Visible Difference Between Tropheus Red Rainbow Variants?

[jeebus]

Tropheus Moorii Red Rainbow.. You either love them or hate them - at least that's the only two opinions I've ever found on them. I personally love them, and have a 54 fish colony of them.

My question is this.. on Trophs.com a person looking to add to her Red Rainbow Kasanga collection asked if she should get the same variant, to which a site retailer replied yes, that she should not mix them.

My curiosity was if anyone out there can actually determine visually, the difference between the Red Rainbow collection point variants of Kasanga, Kambwimba, or Kantalamba? I personally can not, and have seen people post pictures of all three variants and they look the same. Add in that trophs will color up or down to match the substrate, rock, and background - and I can say that I've seen mine go from pastel to muted colors.

So, is there a difference or is there not, and that's why many importers are not labeling collection points any more?

[bethesdaboy]

a red rainbow is a red rainbow.

[myjohnson]

From my understanding, the world of naming tropheus is still in flux. The scientific name of a tropheus is denoted as such, tropheus moorii "collection point." There are a number of collection points with minor variation in the fishes' color depending on collection point. The quotation marks means that the siencific community has not formally named the fish and they are still working on the taxnomy.

It has been reported on a number of fourms that there are a minor difference in the RR depending on their collection point. I would not mix them until they have been formally named, if they ever get formally named....

[eklikewhoa]

You can be like whatever and just seperate according to variant or you can get anal about it and seperate according to collection point.


There are slight differences but if you ask anyone who has kept a good amount of fish you will see that even within a single collection point there is still variation.


Hobbyist discretion but you know what you did jeebus..... too many mixed up collection points and too many different sources pooled together. Call them Rainbows and give it up.

[myjohnson]

I agree that there are difference even within a colony.....more so with the rainbow vairants than others.

If it was me....I would be honest with the buyer and let him know what he was buying. Let him choose what he wants to do.

[jeebus]

Hobbyist discretion but you know what you did jeebus..... too many mixed up collection points and too many different sources pooled together. Call them Rainbows and give it up.

Either that or just lie to yourself and everyone along the way and just call them whatever you want to call them.

It works for everyone else so why the hell not?

That's just it, I'm sick of the marketing behind the troph game. I'm 100% content to call them Red Rainbows and got mad this morning when I saw an online retailer at Trophs.com tell a forum member that she should definitely keep them separated by variant and coincidently, he had just got a bunch of that particular Red Rainbow variant to sell to her.

[jeebus]

Is this happening with any other variants or just the Red Rainbows? Either way, how did this happen? Did three different people want to have the claim for finding this variant and thus were too stubborn to just stick to one name?

[eklikewhoa]

Well then you obviously know what you want to do and what you feel so why start the thread asking for the same answer you know you will get from the masses?


Disclose where you sourced your stock from and ask for the same from the others and go with what you want to do.... simple as that.

[eklikewhoa]

Is this happening with any other variants or just the Red Rainbows? Either way, how did this happen? Did three different people want to have the claim for finding this variant and thus were too stubborn to just stick to one name?

They are all Red Rainbows.... simple as that.

Colection point will always be there since there are so many different places where they are caught and those groups don't bleed into the others so why not?

Hell.... Look at Chipimbi and Moliro.....

[jeebus]

Well then you obviously know what you want to do and what you feel so why start the thread asking for the same answer you know you will get from the masses?

Because I didn't know what answer I would get from the masses. For all I knew, I was going to get a resounding "each variant is as different as DNA". I didn't know.

Why you busting my chops tonight?

[myjohnson]

lol, what's new.

[fshfrk]

Give it up Jeebus.

[imagirlgeek]

Well then you obviously know what you want to do and what you feel so why start the thread asking for the same answer you know you will get from the masses?

If you don't like the question asked, you don't have to post an answer. Also, if you feel you have already covered this topic in another thread, please feel free to copy the link.

This topic can be and will be read by many members, not just those who are actively posting. If you have something to add that might be useful to everyone, post it. If you are frustrated that your advice or information is not being utilized, move on to another thread.

[geoff_tropheus]

Red Rainbows are a very complicated variant. There is roughly 4 locations reported where they collect them.

The differences are very subtle unless you have seen or seen pictures of each side by side.

The biggest differences are in the Dorsal Color. The Dorsal color is going to range from lots of red to purple because of the amount of blue. The Body color is also going to change somewhat because certain variants have a much larger yellow sunspot than others.

The problem arises, because for a very long time their locations were "secret" The Red Rainbow used to always be sold as "Tanazanian Red Rainbow" They never started disclosing the locations until Konnings brought out the Natural Habitat Book with photos. That book really opened a lot of eyes and exporters now had to start disclosing some locations.

The issues now with the Red Rainbow types is that you have Burundi Farms selling pondraised "Red Rainbows" They are not disclosing the location, but yet they are in Burundi. So this means they got the fish from someone or they went there and collected. Then you have your southern collectors that know the locations and sell by location. Katanlamba, Kambwimba, Kasanga, and Kapere are locations that I have seen on lists over the years, and people have posted pics of them. The differences are minimal really.

Chipimbi and Moliro are different fish. A True Chipimbi is only going to have the red strip along the tail. Your Moliro is going to have red in the body, and is going to have a very very bright red dorsal. Lots of times they are confused, but the Chipimbi is going to have a darker body, the Moliro will have a brighter flank.

Call me an elitist if you like, but I feel if you know that you have certain location, then you should persue that location. That is one advantage of getting Wild Caught is that you know all the fish you purchased is VERY LIKELY to have all come from the same collection spot.

Otherwise if your pieceing together, either try for the same nomenclature, or mix them and sell them as "Red Rainbows." The fish are beautiful. I like the weird odd-ball guys, but there is no one out there that cannot say the Tropheus Red Rainbow variants are some of the most colorful the species has to offer.

Most importantly, they are your fish. You are the one that has to be happy with them. The happier you are with the fish, the better care they will recieve. That is most important of all.

When it comes time to sell fry, just be open honest about it. I hate it when retailers or Hobbyist lie. This is another reason people persue the importers of the wild fish. They have their reputations at stake on internet forums around the world. If they are honest, they will tell you the truth, show you pictures, and the invoice if needed.

Otherwise...lets love our fishes. They bring us all a great joy, or none of us would be here, posting questions, and comments.

[Kiovo]

We're just trying to learn the most we can about our fishes. I personally think they are gorgeous and could care less if they were collected from a ditch. I can understand why collection point is important but at the end of the day, we really enjoy our fish. This is why we spent the money that we have on them and I know we'll have this colony for a long long time. Jeebus has been very honest about where we have gotten every single one of our fishes, its not a secret. As far as selling fry, good luck getting them past me!

but thanks to everyone who has posted, its a contineous learning experience!