herefishiefishie

I have read about plastic sexing... But this takes the cake http://www.sbs.com.au/topics/science/nature/article/2016/03/24/female-fish-grew-testicle-and-made-babies-all-herself Frenchy

lol... joys of cichlids. Interesting behaviour... If a male, will go with hybrid then. Re lack of colour. Females can be stroppy. You can try vent sexing... By the time you do this with the Julie too, be good practice lol Frenchy

Julies are lovely & yes can be pains... but if you get a couple to pair up. Everything comes up roses. Femals tend to be bigger. Hence usually you buy 5 or 6 as juvies, grow up & let nature take its course. The sure way, is to vent sex... http://www.fishhead.com/articles/ventsex.htm There is a pic in there, showing Julies. You can then at least know what you have & then try to find the other. How big is your tank? Caue you can try to find anther 3 or 4 of similar size & add to the tank. Either way, before introducing. Break down the tank, take out resident julie. Re set up tank, place in new ones & then the resident one. Here is a good read http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/j_marlieri.php What you have is either a marlieri or transcriptus... or a cross of both. Either way, the article is a good one to read. Frenchy

Not out! I mean good Really hard to call this anything. Easy to say it isn't an Electric Blue. If they call them the same thing in NZ, as Aussie lol Really is hard to ID anything of certain, with some types of Cichlids. Especially with little colouration. Has Nero ever had any colour, I say Nero is a female. & cheers re moniker Frenchy

Can you possibly take a better photo? Frenchy

I won't read the comments here... Hybrids are bad for the hobby. Posts from years past, answer why. Reasons give, have only be proven right, in the years since! Frenchy

Ryan, you have cut back? Johannes, of course the rift lakes are the way forward. Good Luck with the search. Ira, dude... I am glad some have stuck to the dark side Frenchy

Oh, nothing wrong with that... Problem is if I keep looking at photos of them & talking about em... MTS could settle in again :roll: Frenchy

Interesting, I know Tangy Cichlids don't like water temp increases. When they mention all the possible outcomes, the mind wonders. Then you read the comments, :cofn: the increase in fishing, boats, people, open limit... The North is that heavily fished, the boats are forced to move south. Take out the main predator of a Lake & the sardines.... well :facepalm: Hello Caryl :bggrn: Frenchy

http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2013/03/07/warming-lakes-climate-change-threatens-the-ecological-stability-of-lake-tanganyika/ Frenchy

I am on the Gold Coast... Join this page,http://www.aceforums.com.au/ based in Sydney. Be a better & cheaper option. Not sure of quality LFS down there. PM Motorman, he lives there now. Frenchy

Need a like button lol Frenchy

Thank You. Could say I had a very bad Alto fetish :bggrn: Frenchy

Let me see if I can list them all lol I have kept a few variants, lucky in 2004. The LFS I worked at was well connected in Back Door actions & Altos happened to be coming in. White "Chaitika",(There is talk now, that some of these are hybrids, a lot of "grey" ones around. Black(old skool, no variant or location name) Can't believe I don't have a pic of one. Congo Black Pearl Calvus. We have "Yellow Calvus" floating around, but they are hydrids. I bought 2 to prove a point, as you can guess. That debate got heated over here :lol: As you can see, they both are different looking & show a lot of Compressiceps shape. Main fish in both shots. Comp wise, Standard,(Old skool, no variant or location name) Gold Heads"Mutondwe",(pic in earlier post) there is I believe another Gold Head, different yellow in head & doesn't get blue lips. Red/Fire Fins, believe "Kigoma" Male Female She laid in that Sumbu, little dwarf alto. (little compressiceps in first pic) & here Mixed group growing up Joys of barnacle shells, you can see the eggs, fry.. White Calvus fry at 2 months old Yes, slow growers May be more variants around now, but I haven't really kept on top of it over last few years. Frenchy

Try & find someone who has line bred them for quality & or specific features. Just because the lineage is old, doesn't mean there won't be nice ones out there(hopefully lol) Plenty of not so nice ones here in Aussie too. But plenty of pretty ones Frenchy

After seeing some of these photos, I am thinking the same. I just set up a tank with Neolamprologus similis Seen some whites at a shop, could just throw a couple in. Then there won't be any similis fry. Frenchy

ps; for those lookinf at breeding. Shells can be a health hazard to females. Try & source barnacle shells. Worked the best for me. Mutondwe Comp White male & female with barnacle shell Frenchy

What is the go with the yellow in the female? odd Frenchy

Ryan hit the nail on the head... If its an aggro tank, usually take the tank apart, add new fish in timing with gravel vac.. feed all the fish as I add new ones in. Usually the food distraction is enough. Or just get fish down one end with food & place newbies down the other end Frenchy

Your problem is fish are chasing like type of fish. ie; Kadango can fight with Steveni, Red Empress etc. Electric Blues, can fight with peacocks, azerus.... excuse spelling. Victorian cichlids can just be buggers full stop. Have had problems like this in the past with cichlids as they have grown. Males are mature/ maturing, trying to claim part of a territory. & will chase away males of same/similar looking species. This electric blue I had one time, best looking bast ard... he wanted this one cave & the half tank it was in. Face cave in, put big rock in front. Take him out for a week..... :facepalm: You can try moving around rock work, taking out the odd fish. I have tried smaller Kadango to replace larger one, as I have with electric blues. With varying results. I found the best way with mixed tanks. Is find a few species I liked that were pretty timid. Aceiis, Yellows,{keep as colonies & at least with these, males & females are nice} then mixed in the odd different nice fish of different types. Good luck. Can be frustrating indeed! Frenchy

U should be right & be quick. I had some Melanochromis lepidiadapte that didn't care about the net at all.... lil buggers Frenchy

I had a yellow & dem tank too, nice contrasts. Frenchy

oh Shelley, look up sealord1au on the forum... good fronnie breeder. F1 moba fry, $100. Frenchy

Cool to see some Fronnies in NZ.... good luck to all in raising them, breeding etc... Well Shelley, I can ask around for you & see what I can get through wholesaler & see if any breeders are going & sorry to suggest a forum on another forum... but it is in Aussie... have a look on here, or ask away. Be cheaper than retail... http://www.qldaf.com/forums/forum.php Frenchy

Shelley, you do know I am just down the road & if you are variants of Fronnies to just ask me & I can get in contact with breeders who I know went straight to wholesalers... & in one case, picked them out for himself. Hope its all going well for ya up there too. ps; I understand a person not wanting to post pics of his fish, especially with talipia in its name too. I know a few secretive fish keepers, then again, when I had my stunning white calvus & got them breeding I liked to show them off lol Hope the snow isn't effecting all the fish keepers in kiwi land too Frenchy