fishy-fish Posted January 14, 2012 Report Share Posted January 14, 2012 I have a group of 9 johannis and my dominent male is starting to colour up and get his blue. Pretty excited about the prospect of breeding these guys. It seems like a breed that has dropped off the map here in NZ. I inherited a single adult male when I purchased a complete tank set up and he quickly became my favourite fish. It took months to find someone who had johanni fry for sale and it was my hunt for more of these fish that made me realise they are pretty scarce now. Fingers crossed I can successfully breed from my group. Are any of you african fishkeepers interested in getting your hands on some of these? Here's my male I inherited. His name is Sherlock Photo of website of male and female. The adult female is yellow and the male is blue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smidey Posted January 14, 2012 Report Share Posted January 14, 2012 nice, keep us posted. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishy-fish Posted January 14, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 14, 2012 Photo of my dom male. Sorry pic quality is poor, but you get the idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted January 14, 2012 Report Share Posted January 14, 2012 Would love to see some pics of them as they mature especially the females.. I used to breed and sell pure johannii by the hundred but they have gone now There are all sorts of dodgy ones out there being sold as johannii which aren't right tons of vertical barring and just not quite the right colour etc, they kind of resemble the one you have pictured at the bottom so it will be interesting to see how they turn out as they grow. Pure Melanachromis species are harder to find across the world now because they all cross so easily.. Your male looks nice though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishy-fish Posted January 14, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 14, 2012 Yeah I'm interested to see how this group colour up too. Looks like I have a 5m 4f split. I will take the best female(s) and attempt to breed with my adult male from the first photo as he is an excellent example of the species. Hopefully soon I'll be selling hundreds of these guys too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted January 14, 2012 Report Share Posted January 14, 2012 Yeah I'm interested to see how this group colour up too. Looks like I have a 5m 4f split. I will take the best female(s) and attempt to breed with my adult male from the first photo as he is an excellent example of the species. Hopefully soon I'll be selling hundreds of these guys too Only problem is if the fish from your second group are dodgy then you will still end up with dodgy fish.. It the hardest thing with africans in NZ, which is why I am gutted that I lost my good line of johannii! I do know one guy with them I might see how many he has, if that fish you had was a johannii it would only have horizontal lines. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishy-fish Posted January 14, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 14, 2012 The fish in the first photo is my male and yes, he only has horizontal lines. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zuri08 Posted January 14, 2012 Report Share Posted January 14, 2012 phil had some great johaniis i got a few off him but never bred them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted January 14, 2012 Report Share Posted January 14, 2012 phil had some great johaniis i got a few off him but never bred them He got his off me.. Do you have males and females? If so either put them in their own tank and breed them or pm me I would like to buy or borrow them to breed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Navarre Posted January 14, 2012 Report Share Posted January 14, 2012 me too...lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted January 15, 2012 Report Share Posted January 15, 2012 The fish in the first photo is my male and yes, he only has horizontal lines. Yeah pic of your male looks good, pic of last fish not so much only time will tell but generally they should only have horizontal lines not heavy barring like your other one pictured. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zuri08 Posted January 15, 2012 Report Share Posted January 15, 2012 my sister now has them ryan when i get them back will let you know.ration was 1 male 3 females Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishy-fish Posted January 15, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2012 my sister now has them ryan when i get them back will let you know.ration was 1 male 3 females all the johannii's have moved to the coromandel! :slfg: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tropheus Posted January 15, 2012 Report Share Posted January 15, 2012 Not all of them! Have had my line since i started with Cichlids 20 odd years now. Ohhh iam getting old :sage: My males do not show any vertical lines at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zuri08 Posted January 15, 2012 Report Share Posted January 15, 2012 all the johannii's have moved to the coromandel! haha yea ill def be getting them back from her though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishy-fish Posted January 15, 2012 Author Report Share Posted January 15, 2012 Not all of them! Have had my line since i started with Cichlids 20 odd years now. Ohhh iam getting old :sage: My males do not show any vertical lines at all. well tropheus, share the love!! :slfg: Seriously though, do you breed them? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tropheus Posted January 15, 2012 Report Share Posted January 15, 2012 they breed and hold in community tank but the fry just get eaten. guess i can catch the female next time she holds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted January 15, 2012 Report Share Posted January 15, 2012 they breed and hold in community tank but the fry just get eaten. guess i can catch the female next time she holds. You know where I am Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tropheus Posted January 15, 2012 Report Share Posted January 15, 2012 :thup: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishy-fish Posted February 12, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 12, 2012 Photo update of my dom male and one of the females from the 9 I bought (not including my adult male in my 400L) They still have some growing and colouring to do, but this is at approx 6mths old. Dom male Female Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted February 12, 2012 Report Share Posted February 12, 2012 I'm still not 100% on those fish being Johannii, the heavy vertical barring just doesn't seem to add up to me, yes I know they are sold as johannii here.. I need to wait until I am home and go through the konnings book and see if there are any variants that match the fish you have put pics up of. Biggest issue with melanchromis is there are so similar that there are so many hybrids floating around and being NZ we get the dregs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishy-fish Posted February 13, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2012 I'm still not 100% on those fish being Johannii, the heavy vertical barring just doesn't seem to add up to me, yes I know they are sold as johannii here.. I need to wait until I am home and go through the konnings book and see if there are any variants that match the fish you have put pics up of. Biggest issue with melanchromis is there are so similar that there are so many hybrids floating around and being NZ we get the dregs. Totally agree ryan - I'm still not 100% either. There are plenty of photos on reputable websites with vertical barred johannis, but I still consider my adult male to be the benchmark. He is a great example. Having no experience with raising these fish, I'm wondering if the vertical barring is something that fades over time. He certainly hasn't finished colouring up at 6mths. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishy-fish Posted February 13, 2012 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2012 On another note, at least the female has gone solid yellow. That's an encouraging sign. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted February 13, 2012 Report Share Posted February 13, 2012 Had a look in the konnings book last night can't seem to find any johannii that have heavy vertical barring from photos taken of fish collected in the lake. What reputable sites have you seen pics with heavily vertically barred johannii? All the ones that I bred from my good stock (and photos of good fry on the net) have only had horizontal barring. TBH I wouldn't stick those barred ones with your good male because you really have no idea what the random barred ones are (apart from what is commonly sold as johannii in NZ), if you did want to breed them then keep them in their own group. Here are some pics of my old johannii for comparison, one of male/female and one of one in a mixed tank.. I would love to get some of this line back if any of the people I sold them too still have any! Phil Collis had the same line too but it appears all of his are gone too.. Just to clarify I am not saying your fish are 100% not johannii I am just saying I don't think they look right from what I have seen and research I have done.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hamstar99 Posted February 14, 2012 Report Share Posted February 14, 2012 Hes a mint looking fish Ryan. http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=760 some more pics from the net. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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