125g: tropheus and friends!

[myjohnson]

Yup!!!

I've actually tired to bring them in on pass orders but the importer was always out.

My buddy had a pair but the female passed so he gave me this single male.

Red looks better in real life I think.

[sunkenmetal]

Fish and shrimp always look better in person...

[beto]

Awesome fish and pics!

[myjohnson]

Thanks Beto.

Do you know if my Moba II look like mando's yellow murago?

[beto]

Never saw them, sorry.

[aquabee]

Nice shots Thai! Those Moba II ...

[eklikewhoa]

Thanks Beto.

Do you know if my Moba II look like mando's yellow murago?

50pcchickennugget was selling them the other day.

[cichlid1409]

@ 1409, did your old ones ever breed? I've kept gobies in the pass but never got them to breed. I'll give another go at it.

mine never bred either had them in with my trophs for over 2 years and nothing. not sure why, the trophs never paid any attention to them.

[moganman]

They don't look the same from what I see. What are the true murago?

[myjohnson]

What are the true murago?

Hard to answer but I will give it a try...

First off I would like to note that the term "murago" is not a formal nomenclature but rather a trade name. The formals names will be denoted by a reference to the fish's respective collection point. An example would be Tropheus Moori "Moba II".

A number of these tropheus are collected a long the same strip of lake front. Some overlapping and some not. First, you have "Zongwe" and "Kapampa". I have seen both these fish referred to as murago in the pass. What sets them apart from the rest of this "group" is the fact that they DO NOT have dots on their faces. Tropheus moori "Zongwe" has popped up on importer's lists as Tropheus yellow murago.

Additionally, there are two fishes that are also collected near this area, lusingu and moba II. These fishes DO have dots on there faces. The fish collected at Moba II has been systematically referred to as green murago here in the US. In German, they have been referred to as yellow murago. This confusion is caused because the fish looks both green and yellow depending on the area of the fishes and the angle of the light hitting it. The fish collected at Lusina is a little more purple.

Interestingly, it appears like there maybe two other types of murago founded...This has been posted by Mark on TF.

"In the same vein i've recently seen some interesting stuff with Murago. I got a few loads of these and thought i had a good idea of what they looked like - then all of a sudden a large group turned up with JET BLACK tail fins...the kicker being the black went a good third of the way up the fishs body. It was a very striking fish. Not all of them but a good percentage. The first time i saw them i remember thinking too myself "wow those look different for murago"."

And this has been posted by Gernot on trophs.

"There's a brown variant of the Murago as well. I saw them in 2007 and they look great, for me better than the yellow variant. "

My personal take is that the Aqualog remains the controlling authority on the matter until another publication takes it's place. Currently, the Aqualog only has two collection points and have pictures of each. The fish I my pictures look exactly like the Tropheus Moori "Moba II" referenced in that book.

[SunnyHouTX]

Time to get an Aqualog...

[eklikewhoa]

I still think they are the same for the most part.

There are some questionable pictures in the aqualog as well but I agree, the aqualog is probably one of the oldest standing publications that comes the closest.

[SunnyHouTX]

I will be ordering one soon. Need to read up on some of the rarer variants.

[eklikewhoa]

There are some websites that hold good info as well with articles written by some of the reputable collectors.

cichlidae.com is one of my favs.

[moganman]

Thai, you're a fish geek. Lol