Help on African Cichlids

Drizzit

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Jul 17, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/17/96

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Hi,
I was hoping some could help find out more about a few fish I have.
I've already tried CHOP's home page. The problem is all I know about the
fish are there common names I got from the pet store and that they were
africans. If any one knows their Genus or any other names they may go by
or really any info at all. (prefered living conditions, food, etc.)
Please E-mail info to dri...@thuntek.net.

the common names are :

Daffodil
Bumble Bee
Red Zebra

Thanks for your help
Mike

walted

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Jul 18, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/18/96

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In article <31ED6F...@thuntek.net>,
Drizzit <dri...@thuntek.net> writes:

> the common names are :
>
> Daffodil
> Bumble Bee
> Red Zebra
>
> Thanks for your help
> Mike

I have a couple of Bumble Bee cichlids myself. One of the helpful
people who post on rec.freshwater.cichlids, indicated the scientific
name for these is Pseudotropeus crabro. The spelling of this is
close but I'm sure contains at least one mistake.
I'm looking for a good modern book to help ID fish like these.
If you find a good one first let me know.
Thanks;
Walt
wal...@mindspring.com

Jack Peters

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Jul 18, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/18/96

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The scientific names for the fish are Pseudotropheus cabro (bumble bee).
The red zebra used to be called Pseudotropheus zebra red, but I believe it has
recently been given a new name and I can't remember exactly what it is. The
daffodil is Neolamprologus species Daffodil, although again it appears that
this fish as well may have a new scientific name or may be as yet undescribed.
The bumble bee and red zebra are from Lake Malawi and the daffodil is from
Lake Tanganyika. A good book for these fish (for identification in particular)
would be Cichlids of Lake Malawi by Ad Konings and Cichlids of Lake Tanganyika
by Pierre Brichard. Both of these books are expensive. A much less expensive
identification book is African Cichlids of Lake Malawi and Lake Tanganyika by
Herbert Axelrod. However, a couple of very good books for caring for Cichlids
are A Fishkeeper's Guide to African Cichlids and The Cichlid Aquarium, both by
Paul Loiselle. The Fishkeeper is quite inexpensive. Finally, the fish you
have bought will become large and aggressive, and if you're keeping them in
a tank less than probably 4' long you'll likely run into problems as they
get bigger.

Cynthia Powers

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Jul 20, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/20/96

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The "daffodil" is Neolamprologus brichardi "daffodil." Some people
consider it a separate species, Neolamprologus daffodil.

Some excellent books are anything by Paul Loiselle (_The Fishkeepers
Guide to African Cichlids_ and _The Cichlid Aquarium_ especially. Both
published by Tetra). Also Pierre Brichard's _All the Fishes of Lake
Tanganyika_ (expensive), Koening's books on Malawian cichlids and Staecke
and Linke's books _Cichlids of West Africa_ and _Cichlids of East Africa_.

Cynthia

SpudTheBikePotato

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Jul 22, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/22/96

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Well, as much as scientific names of many cichlid species are being

SpudTheBikePotato

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Jul 22, 1996, 3:00:00 AM7/22/96

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Well, as much as scinetific names of cichlid species are being questioned
and changed, the use of common names does sometimes "hold water".

The only reference to "Daffodil" I have ever seen or used is for the
Dwark Tanganyikan species of Neolamprologus(Lamprologus) brichari, and
even this nomenclature is suspect, in that the yellow "daffodil" variant
may well be a unique specie.

"Bumble Bee" most often is associated with a Lake Malawi mouthbrooding
species of Pseudotropheus, Ps. crabbo (spelling?). The Red Zebra is
a color morph of Pseudotropheus Zebra, of which there are literally
dozens of color variants.