[Chad Roehrich]

Hello,

I have a Peacock Cichlid Planted tank. I got a bunch of Cichlids from a friend and can't seem to identify 2 of them. They might be Mbuna, in which case I'll have to get rid of them(They eat my plants). Can someone Identify these?

 

[myswtsins]

1st one definately looks like a juvi Pseudotropheus socolofi and second one kinda looks like a young Pseudotropheus crabro. Both from lake Malawi, both plant eaters.

 

[Chad Roehrich]

That's what I thought too(for both), but the crabro seems to have the strips going horizontally instead of vertically. I couldn't find any pictures of the Crabro with horizontal strips.

 

[Zhylis]

90% sure the blue is a Pseudotropheus socolofi.

50% sure the yellow is a Pseudotropheus crabro. The profile of the head doesn't look quite right, but that could just be the angle of the fish.

(I never had luck with mbuna and plants. Not even anubias and java fern. It was the death of 1000 nibbles...)

 

[myswtsins]

Second one could be Pseudotropheus johanni too, kinda looks like a mutt. But either way, they are not what you are looking for.

edit- young female johanni specifically

 

[PlantedRich]

One of the problems that is getting worse is how to ID the fish from Malawi. There seems to be no reasonable effort made to keep mutts out of the trade so we can often get fish with no real ID.
In general I find the Pseudotropheus group to be more prone to trouble than others. My plan at this point would be to watch who nibbles at the algae on the plants and then if it is the suspect, I move him along or change to tougher plants. But if I like the fish I wait longer and work at making changes more than if the fish is a pain anyway and not high on my favorites list.