Fish with identity crisis

[cameracorpus]

Happy Halloween!

I have several Malawi cichlids that I've tried and tried to get a true identity on, and I can't totally figure them out. Any help would be most appreciated:

1: This was a female Aratus until about 2 months ago. Now it appears male I've heard they can do that, and also that they just adapt the male coloration. Don't know which to go by. I do a have another slightly larger female.

2: I got a group of these from a buddy. They were fry from a mixed tank. I have eight of them, only one looks like a pure Yellow Lab, the rest show varying shades of blue and/or gray.

3: I have two of these. They vary from gray to medium blue with gray/black bars.

4: Either this is the other one or another shot of the above fish.

5: Last but definitely not least, this big guy seem to "hang" with the two above pictured fish. Definitely works on nesting most of the time.

Another of the possible Yellow Lab morphs.

The reason I'm trying to ID these is I'm considering keeping some if not all in my 55 as a Mbunda tank, and then using my 35 cube as a planted tank, minus cichlids, of course. These all will live with a large Crabro and a couple of catfish.

Thanks!

Michael

[dblondfemme]

The blue one looks like a hap moori the Blue Dolphin... the top one looks like a Julie cross. Other can help you more...

[Fire_chair]

1 is some kind of Melanochromis
2 and the last ones look like some kind of hybrid.
3-4 look like a Kenyi changing colors.
5 looks kind of like a Blue Zebra

[cameracorpus]

Thanks. I think you nailed them. But what do you mean by "changing colors?"
Do you mean a temporary change or something permanent?

[Fire_chair]

Looks like a male turning from juvy blue to adult yellow.

[cameracorpus]

Color change.

That would be awesome. Like I captioned the picture (#1), the aratus has also changed. I think that rather than break these fish up, I may need to give them more time and see what transpires. However, the big Crabro may need to go anyway, just to keep some resemblance of peace in the tank. But I have been observiing them more closely, and it seems the Kenyi's and Blue Zebra seem to be making the biggest fuss. The aratus, for their reputation, don't seem to mess with the others that much.

After the recommendations following my newbie post, and the ID help, here's what is in the tank, a 55 standard footprint with PFS and sufficient rock:
1 Crabro- 4"
2 Aratus- 3",3.5" One appears male now.
2 Kenyi- 3.5"
1 Blue Zebra- 3.5"
1 Synodontis cat-5"
1 Shovelnosed cat- 4-5"
1 Red-finned shark (I know, I know, but it is hard to get rid of)- 5.5"

My 35 cube has:
6 definite Yellow Lab/? hybrids- all about 2.5 or 3"
1 possible Yellow Lab- 2"
1 for sure Yellow Lab- 2"

I can move one of the cats to the cube to help with clean-up.
The cross-breeds and Yellow Lab(s) in the cube continue to exhibit mating rituals. I'm not sure if I should let them do their thing or not, based on what I've read about hybrids. The cross-breeds are most likely Lab/Kenyi crosses, from what I remember of the donor tank.

My big question for now is have I screwed up totally by taking LFS advice, or can I continue with a Mbuna tank using the 55 and add fish of either the same species as present or perhaps another species? I really don't want to put the others back in the tank since they were getting beat up pretty bad, and they are now doing much better. My original water quality issue has improve immensely, mainly from thinning the fish, but also from cleaning stuff, adding a powerhead, and removal of suspect rock. I'm still planning on snagging a decent cannister to help the Cascade 700, so the tank will be able to handle more load biologically, I'm just wonder about the social aspect.

[Fire_chair]

I would drop the Crabro, Auratus, and Kenyi and start over with the 55. Once one of them matures you're probably going to end up with one little fish in a big pond. The 35 MAY work, you never know when it comes to hybrids, but you shouldn't let any of the fry out of your tanks. What are the dimensions of the 35?

[cameracorpus]

It is a 20x20x20 cube. Currently have clay flowerpots on PFS since my holey rock was dissolving too fast. I used substrate from the 55 to jump start this one when I split up the fish. I'm using a Marineland 350 and a sponge filter also. I have been thinking hard about doing another low-tech planted tank with one of the tanks. I recently sold a planted 29 gal in a fit of stupidity and I miss it. Very calming compared to the WWIII atmosphere in the mbunda tanks.

[a/cwizard]

#1 my male turned from yellow and black to almost solid black when he got older and the female stayed the same.Kinda crazy how much they can change colors.