Electric Yellows don't look like electric yellows

[pyrofish]

I have a bunch of cichlids that came from an electric yellow mother, but none of them have taken on the appropriate color. I am slightly confused. Here is a picture:



I figure maybe I'm not feeding them right. I looked up and found they are supposed to eat veggies, and what I have been feeding them is labeled as omnivourous...so there has to some veggies in there...but maybe not enough?

Another consideration was that maybe they are crossbreeds? Is this possible?

And maybe my electric yellows just plain suck. Or maybe the water is not right for them. If anyone has any advice, I would really appreciate it.

I have an excess of these cichlids and I am running out of space for them, but I know I shouldn't sell something that is potentially a crossbreed. I thought it was more likely that I just haven't brought them up right to retain the natural color.

[Scuba Kid]

What is the exact food you are feeding them? What is your water chemistry? What other fish were in the tank besides the mother labidochromis?

It is very possible that they are a cross between the yellow lab and some other cichlid.

[nathanbarry]

I had the same prroblem and knew straight away because the babies i ended up with were the same colour as yours. I realised the babies were a cross between an electric yellow lab and a red top zebra

[pyrofish]

Thanks for the responses. One of the Cichlids in the tank with the mother actually does strongly resemble the shape and stripe pattern of the "babies". I'm not sure which species he is, I will have to try to figure that out.

I didn't have time to check the water before leaving for school (for the week), but if I recall correctly the general story during the lifetime of these fish (has to be 3/4th of a year by now...) has been higher PH due to coral sand (7.8 - 8.0), and probably higher than ideal nitrates.

I've known there is something unusual with them for a while...but kind of put off trying to understand what it was. Now that they are starting to get too big for the tank that they are in, I am trying to figure out what I am going to do with them.

I'd have to put together a list of what I have been feeding them, but it is generally cichlid specific food (Tetracichlid flakes was one of them) and usually omnivorous (both red and green flakes). The very first thing I fed them was the spectrum growth stuff...

[emc7]

There are blue L. caeruleus http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profile...es.php?id=1667
But they don't have stripes and the yellow ones in the hobby breed true.
I think you do have hybrids. Its really easy to get them, the dominant male mbuna will try to breed with every female in the tank.

Its ok to sell or trade them as long as you are clear describing them as hybrids. While most 'cichlid geeks' like pure strains there are a lot people out there that want 'one of kind fish' and hybrids are very appealing to them.

[pyrofish]

Cool, thanks! I remember someone telling me (or perhaps reading) that distributing hybrids was a no-no (with the explaination being that you could inadvertently "dilute" the pure species over the years)...

But if I'm really not doing any harm by trading them, I guess I could do that. Sure beats letting them take over my main tank! As you mentioned, I will make sure to clearly state they are a hybrid to whoever the recipient is.

I have a pretty good idea who the father of those fish is...I still can't seem to figure out what species he is, but he is best described as a "big brown mbuna" . He has stripes like the kids, and a similar body shape. I don't have a picture of him right now...

[GoodMike]

i personally disagree with selling or trading hybrids...just because you dont know what that other person is going to do...sell them as pure? trade them as pure? not know the difference either way? still causes a problem IMO

[emc7]

I agree with you, Mike, sort of. If I could, I'd tail-tag any hybrid and keep it in segregated housing. But your obligation is disclosure, then its someone else's obligation. The alternative is euthanasia. But there are freaks out there who want hybrids and giving them accidental ones is better than making more. BTW, no one will mistake a blue-striped fish as a yellow lab. Mixed tanks of fish of the same genera and perhaps all Mbuna should be all males.

[pyrofish]

Hehe...I wouldn't have a problem holding onto the hybrids if I had somewhere to put them. I'll eventually get a bigger main tank, which would give me my current tank for putting them in. I'm don't think I can invest that much $$ in a tank while I'm still in College though. My only hope would be to find (yet another) cheap garage-sale 55 gal to stick them in!

Or if I could find these "freaks" you speak of .

I can see the problem with how Hybrids could get into circulation though. After all, I probably could have been conned into buying a hybrid myself, especially when I first got started with cichlids and didn't think to look up the species before buying.

[GoodMike]

the pure lines are already getting muddy enough. it is getting more difficult to find a true species of certain fish. that is why i say what i say. if you can find a true red devil, or a true midas cichlid, then you are lucky, most have been crossed with one another.