Scarletmonuka Posted January 11, 2013 Report Share Posted January 11, 2013 I know if i go and by african cichlids from our LFS down here in invercargill they are more then likely some form of hybrid... But what about the amercian ones? i will be after a couple of firemouths in the near future. they have one at the moment about the right size with what i wanna start off with... i don't know if these cross breed or anything. so what are the chances of them being the proper real deal? cheers Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sophia Posted January 11, 2013 Report Share Posted January 11, 2013 buy a lotto ticket? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
disgustipated Posted January 11, 2013 Report Share Posted January 11, 2013 do you really have a choice? i mean. if thats the only place you can get them, then get them. you will see once they get older if they are pure or hybrid. some species that exist in nz haven't been imported pure for years and years. so there is always a chance. but... at the end of the day, who cares? you're gonna end up with cool fish either way.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camtang Posted January 11, 2013 Report Share Posted January 11, 2013 why dont you find a reputable breeder and ship them down, or something similar. but... at the end of the day, who cares? you're gonna end up with cool fish either way.... If i payed for a pure fish I would want a pure fish, not some hybrid mongrol.no point in shelling out $20 or so bucks for a hybrid fish worth nothing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
si_sphinx Posted January 11, 2013 Report Share Posted January 11, 2013 Don't buy any of the African cichlids from the LFS. They have been in the 50ltrs max tank for a while now and most likely stunted since I seen a 3cm fish holding eggs a while ago. I did see those fire mouths though and they don't look like hybrids to me. I would ask them to guarantee they are true breeds and if they can't then there is your answer if you should get them or not. They some times buy from good breeders with quality fish, but not always because usually their Africans are hybrids with fancy names to sell them. If you really want them then just buy them. If your not sure and want 100% assurance if the LFS doesn't give it to you, then get some shipped down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F15hguy Posted January 11, 2013 Report Share Posted January 11, 2013 lol, what LFS would Guarantee a fishes genetics, thats absolutely ridiculous... 5 years ago a firemouth was Cichlasoma meeki... nowdays there are about 20 different species that came from that initial description, so no LFS with any knowledge would "Guarantee" a fishes genetics.. I will say though, its been a long time since I saw an imported firemouth (someone may correct me) and many that are available tend to have slight fin deformities, best to find one commercially and one privately best chance of mixed genetics. oh and btw if you don't buy the africans from the LFS how do you expect to get new better stock imported????? seriously people in NZ gotta get off their high horses and realise that people in other countries with less restrictive import laws are taking care of the "pure strain" issue, be thankful for what you have and deal with it, most of your "fancy" pure bloods are hybrids anyways.... ok done with my rant.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarletmonuka Posted January 11, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2013 lol, what LFS would Guarantee a fishes genetics, thats absolutely ridiculous... 5 years ago a firemouth was Cichlasoma meeki... nowdays there are about 20 different species that came from that initial description, so no LFS with any knowledge would "Guarantee" a fishes genetics.. I will say though, its been a long time since I saw an imported firemouth (someone may correct me) and many that are available tend to have slight fin deformities, best to find one commercially and one privately best chance of mixed genetics. oh and btw if you don't buy the africans from the LFS how do you expect to get new better stock imported????? seriously people in NZ gotta get off their high horses and realise that people in other countries with less restrictive import laws are taking care of the "pure strain" issue, be thankful for what you have and deal with it, most of your "fancy" pure bloods are hybrids anyways.... ok done with my rant.... I'm not fussed if its "pure" as its told but with my limited knowledge of fish and the size of the firemouths they have there i have no idea of telling if it's close to what i see in the photos online.. i just didn't want to go buying one because it looks like one when its young and then find when its older that it actually looks nothing like i was wanting... also the fact we are going up to chch for a week in march and could quite happily wait till then and go to a couple of really good fish shops there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camtang Posted January 11, 2013 Report Share Posted January 11, 2013 definitly wait till you go to chch, if the shops down your way are anything like up here chch will be a fine option. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarletmonuka Posted January 11, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2013 definitly wait till you go to chch, if the shops down your way are anything like up here chch will be a fine option. yeah i've been or organisms before and its totally awesome. will get to redwoods this time too.. i'll quite happily buy my barbs and rainbow shark down here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camtang Posted January 11, 2013 Report Share Posted January 11, 2013 Redwoods is super cool! I went to animates last time I was down there, I wasnt super excited with it compared to the other two, but still worth the look. There is another one as well but the name eludeds me Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarletmonuka Posted January 11, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2013 yeah we went to animates last time too didn't really excite me... organisms though.. we made the guy laugh when looking in the tanks as i explained to him that we don't get all the cool fish down here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
camtang Posted January 11, 2013 Report Share Posted January 11, 2013 I got a similar response when I was telling them how much frozen blood worms are in Nelson compared to in there shop Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
si_sphinx Posted January 11, 2013 Report Share Posted January 11, 2013 oh and btw if you don't buy the africans from the LFS how do you expect to get new better stock imported????? For the amount of people down here that have them it would probably be easier for the lfs to order them in as people want them. Seriously , they will get some in and they will sit in the tanks for months and months because no one buys them. Look on TM and you will see people down here also trying to sell them with very little sales. Southland is very much behind with the demand for tropical fish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarletmonuka Posted January 11, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2013 Or they could just turn their little fish display tank into a cichlid selling tank.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
si_sphinx Posted January 12, 2013 Report Share Posted January 12, 2013 They use to have one of the display tanks as a cichlid tank and they had some dems and yellows in there and the dems were breeding. It was good to look at every time I went in there and watch the fry. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David R Posted January 12, 2013 Report Share Posted January 12, 2013 Hybrids with Central American cichlids tend to be a bit more obvious as mostly they are fairly different in appearances, unlike the same-fish-different-paintjob appearance of malawi cichlids ( :lol: ). There are some exceptions though, the main being the midas/red devil complex, where almost anything that isn't wild caught or F1-2 from wild caught stock of known providence is most likely to be a mix of Amphilophus labiatus and A. citrinellus. Also, as F15hguy pointed out, many once simple genera have been split into several different species, as is the case with Amphilophus, though I doubt the firemouths here are anything but T. meeki, but just very poorly bred ones in most cases. The proliferation of flowerhorns has also confused things a bit, but not as much as if we had true A. trimaculatus here, they are usually pretty easy to spot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scarletmonuka Posted January 13, 2013 Author Report Share Posted January 13, 2013 i was in the LFS today and their two firemouths were actually out and about up the front of the tanks. def look like firemouths..... i just couldn't help myself...... looks like i won't be waiting till chch for those fish :fshi: Hybrids with Central American cichlids tend to be a bit more obvious as mostly they are fairly different in appearances, unlike the same-fish-different-paintjob appearance of malawi cichlids ( :lol: ). There are some exceptions though, the main being the midas/red devil complex, where almost anything that isn't wild caught or F1-2 from wild caught stock of known providence is most likely to be a mix of Amphilophus labiatus and A. citrinellus. Also, as F15hguy pointed out, many once simple genera have been split into several different species, as is the case with Amphilophus, though I doubt the firemouths here are anything but T. meeki, but just very poorly bred ones in most cases. The proliferation of flowerhorns has also confused things a bit, but not as much as if we had true A. trimaculatus here, they are usually pretty easy to spot. i think i understand that..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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