Jump to content

Black Marks on Electric Yellow.


bubbles1

Recommended Posts

I have two electric yellows, one looks normal, and the other one has black marks on it.

All other fish in the tank are healthy.

I have looked everywhere on net and can't see any pictures that look like my fish.

What is making my electric yellow black?

I have a photo of it, but I couldn't work out how to attach it to this.

Can anyone help?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Where are the black markings..

On a yellow it is common for them to get black markings in the face, moustache or black markings down the front middle of the head, black barring, or black markings down the belly, all of these are caused by poor breeding.

I am working on getting descent yellows going as pretty much all the ones I have seen for sale on trademe or in shops are very poor quality with lots of black markings or a really faded white colour. People who breed them for sale need to be very very seletive with what they breed and pass on.

Otherwise mbuna seem to get random black markings at times.. The theory is it is caused by diet particularly spirilina based foods, it is harmless and apparently disappears when spirilina is removed from the diet.

Posting pics is easy look here viewtopic.php?f=3&t=4306 and follow the instructions or email them to someone to post them for you.. Should be easy to tell what the black markings are from a photo.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On a yellow it is common for them to get black markings in the face, moustache or black markings down the front middle of the head, black barring, or black markings down the belly, all of these are caused by poor breeding.

totally disagree, what facts have you got to back this up?

i would suggest that these markings would be more to do with mood, health or the food they are eating. just like some red zebs getting dark spots when they eat spirulina

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I understood the black markings were from poor breeding too (nothing to back that up and can't remember where I heard it) :-? :roll:

the reason i say that is the best yellows i have ever seen did get some black colourings in a beard type pattern for a short time & this was also only an adult male that did so.

i agree that poor breeding would create faint colours etc but that could also be down to diet, water conditions, aggression or health issues to. my red zeb juvies are coloured like a tangerine in my tank but when they go to my LFS quickly loose colour as their ph is not high enough & they feed different food.

it seems some are very quick to write off fish as poorly breed or hybrids without seeing pics or having any real evidence to go on. there are alot of other things that could contribute to a fish changing appearance other than breeding especially when i could have looked great last week.

in this case bubbles1 has chosen to seek advice on black markings which noone has seen yet & from the response possibly thinks they have poorly breed fish that are no good.

these could be poorly breed fish or my not be but who can really confirm this to be a fact?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It depends where the markings are..

As I said "On a yellow it is common for them to get black markings in the face, moustache or black markings down the front middle of the head, black barring, or black markings down the belly, all of these are caused by poor breeding." Black markings in these areas are less desirable traits in a yellow, it doesn't mean they are hybrids or anything like that, just that they are a lower quality fish. And this is caused by people not realising what traits to breed from, not caring or the fact that the shops seem to be full of poor yellows with markings so people cant get any better to breed from etc.

An example of what I am talking about would be bottom left photo.

http://www.perthcichlid.com/pcs/images/ ... combo7.jpg

Markings like I have described generally don't come and go with mood in what I would call a descent yellow. Sometimes barring can appear when excited or stressed.

Sorry have nothing to back this up except the last 4-5years keeping and breeding africans and spending countless hours on the net researching and browsing other forums.

I have found the markings that are caused by food are smaller dots or random blotches, which is why I put both scenarios out there and said a photo would clear it up.

Guess it all depends on how much you value the fish you have or the fish you pass on, even with poor markings they will be awesome fish live long lives and be enjoyed was simply adding my opinion as to what the black markings may be :)

Mystic have seen your yellows and their offspring in peoples tanks have to agree yours are very nice fish wouldn't mind getting some at some stage :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sorry Smidey just saw your last post..

I didn't say that the person owned a poorly bred fish or not.. I gave 2 options for the black markings and said a pic would clear it up for sure?

I must admit I made certain assumptions when it was stated there were 2 of them and one of them was fine colour wise also all the other fish were good, I assumed water conditions etc were fine.. Would generally put poor water conditions down to stress type colouration which in a yellow is pale and possible barring again a photo would help.

There could be a million reasons as to why their yellow has black markings I have the 2 most likely in my opinion from what I have seen and what I have found on the net.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi -Thanks for all the responses!

I still can't manage to get the photo on...

anyway the black markings are on the face, a horizontal black line between the eyes and black barring (stripes) on the body of the fish.There are black blotches on body above the stripes.

His yellow is very very pale. In fact he looks pretty shocking compared to the normal coloured electric yellow.

I don't feed spirulina. And this fish is the less dominent of the two electric yellows. The other one which looks normal bright yellow is defintely in charge! I have had these fish about a year. They were bought at the same time from the pet shop. They were both healthy yellow in colour. But this one has gradually changed over time. They are in a 1.2m tank with a red tail shark, small pleco, seven barbs, and two small blood parrots (yes - I know now they are controversial! But I didn't know that when I bought them!)

Everyone seems to get on just fine. There is planting, and wood. I do regular water changes, and there is no diseases.

The closest picture on the net I could find to show the markings on my fish is at

http://badmanstropicalfish.com/afcichlids.html

it's the pic of the single fish in the picture above words 'Lake Tanganyika Water Statistics'.

This is what the stripes look like, but my fish is pale yellow, and marks are dark black and are dominent. It has black blotches too. He just doesn't look healthy. But is eating fine.

Hope this info helps

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey bubbles if it helps email me the photo and I will post it on here for you then we will be able to comment :)

Photos from bubbles..

bubblesyellow.jpg

bubblestank.jpg

Personally I am going for the poor breeding angle with this one.. But I am sure there will be some discussion, and no I am not rubbishing their fish just giving my opinion.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thats just poor breeding stock. Dame rubbish.

Yellows should be a clean bright yellow body with black edging.

My breeding group are all the above but I must say some of the juvs do start with

a whitish lower body but that disappears as they grow.

If you have a look on the net their are some yellows that are nearly white which are from the

Lake.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Totally agree with Ryan.

I can't believe what some reputable retailers will try to pass off as electric yellows.

I've seen- at best muddy yellowy brown examples through to some bumble bee type of lookalike.

I have a few offspring from couple of parents I bought 4 years ago, and the difference in them and some of the ones I've seen lately is chalk and cheese.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree... but that's what happens when ppl try to pure breed fish so that they can preserve a strain... fact is the strain becomes so narrow and weak that you do get the odd weird fish in a batch - and that fish is all it takes to ruin a strain.

not toooo long ago people tried to preserve desirable traits by erm "selectively" breeding.. we have a terrible word for them cause we know it doesnt work. now while humans are far more genetically complicated than fish, the same theory can be applied to both cases..

just my view, uncalled for i know, but please dont shoot me for it! lol im all for having good fish in NZ - but that means we need more blood from overseas instead of bredding with what we do have cause that makes us lose a lot of what we do have.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

An interesting read indeed... but most of it is narrated with a huge hint of speculation.

ive heard of people breeding fantastic fish (very attractive and all) and very strong, but then there was the odd mutant fish in the batch... surely that means that somewhere along the line something has gone wrong?

edit - and i ont mean like mutant with a new colour, or albinism, or something like that. i mean mutant like a massive eye or massive head.

I used to keep africans (some commons) but then i had another tank that i kept only imported fish... fact is there was so much controversy about the type of fish it was that i packed a sulk and got rid of the whole lot.

That giraffe you got was one of my nice ones :lol:

I could only take so much rubbish from the suppliers... 5 times i ordered electric blue "ahlis" and each time i got either cobalt blues or blue zebras. you can only imagine how happy I was, lol. :evil:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Maybe smidey can fix it with different water conditions or food?

haha, ryan you are so clever. in this case you gave your opnion without seeing something first & it turned out to be correct but its more like lotto than good advise for someone looking for help.

yes this is clearly a fish that should be flushed IMO but what about the other one? that may be the same line which could also be disposed of.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yes it is hot and snipey weather but.... :D:wink:

Smidey, when I first read the post I could shut my eyes and imagine the sort of fish that was being discussed, for no other reason than the unfortunate fact that there are so many around. The image of bubbles fish is one I've seen in the tanks of the so called prestige shops in AKL. Not one or two but a whole tank full. Rubbish fish from rubbish stock.

As for mutants. Anyone who bred fish or anything for that matter will eventually get "runts" or some sort of throwback in a spawn of fry. In the wild these would generally get weeded out through natural selection and or/or predation. Unfortunately the unatural environment doesn't afford itself the responsibility that nature does.

The fact that 'Caeruleus' was the chosen nomenclature is as far as I was aware just because that the first of the species documented in the fifties were the blue variety, before the yellows, so the name has stuck.

The white bellies are quite natural, and as tropheus has noted they are more prevailent in young, perhaps yellowing up as they mature. The problem can be that some can appear very clean at fry stage only to "muddy up". I've even noticed that clean adults can develop faintest of barring as they get quite mature. There is a blue varity in the wild that has barring

But what we are talking about here I believe is completely substandard stock, where even the fry are showing barring etc. it is a shame that once again our retailers continue to disrespect us and the hobby by supplying such fish. They should know better. So buyer beware. Buying a 'known' fish on TM I concede is a lottery but from a shop at full retail-No!

Just a note- Patrick at Goldfish Pagoda has juvi's that look not bad at under $10 each.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

But what we are talking about here I believe is completely substandard stock, where even the fry are showing barring etc. it is a shame that once again our retailers continue to disrespect us and the hobby by supplying such fish. They should know better. So buyer beware. Buying a 'known' fish on TM I concede is a lottery but from a shop at full retail-No!

.

i totally agree with above & after seeing the pic it is clear what it is & i believe it is unacceptable that shops are selling them at all.

when people are new to fish & ask questions about the quality of their fish we need to make sure that the info we give is correct based on the facts of their particular fish & not what generally is around. I have no idea what is being sold in fish shops other than the ones in whangarei as these are the only ones i get to on a regular basis & i would still never order anything from their suppliers without seeing it first.

newbies don't always describe things as we understand them. often everything we tell them is taken as gospel & if we don't quite get it correct we are leading them astray with that info. its like phoning the doctor to ask for a diagnosis, they won't do it. my point isthat i think we need not to jump to conclusions, get to know what we are judging then pass or condemn it. & at the end of the day it is our opinions that we are spreeding & sometimes these vary from one peron to another & that doesn't always mean one is right over another. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I guess that is why we call this place a forum eh!

All opinions on an issue are valid regardless of whether or not they are in agreement with everyones mode of thinking.

Who would be the determinant of what is allowable based on "perceived" 3rd parties requirements?

Surely if the forum runs its course then the correct info will filter to the top, as in this thread.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Could be? Richard has purchased alot of fish from me but he also still orders from Importers.

If you implying that the Yellows with Black lines are from me they guess again dude. I live under the some rules as

A.o.O. If not up to standard CULL IT!!!!!!!! or in his case feed it to Mr Shovelnose

Ive even purchased breeding stock from someone which I was advised was great stock. When they arrived in Akld and I had

a good look at them, guess what I did?. CULL the dame lot of them :evil:

And he still recons they where nice fish even though they had faded black bands.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Could be? Richard has purchased alot of fish from me but he also still orders from Importers.

If you implying that the Yellows with Black lines are from me they guess again dude. I live under the some rules as

A.o.O. If not up to standard CULL IT!!!!!!!! or in his case feed it to Mr Shovelnose

Ive even purchased breeding stock from someone which I was advised was great stock. When they arrived in Akld and I had

a good look at them, guess what I did?. CULL the dame lot of them :evil:

And he still recons they where nice fish even though they had faded black bands.

no i'm not, i don't understand how or why i would emply that.

i also get rid of odd looking fish, i had some red zebras that had an odd shaped bottom lip so they got feed to the cat.

i'm pretty sure that my yellows were from you.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...