name the mbuna

[krystalsohun]

ok guys so i havent been on in what seems like ages. well im baaaack lol so not sure if anyone remembers but i had tried to get an all Johanni tank. i went to two seperate lfs and got what i thought was 14 blue johanni juvies. well thats what they looked like and were labeled as in the lfs. after putting them in my tank however they colored up more and now im not so sure what i have. so are we ready to play name that mbuna?

okay subject #1 this fish is the trouble maker. when being aggressive it turns blue.




#2 Yellow Trouble maker in training. when being aggressive the colors just get brighter






#3 i have a couple of these. they have horizontal and vertical stripes and really get vibrant when being aggressive





#4 i have the most of these. pretty sure theya re the johannis but not positive. they also are by far the least aggressive








so what do you think i have guys?

[Cichlid76]

Not cerain but the first fish could be labeotropheus trewavasae chilumba.
The third photo is melanochromis vermivorus aka purple mbuna.
The rest look like melanochromis cyaneorhabdos aka maingano to me rather than johanii. Johanii females are different colours to the males.

[krystalsohun]

Thanks for the feed back Cichlid :) i think your right about the maingano. see thats how i got suckered lol when they were in the lfs tanks there color wasnt the greatest and i thought the ones that were kinda yellow where females *DOH* but im still not positive about the other three spieces in there. im pretty sure the two yellows arent the same spieces but again im obviously lost in my adventure into africans lol

[Cichlid76]

Personally I prefer maingano to johanii but that's just because I already have electric yellows in my tank & didn't want the Yellow females of johanii.

The yellowish fish you have definitely are not maingano females & I highly doubt they are johanii females either. Maingano females are the same colour as the males but have a lighter coloured stomach, female johanii are usually quite a plain yellow perhaps with a few faint stripes. Sometimes johanii females can have different colours but not often. My best guess would probably be the Trewavasae. If not then it's a cross breed probably & would be very difficult to positively ID.

[rangur1]

the blue striped fish really look like mainganos. i have not seen the larger silvery one before personally. lab rat is the one to ask. she is a better authority than i am.