Help ID these fishes

[zyblack]

Anyone know what species of fish is this? The one with the horizontal black and white stripe along its body...not the swordtail...that one I know!



And also this little one.



Bought a few of these fishes and fish shop owner don't really know what species it belongs to but assures me that they can stay in a community tank. The little one (2nd picture) is a tad aggressive in my tank but not much. The bigger one (1st) are more active though pretty friendly to my smaller fishes.

Would like to find out their diet and habitat as well if anyone knows and care to share.

And the Biggest predator of them all...T-REX...(no need ID..I know this one )

[illumnae]

The first fish looks like a Julie cichlid (julidochromis ornatus)

[David Moses Heng]

The first fish looks like a Julie cichlid (julidochromis ornatus)

that's a positive.

[bryan]

The Julie will grow big and destroy everything(and each other) in their path eventually. Do look at african cichlid setups for a better idea on how to keep them.

[zyblack]

Darn...Now I have to get a new tank just to house these cichlids...this is turning to be an expensive hobby. Think I better do research before I purchase any more fauna...before I end up with an fish farm..

[zyblack]

Anyone know what is the name of the fish in the second picture? Looks plain enough but kind of cute.

[doppelbanddwarf]

Discoloured Hasemania nana?
--->http://www.aquaticquotient.com/forum...ad.php?t=29750

[mickthefish]

avan
the pic in your first pic aren't julies, they are if the name hasn't changed melanochromis auratus.
eventually they will disturb your tank if they start breeding they dig pits everywhere.

cheers
mick

[zyblack]

Oh my god! Fin-nipper! No wonder I have several fish death in that tank these few days...even 2 corydoras died..didn't check out the fins though. Will take a closer look tomorrow to see if my lyre-tail swordtail get nipped or not. Thanks for the ID and the link!

[zyblack]

avan
the pic in your first pic aren't julies, they are if the name hasn't changed melanochromis auratus.
eventually they will disturb your tank if they start breeding they dig pits everywhere.

cheers
mick

Yeah mick! you got it right! Was digging all over the net for photos of Julies and though some pictures look similiar, most of them showed a slimmer profile compared to my fish. Hey man you are a great help! Now going to read more about this melanochromis auratus...hope it is not an aggressive fish.. Thanks mick!

[zyblack]

Found this link about the Melanochromis auratus:
http://fish.mongabay.com/species/Mel...s_auratus.html

It says "Young fish resemble the Golden Julie ( Julidochromis ornatus) from Lake Tanganyika. Similar Lake Malawi fish include the Johannii (M. johannii) and the Parallel-striped Mbuna ( M. parallelus)."

Oh my god....more fishes to confuse me! Will take a cleared photo of it tomorrow when I wake up. I mean later...its 1.45 am...

[zyblack]

I have gotten a better picture of the cichlids. I think this one is a male?



A female?



Couldn't catch the third one but noticed the the one in the first picture is the dominant one in the tank though he/she only chase the others away when feeding time.

Identified plant damage. The doing of the cichlids? Or other fauna? I have ghost shrimps, 1 wood shrimp, malayan trumpet snails (courtesy of Shannon), mollies, swordtails and the sliver-tip tetras.



Fin nip damage? Can't tell



Anyone can help me make an ID of the cichlid? Is it a Melanochromis auratus or a julidochromis ornatus. There were conflicting views on the net regarding the behaviour, diet and coloring of the fish as well. The tank has a driftwood which forms a natural cave and quite thickly planted so not much aggression except feeding time. So far the casualties are 1 otos, 1 swordtail and 2 corydoras, though their death may be credited to the ineptitude of the tank owner (overfeeding ) and not entirely the cichlids fault.

[mickthefish]

hi avan
definite'ly M auratus bud, no mistaking that fish.
males usually have a yellow egg spot on the anal fin, ive seen this fish growto 6 inch plus,
the males go a brownish colour with the lateral stripe being blue.
nice fish bud
BUT they can get aggresive so watch out for the first signs.

cheers
mick

[zyblack]

Woah...thanks for the information and the compliments mick. I am starting to like the fish...it has character and nice colouration as well. Only damn thing is that it is aggressive and all resources point to the fact it cannot co-exist with other fish in a community tank. It seems like I have all 3 females, no males though it was said that males develop their colour later when they mature. It was also said that in the absence of males, females can change their sex and turn into a male.

Thankfully my tank substrate is entirely made of coral sand thus the pH is about 8 so should be comfortable for the fish. I wonder if it is fate or coincidence that all the fish I have bought seems to be from alkaline water. I have kept the tank heavily planted with a driftwood acting as a natural cave complete with green hair algae for grazing. Hope it keeps the aggression level low. I am somewhat reluctant to give this fish away now that it is beginning to grow on me. I will monitor the tank to see if any fights or death occurs.

Once again thanks mick you are a great help.

[Quixotic]

Oh my god! Fin-nipper! No wonder I have several fish death in that tank these few days...even 2 corydoras died..didn't check out the fins though. Will take a closer look tomorrow to see if my lyre-tail swordtail get nipped or not. Thanks for the ID and the link!

Just to clarify in case someone misunderstood, if you are referring to Hasemania nana, they only fin nip and don't really cause serious harm to the extend to death.

Your other fishes should have died of other causes.

Thankfully my tank substrate is entirely made of coral sand thus the pH is about 8 so should be comfortable for the fish. I wonder if it is fate or coincidence that all the fish I have bought seems to be from alkaline water.

You meant that the other fishes, Corydoras and tetras are housed in the tank where the pH is 8? Yes, these fishes need acidic (or close to neutral) water conditions to thrive, they don't do well at all in alkaline water conditions.

[zyblack]

Hi Quixotic,

Yeah I notice they only fin nip but they do chase my fishes around quite aggressively. 1 of of the tetras chased 1 of my swordtails doggedly around in my tank. I watch them dart around in my tank then disappear into the plants. Would exhaustion be a cause of death?

The corys that I have are of only of the Corydoras Julii (Leopard Cory) and most of the websites I go to indicate that a pH of 6.0 to 8.0 is the comfortable region though some website suggest a lower pH and some a higher pH. I sometimes get confused with all the different information I get regarding fish keeping. So far after the death of the 2 corys, my other 4 seems ok though 1 seem to be gorging him/herself and getting really fat so think it is a positive sign.

[Quixotic]

The fin nipping rarely results in death, but if overly aggressive, the other fish may get stressed and bring about unwanted outcomes. However, considering that your tank is quite densely planted, I would normally not see it as a problem.

Looks like you may have got a highly aggressive individual, so either you rehouse it or introduce a school of them to disperse the aggression.

Fishes can actually tolerate a range of pH values, anything 0.5 to 1 value lower/higher should be okay. So they may not be exactly wrong and mostly based on the values they keep them in their tanks.

However, notice the word tolerate, as some individuals do not take too well to differences in the pH. For Corydoras, it would not go very wrong if kept in slightly acidic to near neutral pH.

Corydoras julii is discovered in Rio Parnaíba. They can also be found in the Lower Amazons. From the information I found, the parameters of the pH for these rivers seem to be mainly in the range of pH 6 - 7.5.

So I would rather be inclined to keep them in slightly acidic to near neutral water conditions. Mileage may vary of course.

[zyblack]

Ok Quixotic thanks for the info on the corys. Will take note of them if they become over stressed. So far the aggression in the tank is quite dispersed since I kept it a tad over stock with about 15+ fishes and with some fast-growing plants that is overtaking the tank. No death for this past week so things are looking up.