Ps Kingsizei "Lupingu" - females

[robpole]

What do the females look like ?

many thanks - rob

[24troph]

Found this.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3gD4-RsAbA&NR=1
all the best James

[colin]

The video is a male - the female is a dullish browny grey with yellowish fins - try searching for Metriaclima sp.kingsizei lupingu Rob

[robpole]

colin - do the male or female ever start off dark blue ?

ive got 2 fish in may tank (from you) and i havent a clue as to what they are !

they are both the same shape, 1 yellow, with verticle barring, and the other is dark blue. about 2 inches in length. I though they could be Ps Limes but im not sure now.

[colin]

limes sounds good Rob have you a photo you can bring in - i had some rare pseudo's once i think you may of had these too - but will see if i can find out what they were

[24troph]

The video is a male - the female is a dullish browny grey with yellowish fins - try searching for Metriaclima sp.kingsizei lupingu Rob

Maybe try watching it. There are two on the vidio.
Or are they making hybrids?

Maybe males look like this http://www.cichlidae.com/gallery/species.php?s=1401
Or like this http://www.bigskycichlids.com/Pkingsizei_lupingo.htm

Iether most folk are being sold things wrong or there is some major problems with the ID of this fish?

[colin]

The second fish is not kingsizei
The picture from cichlidae.com is correct there is also a yellow form from Lupingu(the one in the video) in fact they range from yellow to blue (see page 183 in the 4th edition there are 4 varients) The picture of the fish from bigsky is from Manda which is just along the coast. I have the variant from Manda in the shop at the moment and it is the same as the bigsky although I have just looked at them and they are spawning and the male is showing barring and more blue but normally he is spitting image of the bigsky fish. When you have locales that are close to each other, the fishermen dont want to give the location where they caught the fish so they will generalise and say a general area that could hold several reefs and several variants of the same fish. So people are not being sold the wrong fish and there is quite a lot of id problems as a lot of these fish still have to be classified, which is why when you see a fish labeld as Metriaclima sp. or Pseudotropheus sp. - the sp. stands for species and this means that the fish is yet to be fully described

[robpole]

got some pictures. not the best quality, as the blue fish was abit camera shy and the other 60 decided to try to get in on the act !

the yellow fish:





the blue fish:






Colin - both came from the the same tank (top row), which has the Ps Limes in. Both have very faint vertical bars.

Thanks

[colin]

Im stumped on this Rob - is the yellow one definately a female - think you need to bring them in - I dont think they are Limes- I had some rare pseudos in at one time not sure if they may be them but I need to look at some old lists.

[24troph]

The second fish is not kingsizei
The picture from cichlidae.com is correct there is also a yellow form from Lupingu(the one in the video) in fact they range from yellow to blue (see page 183 in the 4th edition there are 4 varients) The picture of the fish from bigsky is from Manda which is just along the coast. I have the variant from Manda in the shop at the moment and it is the same as the bigsky although I have just looked at them and they are spawning and the male is showing barring and more blue but normally he is spitting image of the bigsky fish. When you have locales that are close to each other, the fishermen dont want to give the location where they caught the fish so they will generalise and say a general area that could hold several reefs and several variants of the same fish. So people are not being sold the wrong fish and there is quite a lot of id problems as a lot of these fish still have to be classified, which is why when you see a fish labeld as Metriaclima sp. or Pseudotropheus sp. - the sp. stands for species and this means that the fish is yet to be fully described

Thanks for that. It seems to make some sense now. Is there any variation in the females too?

I guess it makes it a bit like getting Tropheus sp Reds etc you need to get em all from the same shipment to have the best chance they are all the same variant?

All the best James

[robpole]

Im stumped on this Rob - is the yellow one definately a female - think you need to bring them in - I dont think they are Limes- I had some rare pseudos in at one time not sure if they may be them but I need to look at some old lists.

i not sure what sex they are, or even if they are the same type of fish ?

i will bring them in when i come to collect the estherae and tchalo.