2 times a day everyday, little by little I don't just put a lot food in there cause I don't like cleaning up what the don't eat...So I try to watch each during feeding times...Lately(2 days) he's not been eating as much, he is my indicator in the tank when they need to be feed cause he comes in front of the tank when I walk by and does a come hether "dance." With the water change I just did I will back off a few days, normally though the water changes increase my fishes hunger though. One thing I can say though because this is a shared tank, when I feed BW's he gobbles down alot of them...one more thing his belly is huge relative to his body but he gets around good...

Regards to his color: 1 major thing that I notice since I've had him is he is losing more vividness in his colors meaning they are becoming more drab like, is this maturing? He use to have some sweet turquise lining running up the top fins and lower fins, seems like they are kinda disappearing...

Ok I need to set up the lighting for some pics if can clear out the gonk floating in the water by this evening I will post them tonight and see if you guys can get a better look...Thanks again to all..
Ciao

[MalawiMayhem]

A word of caution

if you are feeding your africans everytime they do a 'hether dance' then you are definately overfeeding them! Africans always seem hungry. They almost always dance in front of the tank begging for more food even though their bellies are stuffed! Don't give in. Feed them less.

Also, lay off the bloodworms...a major cause of bloat in africans...especially mbuna.

Just warning you because many have learned the hard way.

[SGypsyMermaid]

Originally posted by Lox
With the water change I just did I will back off a few days, normally though the water changes increase my fishes hunger though.

it won't hurt them to be hungry for a few days...and your fish need to fast a little. just ignore the begging--they're just greedy.:lol:

[Lox]

more angles

[Lox]

left side

[Lox]

I guess I should say why I wanted a postive ID on this fellow...Well I have a long resume of the fish I have reared over a 10 yrs period..I never did get into Africans Cichlids up until recently...But out of all the fish I have bred and reared this has to be the most charismatic guy I have had...I always say to friends and relatives its as if he wants to talk and shout "look at me, look at what I can do.":D He's a great fish so I just wanted to know exactly who he was in the idea of getting a future one...Now with the idea of possibly havin' bloat I will really moniter him closer...He is know officially fast for a period of days...:lol: thank you guys for responding with all the know how you could give me...
I don't know the posting rules here so I will just put 3 pics up...

[lisa1404]

looks like a rounder version of my guy, will try to get a better pic for you!