Next auction

[Jefft]

Hey folks been awhile since I popped up a thread or said hello so let me take care of that and start off by saying hello and I do hope each of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. That said let me get to the point of this little post. I have in my 30G cube some 200 fry I will be bringing to the next auction. The fry were stripped from the mommas and I have Rusties, Yellow Labs, electric blue ahili, and Red Empress from the sire you see in my avatar, should be stunning to say the least. Now to my question.
The Rusties and Yellow Labs are easily identified from any of the other species. However, the Ahili and the Red Empress I am not sure about. I know females of the Red Empress variety have a horizontal bar and vertical intersecting barring. Once of age the ahili demonstrate vertical barring singularly in females the males eventually color up to a brilliant blue. However in the unsexed fry stage what I am seeing is all the fry of the Red Empress and Ahili are silver, single horizontal bar on both sides and the beginning flecks of the vertical bars just under the dorsal fin. Long story short I am having issues identifying the Red Empress Fry from the Ahili fry or if there are any Ahili fry in fact left in the mix. Anyone raised these fry and able to help with identification? I know in the future I will be investing in species specific 10 to 15g to keep everyone separate but for now to be able to confidently present the Red Empress and Ahili at the auction I need to figure out who is who.

 

[Tony]

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving as well, Jeff.

Tough predicament you are in for sure. You will be able to tell the difference, but not until they are over an inch imo... and then it's still tough to be sure. The mood of a fish or it's spot on the pecking order will affect it's melanin pattern. For instance, the dominant fish will generally sport some sort of barring. This is true in most Malawi fish.

Give it time. You will be able to tell the difference, it just may take a bit of time.

 

[Jefft]

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving as well, Jeff.

Tough predicament you are in for sure. You will be able to tell the difference, but not until they are over an inch imo... and then it's still tough to be sure. The mood of a fish or it's spot on the pecking order will affect it's melanin pattern. For instance, the dominant fish will generally sport some sort of barring. This is true in most Malawi fish.

Give it time. You will be able to tell the difference, it just may take a bit of time.

We are at the inch stage Tony, there just doesn't seem to be a noticable difference in what I am seeing. I am even wondering if the Ahili fry made it and all the silver fry I am seeing are the Red Empress. I have in my holding nets for upcoming future auctions Acei, Metriaclimia Elongatus, more Rusty and Yellow Lab. I guess I need to get a few more reports for Bap set up. I figured get em verified at auction prior to sending in pictures of stripping sessions/dates and paperwork. Lots upcoming to contribute though.

 

[Tony]

We are at the inch stage Tony, there just doesn't seem to be a noticable difference in what I am seeing. I am even wondering if the Ahili fry made it and all the silver fry I am seeing are the Red Empress. I have in my holding nets for upcoming future auctions Acei, Metriaclimia Elongatus, more Rusty and Yellow Lab. I guess I need to get a few more reports for Bap set up. I figured get em verified at auction prior to sending in pictures of stripping sessions/dates and paperwork. Lots upcoming to contribute though.

Maybe more than an inch then... Bred 5 different Protomelas and a bunch of peacocks, but never S. fryeri. Protomelas are very distinct with the melanin from a young age. fryeri are more dotted, no? I imagine they look a lot more like peacocks than Protomelas.

Either way, I wouldn't risk distributing them until you are 100% sure of what they are... even if it means raising some more fryeri for comparison value.

Patience, grasshopper.

 

[chriscoli]

on the plus side...you'll get more for them when they're a bit larger anyhow.

I've nearly done the same thing to myself...I have a 40B that I sometimes dump same-size mbuna juvies into. I've been afraid that I'd combine two different kinds in there only to find out that they end up becoming pretty much the same color in that tank (response to environment, substrate color, etc) till they grow out a bit.

 

[Jefft]

Maybe more than an inch then... Bred 5 different Protomelas and a bunch of peacocks, but never S. fryeri. Protomelas are very distinct with the melanin from a young age. fryeri are more dotted, no? I imagine they look a lot more like peacocks than Protomelas.

Either way, I wouldn't risk distributing them until you are 100% sure of what they are... even if it means raising some more fryeri for comparison value.

Patience, grasshopper.

Yeah the fry are silver with a solid horizontal bar on both sides and then just under the dorsal fin the dots of what looks like will be the 4 to five vertical bars. I will try to get a few pictures when I toss in their repashy cubes tomorrow.