Haplochromine ID help?

[Lotus]

I know, I know, you're asking yourselves why Lotus is posting in the Cichlid forurm. Well, I have a "hap" that I've had for about 4 months, and I have no idea who he is. I know haplochromis is no longer a valid genus, but I'm hoping he's colored up enough for an ID.

I know these photos suck. If you need better ones, I'll have Ecotank have a try.

Any ideas on who he/she is?

 

[Cichlid-Man]

Looks like a Red Empress to me! Protomelas taeniolatus

 

[FreddyJ]

I agree.....and the only reason I give my opinion on the matter is because I've actually looked into these fish quite extensively recently. It looks like a really nice red empress too!!

 

[Lotus]

Well, we picked him up at a fish auction in November 06 when he was silver and nondescript, and no one else wanted him.

We may sell him at the next auction, as I don't think we want to devote a large tank to him. He's a nice looking fish, but we already have more tanks than we can handle.

 

[Cichlid-Man]

We may sell him at the next auction, as I don't think we want to devote a large tank to him. He's a nice looking fish, but we already have more tanks than we can handle.

Oh nonsense!

 

[Lotus]

Well, we did sell him at the auction. But, just to keep you cichlidophiles happy, we got an N. brichardi and three juvi N. pulcher daffodils to replace him

 

[Big Vine]

just to keep you cichlidophiles happy, we got an N. brichardi and three juvi N. pulcher daffodils to replace him

Lol...'cichlidophiles'!
Brichardi are beautiful...they're on my must-have list of fish. What are these daffodils of which you speak, and are they yellow by any chance? *SUNSMILE*

BV

 

[Lotus]

Here's a pic I found of the daffodils: Neolamprologus pulcher "daffodil" - Cichlid Lovers Picture Page

Nice pic here, too: http://www.akwarystyka.com.pl/forum/files/n.pulcher_daffodil.jpg

They have yellow fins. Ours are still getting used to the tank, so the yellow isn't very strong yet. They're also only about 1.5", so I expect they'll color up in time.

 

[Big Vine]

Very nice, Lotus.
The fish in the pics remind me of a recent discussion with IDunnoWhy about some brichardi he had seen at his LFS that were supposedly albino---at least I think that's what we were talking about, lol.

Maybe I'll throw him the link to this thread so he can follow-up on that.

Nice fish, Lotus! Thanks!
BV

 

[Katie217]

Very nice, Lotus.
The fish in the pics remind me of a recent discussion with IDunnoWhy about some brichardi he had seen at his LFS that were supposedly albino---at least I think that's what we were talking about, lol.

Maybe I'll throw him the link to this thread so he can follow-up on that.

Nice fish, Lotus! Thanks!
BV

I remember that BV...something with albinos being rare or something...I'm not sure...
But anyways, Nice score Lotus! Im likin the birchirdi! I always keep an eye out for those guys thats for sure

 

[Lotus]

Gotta love auctions, we sold the hap for $3, and bought the brichardi for $2 and the three pulchers for $4. The club isn't a big cichlid club Our Endler's livebearers went for like $14... go figure.

 

[Cichlid-Man]

Awesome lotus!!

Lol...'cichlidophiles'!
Brichardi are beautiful...they're on my must-have list of fish. What are these daffodils of which you speak, and are they yellow by any chance? *SUNSMILE*

BV

Don't want to hijack Lotus's thread to much but...

A lot of people confuse daffodils as just a color morph of brichardi, when acctually they are a whole seperate fish, and even then just a geographical morph of N. pulcher ...they are just closely related in the same genus. You can usually tell these fish by their yellow fins, though having so many types of N. brichardi and N. pulcher its not hard to get a cross between the two and still have a fish showing the yellow coloration.

Pure pulchers can usually be picked out by the "chevrons" or 2 vertical bars on their gill plates. Here are some of my former Neolamps.

N. brichardi male

N. pulcher "daffodil" female

Both, brichardi bottem, pulcher top.

Notice the gill plates. Easy to mix up to an untrained eye. You can also see the yellow on the fins.

 

[Big Vine]

Excellent info, Matt.
Nice pics too---the differences definitely do require a trained eye, as you pointed out, yet are evident enough to distinguish from the pics and based on your descriptions.

I'm wondering if this is what IDunnoWhy thought to be 'albino brichardi' that he came across at the LFS? I'm sending him a PM with a link to this thread in case he still has questions about it.

Thanks!
BV

 

[IDunnoWhy]

Both, brichardi bottem, pulcher top.

A Note to BV & Katie

The fish I saw were nearly identical to the Bottom fish here (In body shape & Finnage), the only difference was they didn't have quite that much color (Actually they were basically all white w/little color), and didn't have that lil orange spot by the gill. So it's safe to say they were Brichardi, just not this particular variety. (The LFS still wouldn't let me take pics to post though)

Anyway, sorry for thread Hijacking Lotus

 

[Lotus]

Anyway, sorry for thread Hijacking Lotus

I think I hijacked my own thread in the first place. *twirlysmi