Who Gives A Fish Forums

Appreciate it

Hmm, Well it's definitely a Malawi cichlid (mbuna) but to me, it appears to be a crossbreed. The Pseudotropheus socolofi resemblance is quite striking, minus the blue body colour. Its dorsal and anal fins have that distinctive pointed shape similar to the socolofi species. It's a tough one to pinpoint, where did the owner acquire this fish?

I got him from a local fish store. He was pretty young at the time, and it's only recently that he's developed those vibrant colors on his dorsal, pectoral, and anal fins - that's actually when I was breeding one of my females that bears a resemblance to him.

Someone suggested Aulonocara - what are your thoughts on that?

Do you have any pics of the female he was with. I'm with kalevi on this, not an Aulonocara - they're the open water dwellers in Lake Malawi, whereas yours seems to be a mbuna, the rock-dwelling type. Pics of the female would help narrow it down. Never seen your male before, so could be a hybrid, a poorly bred socolofi, or something entirely different and rare.

He's got some similarities to my Metriaclima Zebra Maisoni, particularly around the head, but the darker fin colouration is quite different. I'd be interested to see how his breeding colours develop when he's with a female, might be worth taking another photo then.