MarkLB Posted June 30, 2007 Report Share Posted June 30, 2007 Hi all. I bought the parents of this fish some time ago from a LFS as Melanochromis Johanni. Judging from the pics in books and online and the comments I have read on this forum I have doubt. Is he Johanni or something else? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freakyfish Posted June 30, 2007 Report Share Posted June 30, 2007 Definalty not a Johanni Not sure exactly yet might have to do some research Looks elongatus to me but not sure Brad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
herefishiefishie Posted June 30, 2007 Report Share Posted June 30, 2007 It is not a johanni. Wonder if someone kept demasoni & johanni in the same tank. :roll: Can anyone else see the 2 fish species in the one in pic. :-? ps; Don't research to hard Brad. Good money on hybrid. Frenchy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkLB Posted June 30, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 30, 2007 Thanks for the replies. 'Hybrid' was the answer I was worried about. The fish in the pic and his sister have recently spawned but I think she has eaten her eggs. I could post a pic of her if anyone thinks it will help ID'ing. I have no desire to increase the hybrid population of Christchurchs Cichlids. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smidey Posted June 30, 2007 Report Share Posted June 30, 2007 the word hybrid aside, not a bad looking fish though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Afrikan Posted June 30, 2007 Report Share Posted June 30, 2007 Yeah as the guys said definately not Johanni.. Just out of interest, what colour is the female you have? In the past when Johanni shipments are brought in, they usually have Golden Johanni (of which are female) and Blue Johanni (which are the coloured up males) but more recent shipments (in the last year or so) it's a case of argggh what are they bringing in..?? :roll: That's why I won't now buy anything that comes in labelled Johanni, because the shipments coming in recently are seeming a bit of a worry. Markings on a Johanni should be horizontal not vertical, here is a bad pic of a male I have. And here is a pic of holding female I have, females are yellow... and she will get a horizontal smudging through the body when she is in breeding mode... as you can see in pic. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkLB Posted July 1, 2007 Author Report Share Posted July 1, 2007 Heres a pic of the female. She was holding several days ago but I've seen her eat today so shes eaten the eggs. the word hybrid aside, not a bad looking fish though. He is a looker. And hes the boss Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Afrikan Posted July 1, 2007 Report Share Posted July 1, 2007 Yeah she is definately not a Johanni female either... the female Johanni can vary from a light yellow to a deep buttercup orange yellow... your females colouring is not like a Johanni female and she also has major vertical banding and also the body shape is alot different to Johanni, the fish you have are alot bulkier as in deeper in body also, where as the Johanni are bullet shaped. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
herefishiefishie Posted July 1, 2007 Report Share Posted July 1, 2007 I agree with above comments. Still a beautiful looking fish. Frenchy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Afrikan Posted July 1, 2007 Report Share Posted July 1, 2007 Yeah the male is a beautiful boy, awesome for a nice display tank Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarkLB Posted July 1, 2007 Author Report Share Posted July 1, 2007 Thanks for the input ppl. Its seems its another case of an LFS selling fish of unknown parentage or incorrect name and a newbie (me) :oops: not doing enough research before handing over my money. Still , as has already been said, he is a beautiful fish and I enjoy watching him rule his domain. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted July 1, 2007 Report Share Posted July 1, 2007 Yeah that is one very impressive male! I can see demasoni in it too, and some sort of melanachromis but guessing wont achieve anything we will never find out what it is guess its just best to know if its pure or not.. Hopefully he doesn't too aggressivly defend his domain and breed with everything! Unfortunatly the importers dont care or know what they're bringing into the country I was having a chat with one of the guys at one of the shops in wellington the other day. He was really upset about having a tank full of crappy fish that he doesn't believe the importers id of but its all they can get and its not intirely their fault, at least he was into his fish enough to take the ones he didn't believe the id of and chuck them into another tank and he doesn't mix peacocks etc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Navarre Posted July 1, 2007 Report Share Posted July 1, 2007 Hi there, these fish (the first Picture) are often sold as M. Johanni in many of our local shops but are in fact M. Interuptus (sp?) I have breed these for some years and have researched them quite a bit. You dont have a hibrid by the looks of it, it is very close to my fish. They are easy to breed resonably placid and make a good display as do most of these sub species. The female is anything from a pale "pink" thru to a butter yellow but has vertical banding not horizontal as in Johanni. Males can colour up from about 2 1/2 inches and will spar with each other even in a community tank. If you want to know more send please let me know HTH Navarre Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted July 1, 2007 Report Share Posted July 1, 2007 I dont know if id go for pure interruptus going from the pics here http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/s ... php?id=758 but I have never seen or kept what I can guarantee are pure interruptus so I dont really have anything to compare it to and pics can be misleading, certainly looks very similar. Hopefully someone else who's actually kept these fish can shed some light on the situation, I know there have been alot of random thinks sold as johanni recently and most of them seem to colour up with vertical barring but not as many as the pic of the fish shown? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
herefishiefishie Posted July 1, 2007 Report Share Posted July 1, 2007 I don't think it is Melanochromis interruptus. Sorry Navarre. The female pictured looks nothing like the females I have seen. Usually females are clean, yellow or orange, not dull brown. & also the females fins are clean, yellow, orange or clear. This is the first I have seen where the pelvic fins are black. Sorry maybe I have only ever seen high quality ones. The head shape is different to that of a melanochromis too. Brad laughed at me for thinking it could be a cross breed, as of head shape. My point was maybe it got the head shape from a pseudotropheus. As mentioned barring to, usually interrupts don't have so many & not that clean/defined. My guess is the interruptus name has been given to those that don't look like johanni, {had this discussion here before} therefore they give them a name of something they look like. We have plenty of johanni here like that in Aussie. In fact Narvarre, johanni do get vertical barring. It is called to much breeding with limited stocks, bad gene lineage etc. Very common from imported asian stocks too. I still remember Brad saying when he first started, he thought all johanni had this. Didn't realise that good ones only have horizontal lines. From what I have been told, fish have never been imported into NZ under the name M. Interuptus. Therefore how can you say they are then? Frenchy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freakyfish Posted July 1, 2007 Report Share Posted July 1, 2007 I laughed at you? well I did but nothing to do with Cross breed or not I just dont see the Johanni in it Gee and you complain I dont listen to you Definalty not Interruptus or Johanni though Its just got more of an elongatus look to me still Most likely a Hybrid though Brad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
herefishiefishie Posted July 1, 2007 Report Share Posted July 1, 2007 That is right because head shape & thickness of body. I didn't say what you thought it was. Brad laughed at me for thinking it could be a cross breed, as of head shape. But I do think it has johanni in it. Frenchy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Navarre Posted July 2, 2007 Report Share Posted July 2, 2007 Hi There, I have thought about this all day. And I have to say I was a bit put off by the way some people reponded to the information I put up in this topic. I dont want to offend anyone and I am certainly not the most experienced keeper here, but I do have to say that I am a little disapointed at some of the replies. My females have clear bodies and "bar" up when breeding, they have clear yellow fins with a black and white edging. The Males are nothing like the Ps. I have kept in head shape, and have interupted blue and blackish banding not clear stripes like what has been suggested. The original fish were sold as M Interuptis and I saw the parents of these fish. Off which I brought fry. They have continued to reproduce true to type for some time now. Even with Mendal on your side that does not happen with hybrids. As for them not coming into NZ well neither have Paradise fish nor electric yellows but they are still here despite not being on the list...as are many of the Melanachromis family. And several other africans, parrots and reptiles which many of us know about. I can almost certainly tell MarkLB where his fish came from if he brought them in the last 6 mths and I am happy to show him the ones in my tank that share a common genetic background. I guess what all this comes down to especially with the lists being tightened all the time is that we have to trust what people tell us even if we have to research it a little ourselves, because we can not always trust what fish are labeled as in shops. as is discussed regularly on this list. In reference to my eariler post LFS in the CHCH area are still selling both these "types" as Johanni. Once again I dont mean to be rude about anyones opinion And I am sorry about the length of this post but I was/am only trying to help. Navarre Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
herefishiefishie Posted July 2, 2007 Report Share Posted July 2, 2007 Why are they selling them as Johanni then? As for lists, my comment meant that the contacts I have that have seen fish come in have never heard of Interruptus coming into the country. Sure they wouldn't of seen everything that has come in. Then again, none of the fish I have are on legal import lists. {as in what comes into the country via a "normal" wholesaler. {My comment in previous post}Fish may not be still on lists, just what I have been told about what is seen bought into the country by importers. I think you may well have interruptus, be cool if you do. What we are talking about here is the persons fish & photos we are going by, not yours. Although I see how my previous post would of looked doubtful. The female in the pic looks nothing like an interruptus.{reasons given earlier} As for the male as mentioned earlier, the stripes, head shape & body shape are not consistent with an interruptus. Maybe you can place pics of yours then Navarre. I bet there is a difference to the ones here in question. Frenchy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Afrikan Posted July 2, 2007 Report Share Posted July 2, 2007 I have never seen Interruptus on the lists, well the suppliers up this way anyway, not sure on South Island.. What supplier brought in Interruptus? Where did you get your stock from Navarre..? some pics would be cool... 8) I can see the points that Frenchy made.. and he was just being helpful, no offense intended I am sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiden Posted July 2, 2007 Report Share Posted July 2, 2007 Maybe Navarre is merely saying that they brought some "johanni" and through some research they turned out to resemble "interruptus" and not "johanni" since they didn't actually say that they brought "interruptus" and that shops sell both of them as "johanni"?....ummm..... ok that sounded clearer in my head.....oh well...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted July 2, 2007 Report Share Posted July 2, 2007 I find it hard to believe that the overseas wholesalers and our wholesalers/importers brought in pure interruptus as johanni without knowing? Surely if they were interruptus they would have been identified as such from the beginning? Mind you stranger things have happened. I too would like to see some pics of your fish Navarre, it would be awesome to have another pure melanachromis species in NZ! Noone here jumps on anyone else's fish just to rubbish them, were all sick of hybrids and crap fish being spread around, everyone here is trying to help and also give people what they believe to be correct ID, noone will be worried about anyone discussing that point Maybe were mistaken, or maybe you are either way we all learn and hopefully benefit from it. The pic posted looks nothing like the pictures I have seen of interruptus the whole body shape and everything looks off.. I dont know if it is the pic or anything because as ive said earlier I have never kept this fish. Maybe to end this discussion we could get some pics of Navarre's fish (assuming we have decided on the ones on this link) and link them to cichlid-forum, then we would have the opinion of 100's of cichlid fanatics who have most likely kept and bred interruptus and can make a better id? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smidey Posted July 2, 2007 Report Share Posted July 2, 2007 looking at the pics above & the pics on the cichlid forum as per link below, i cannot see that the interrurtus in the pic above matches the pics on the cichlid forum, just my opinion. http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/s ... php?id=758 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted July 2, 2007 Report Share Posted July 2, 2007 Navarre definitely said they were brought as interruptus. The original fish were sold as M Interuptis and I saw the parents of these fish. Off which I brought fry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
herefishiefishie Posted July 2, 2007 Report Share Posted July 2, 2007 I agree Ryan,{7.26pm post} especially seeing as Melanochromis interruptus are rarer & therefore would be a lot dearer. Even if these fish were a trade in to the lfs. If the person who owned them wasn't sure. He would of known what they paid for & the cheap trade in offer would of been offensive & interruptus name is a lot different to johanni, therefore hard to confuse. The above is all just minor details points that can be argued. As said interruptus could of come in the back door. I don't like to say hybrid to peoples fish & if anyone wants to pick apart why I think the fish in question isn't an interruptus, can they stick to arguing the points made in reference to how the fish look. Otherwise this will be an endless dribble & round in circles, which I seem prone to being involved in. :oops: :roll: :lol: Cheers, Frenchy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.