african cichlid ID

**Cm25fl** · 01-13-2012, 05:42 PM

hello everyone this is my first post on here woohoo!

so anyway i was at my lfs and i picked up this fish the other day.he came out of the "assorted african cichlid tank" he has a nice iradescent blue color and a yellow spot on his anal fin.any ideas on what he is?http://i1261.photobucket.com/albums/...fl/cichlid.jpg

**kaybee** · 01-13-2012, 09:33 PM

Looks like a juvenile cobalt blue zebra (metriaclima callainos), a type of mbuna originating from Lake Malawi.

What size tank is it in and what are the tank mates?

**Cm25fl** · 01-13-2012, 09:37 PM

It's a 46 gallon bowfront with a red terror,green terror,gold gourami,angelfish,red line shark and a blue lobster. Everybody is a juvenile and surprisingly passive.

**Old Marine** · 01-25-2012, 09:10 PM

Cobalt blue would be my guess allso.

**nikelodeon79** · 01-25-2012, 10:15 PM

I would get that poor gourami out of there to start with.. I'm afraid he'll be horrendously picked on.

**rangur1** · 01-31-2012, 08:54 AM

the red terror will kill every fish in that tank its only a matter of time. a year perhaps 18 months.

**sheamurai** · 01-31-2012, 11:34 PM

Welcome to AC! Glad to have ya.

I don't generally like to weigh in too negatively on peoples stocking - people have what they have and don't generally like to hear that it won't work, but above posters are correct in saying that for the long term you don't really have a copacetic tank.

The reason everyone is "surprising passive" IS because they are juvenile. Once fish start maturing - especially in that size of tank - you are going to see some problems. You might start looking up some of those fish and find out what their temperaments are like. At the very least, decide which are your favourites now, so if you start to have problems you have a Plan as to which ones you are going to focus on keeping, and which you can rehome.

I hope you stick with AC, even tho you might not like what you are reading!