petsmart cichlids???

[vettech909]

at petsmart there are 4 little inch cichlids.they said they just came in as assorted african cichlids.can you post some pics so i can see if i can identify them?also,i want to get some so pics would be great!one of the ? fish was white and purple.the others were black,blue,and yellow.

[shade2dope]

There are many cichlids.That be like me saying post last names to see what your is.Well not that bad but you can try your luck Here
The thing is there are, alot of the time hybrids making it hard to tell.

[Clerk]

All of those assorted are mbuna. Most are hybrids, which is one of the reasons they aren't marketed with the other fish.

Don't buy any you can't identify with certainty. You should also not purchase any until you have done a good deal of research, and are sure your tank size is adequate.

[vettech909]

i went to another store and i bought an albino cichlid and what looks like a firemouth.they were the only ones and...i couldnt resist.the albino has egg spots but the firemouth lookin thing doesnt.they are both the same shape and if the firemouth lookin thing is a hybrid,it is a female.what i ment was if it was half firemouth.they are shaped like cobalt cichlids,but different colors.if you have any pictures of that description,that would be great!!!THANKS!!!

[GoodMike]

i cant stress enough....know what you are buying BEFORE YOU BUY IT. patience can be tough.....but not that tough.

you probably ended up with a albino Metriaclima estherae, aka red zebra. and somthing else, going to need more information about the fish to know what it is... because firemouths are not shaped anything like a pseudotropheus or a metriaclima species.

you might have limited yourself a lot on what kind of fish you can have from this point on by not doing research before buying fish............

[BV77]

Ditto , what MIke said

[Gourami Swami]

Yeah.... Impulse buying is a bad thing. And if you dont know what it is your buying, its a real bad thing.

Im not trying to be mean, but its pretty obvious you dont know a whole lot about these fish. I suggest you do lots of reading, asap.

[Obsidian]

Rather than trying to get the forum to post pics of every cichlid alive, how about you go to www.cichlidforum.com and start looking

[shade2dope]

Obsidain,I gave him that link before in my first post he didnt use it as you can see.I seen a very nice plant today,I wanted it so bad but I had no clue what it was neither did the worker so.....Its just something you have to learn to do.

[vettech909]

i think the albino one is a cobalt cichlid becaues its fins have a blue tint like he was painted without a second coat.they are assorted african cichlids and i haeve 2 500g,4 55g,1 5g,and 7 10g!!!i can move them if they get too big and i feed them cichlid pellets.i think the red one is a female and is a mbuna.there is a pic in one of my books and it said gold zebra hybrid.it looks like it but more red.i think it might be a gold and red zebra hybrid.does the male or female carry the eggs?here mouth is swollen and the male stays close by.there is one huge cave that she stays beside.also,pics in that description would be great!!!THANKS!!!

[vettech909]

check out my profile pic.my cichlid looks like that only whiter and red eyes.

[GoodMike]

2 500 gallon tanks? whats the foot print of those tanks? glass or acrylic?

[emc7]

500 is nice, you can break a lot of the "don't keep these together" rules in a tank that large.

[BV77]

Geeze...2 - 500 gal tanks...4 - 55 gal tanks...1 - 5 gal , and 7 - 10 gal tanks.
That's a bunch for someone who doesn't know what fish they are getting.

[fishbguy]

^^ditto^^

Didn't you just have troubles with what to do wtih baby fish?

Can we get pics of these tanks?

How can you have so many tanks, but be having so much trouble with fish? That's ALOT of big tanks.

Do you think you could start writing more like a 17 year old? I"m having trouble with the lack of punctuation.

[Clerk]

I will believe it when I see it. That is an awful lot of money invested in the hobby with relatively little knowledge.

[emc7]

I do believe. This is just a especially fast, severe case of MTS. vettech909 if you are going to be serious about fish (and I think you already are), you don't need to shop at petsmart and pick through "assorted cichlids". Join ACA and learn to appreciate the awesome fish that don't spawn in Florida ponds. Anyway check out fishbookstore.com. An aquarist needs a good library.

[vettech909]

if yall dont belive i dont care cuz i know what i have.im not really 17 im 27.my keyboard is messed up and my lucky number is 3 so,i type my punctiation in 3's.if it will help i will stop!im trying to start a fish hatchery and make new breeds.i have not bred many types and i am getting the hang of it.i have read many books and i know many types of fish when i see them.albinos are my favorite and whenever i see them i snatch them up.my camera is broke and cant get pics.i am not good at identifying cichlids and i am reading bunches of books.

[Clerk]

Make new breeds? You could hybridize, but that is not the same thing. AND is generally frowned upon because it weakens species genetics ESPECIALLY if you plan on selling them.

You could do line breeding for specific traits, but again, not really new breeds.

And this usually takes a long time.

[emc7]

Take an existing strain and try to improve it. New strains start from unusual & unexpected fry. Or incremental improvement, like trying to get from 1/2 black to all black. Don't hybridize cichlids. Although "German red Peac0cks", "Flowerhorns" and "Blood Parrots" are hybrids and must be profitable for somebody, serious cichlid hobbyist hate them and the people who make them. A hybrid strain needs constant inbreeding to keep going and massive culling of deformed fish. In cichlids, they are often extremely aggressive. There are thousands of wonderful cichlids out there that are endangered or possibly even gone from the wild. Irrigation is connecting once isolated bodies of water and fish are disappearing every day. Work on getting longer fins or brighter color on an existing fish, instead.