aquab Posted July 28, 2007 Report Share Posted July 28, 2007 http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/s ... php?id=756 Is this the same fish or just similar and is the Maingano available in New Zealand?? http://www.trademe.co.nz/Home-living/Pe ... 021413.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidb Posted July 28, 2007 Report Share Posted July 28, 2007 According to maf only Melanochromis auratus (Goldstripe cichlid) and Melanochromis joanjohnsonae (Rainbow melanochromis) are allowable imports Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smidey Posted July 28, 2007 Report Share Posted July 28, 2007 i have seen something either the same or similar to the maingano recently in my LFS. unfortunately i didnt see a name for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharn Posted July 28, 2007 Report Share Posted July 28, 2007 Smidey- I know the one your thinking, not sure what they actually are as they are sold as johanni i think but they arent *shrugs* David- Is joanjohnsonae an updated name for Exasperatus as we have them here? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
herefishiefishie Posted July 28, 2007 Report Share Posted July 28, 2007 There have been plenty of posts in the past about johanni etc here on this forum. Including posts from those that see import lists. Maingano's have not been on them. You have johanni in the country & males of these look just like maingano. Lately blue & yellow melanochromis have been imported. Blue being male johannis. I would be using extreme caution. Ask what size they are, if over 5cm, if females have bred before, held etc. Also ask what colour are the females or how the person sexes them. These are just to test the seller Frenchy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted July 28, 2007 Report Share Posted July 28, 2007 Have heard a few of the more knowledgeable african keepers on here say they have kept or seen pure maingano's around the place, does anyone know this trademe seller? Even though they aren't on the current allowed list doesn't mean they aren't floating around nz having already made it in before the list was cut down.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharn Posted July 28, 2007 Report Share Posted July 28, 2007 Sorry HFF- havent kept up on the african talks. I got fry from one of the blue melanochromis a few months back though so they cant all be males? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malawi_man Posted July 28, 2007 Report Share Posted July 28, 2007 I have 5 or 6 what I think are maingo. Males and females are blue, females are not as strikingly coloured. I had a pair a while back and I got 10 fry before the male died but I still have the female. All fry were the same. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Afrikan Posted July 28, 2007 Report Share Posted July 28, 2007 I had some identified as Maingano. The maingano are very closely related to Johanni, the females being blue aswell, but the females are not as brightly coloured as the males, the male are very intense in colour.. they look like a smaller version of the Johanni male. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
herefishiefishie Posted July 28, 2007 Report Share Posted July 28, 2007 Afrikan, were they the ones that were bought, labeled as blue Melanochromis? You noticed that one of the blue fish was holding? Thats the thing but. They were imported into NZ as Blue Melanochromis & some as yellow.... Yep I have heard that the odd blue one is holding, Afrikan mentioned that to me months ago. So what does that mean? The asians mixing stock at some stage as maingano's & johanni are similar. Therefore they just separate them into colours rather than species, as they can't call them a species. Pass them onto a country with slack quality in picking named fish, ie; NZ. You would have to assume that these yellow & blue melanochromis are all from the one source. Or they have a bunch of mainganos, got the name wrong. But then why is it only one blue out of a tank of 20 that ends up a female then & why are they imported alongside yellow melanochromis? Do all the yellows end up holding too? As said earlier, people think they have mainganos. I have been told none have been imported as such. All I am saying is use caution. How many times on this forum have we seen people call their cichlid something as that is what it looks like? ie; I had some identified as Maingano I know fish can come in the back door, we have good smugglers here. These fish come in with genus, species & variant names. The people that go to the trouble of smuggling, go to the trouble of getting proper named fish, not something where even the common name dosen't exist. ie;Blue Melanochromis. No point really otherwise aye. Where is the money in that for a start? Frenchy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malawi_man Posted July 29, 2007 Report Share Posted July 29, 2007 mine were brought in quite some time ago, before the "blue melanochromis" started coming in. I have vented them and I have 2 males and 4 females I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Afrikan Posted July 29, 2007 Report Share Posted July 29, 2007 Yeap they were the ones that you had a look at Frenchy and had approached the guy on the cichlid forum about, sent you pics? I have heard that there were rather a few holding females around so there was definately a fair few, I just happened to buy a holding female and a dominant male, because I wanted to have them possibly IDed hence why I sent the pics 8) And didn't want to fork out too much ping to buy a group of them. The lot I got this lot from were ones that came in as just straight Blue Melos, but this wasn't at the same time when Goldens started coming in again alongside the Johanni males. The shipment of Blue Melos were on the list for sometime and there were no Goldens/Yellows on that shipment. The ones I have, have all bred true to the parents, identical, and they certainly look different to the good Johanni stock I have. The ones I have certainly match up to the maingano I have seen online, however, everything gets labelled Johanni when it's blue :roll: Bit of a pain in the behind really when nothing comes in labelled, saves confusion. Oh and Dan yes there have been maingano in NZ previously, an old african keeper who has kept fish for a long time, had them here in Hawkes Bay and passed them on when he went out of fish keeping, he also had purple mbuna along with another guy here in the North Island.. apparently they came in some years ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
herefishiefishie Posted July 29, 2007 Report Share Posted July 29, 2007 Thats funny because over here we have both species & they were both imported under their proper names. Sound like a broken record here, but what are your importers doing? The only way you can usually tell if they are a true species is line breeding them against each other for 5 or 6 generations. To let the recessive gene of a species to come through. Seeing as johanni & maingano males are near identical, don't know if that will show true identification or not. Sure yours may look different, but when you check somewhere like the cichlid forum & compare them here, males of both species are near identical. As I said, use caution. I wouldn't rush at labeling your fish something. Oh, how long ago did this other fish keeper have the maingano out of interest? Did he get them in 2, 5 10 or more years ago? Frenchy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Afrikan Posted July 29, 2007 Report Share Posted July 29, 2007 Hubby had contacted the importer, with the lot that I got mine from, and he spoke with an employee, he stated that the lot that came in were definately not Johanni, some of the females were even holding there in the wholesalers tanks also. I had heard that anything that comes in as Blue Melo is given the axelrod reference page to Johanni by the wholesaler here, but these fish were not labelled or named Johanni on suppliers list. The maingano are supposed to be smaller than Johanni and the "fish" that I have, aren't anywhere near as big as my Johanni. I will find out about the maingano and the purple mbuna time frame, the guy I mentioned is actually apparently getting back into fish again and had kept fish for many years 8) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
herefishiefishie Posted July 29, 2007 Report Share Posted July 29, 2007 The problem is the maingano were only classified in 1997. They have only been in Aussie for a few years. The maingano are supposed to be smaller than Johanni and the "fish" that I have, aren't anywhere near as big as my Johanni. I wouldn't be looking for differences, that makes it look worse. One gets to 8-9cm, 8-10cm for the other. I do think chances are they could be maingano, as I have discussed in the pass. Another common name for them is blue johanni. I would be line breeding them for some generations first to make sure. Then again, I am sure some old school people will say, "you can only call them what they were imported as." if they do breed true, keep them away from johanni :lol: Frenchy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Afrikan Posted July 29, 2007 Report Share Posted July 29, 2007 They definately have their own tanks... 8) They are even in seperate parts of the house, so there is never any chance of them ever finding each other with lids off tanks with water changes etc (even tho I could tell them apart just from studying them so often while peering at them) :lol: Fish shed will be the same, Johanni down one end, others down the other The "fish" match up in regards to the description of maingano, the males versus females colouration etc.. I only got them in the first place because they are a stunning fish.. and I was curious as to what they were as after keeping Johanni for sometime, something just niggled at me that they were something different somewhat, that's why I purchased a pair (not overly cheap either ) :lol: And took some pics to flick to you Frenchy to get your thoughts... that's when you got back to me with your findings and thoughts etc.. I am just going to plug away with them, so far they are breeding well and the fish throw really nice healthy stock. Will definately suss out when this local keeper had acquired the maingano, I do know that the purple mbuna arrived here somewhat well before. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
herefishiefishie Posted July 29, 2007 Report Share Posted July 29, 2007 I wasn't meaning you. I know you are careful It is how they go out to general population. My concern really is with the other blues out there, if people are placing them with their johanni. If yours continue to throw blues for 4-5 generations, chances are they are maingano. What will that mean for the johanni stocks in NZ if people have placed these blueys in with johanni? That is a big concern! Frenchy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Afrikan Posted July 29, 2007 Report Share Posted July 29, 2007 Oh god yeah that is the major concern Frenchy, you are bang on. There is already someone I know of out of town that has unfortunately fallen into that trap and thrown some of the same shipment in with some Johanni.... arggggh :-? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
herefishiefishie Posted July 29, 2007 Report Share Posted July 29, 2007 Oh sh#t Frenchy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malawi_man Posted July 29, 2007 Report Share Posted July 29, 2007 looks like a I have a female holding. Will see what comes out of this lot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
herefishiefishie Posted July 30, 2007 Report Share Posted July 30, 2007 Good luck Frenchy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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