congrats you brought one of the most aggressive cichlids you can get
Melanochromis auratus has a really bad reputation and are picked by a lot of people who are new to cichlids, they are nice looking when there young but as male adults there deadly and not very good to look at they go almost black.
Yeah they are horror stories for sure, they are so common and im willing to be 99 percent of petstores would tell you otherwise. I have 1 in my tank now who is fine with his tank mates. My mom recently adopted another from a friend of hers and before i could get home and separate them mine had killed the other, they are definatly a very aggressive fish.
That looks more like a female chipokae than an auratus to me. If so, you better get it out of there quick if you don't want problems. They are even meaner than auratus.
An auratus has half the tail colored yellow and the chipokae doesn't.
It's definately an Auratus female - the tail is only half yellow. Also Chipokae female stripes and colouration are not as clearly defined, the colours merge together more.
It's definately an Auratus female - the tail is only half yellow. Also Chipokae female stripes and colouration are not as clearly defined, the colours merge together more.
Yea, you'e right about the colors merging togther more. The half color on the tail isn't up and down, it's across. I'm not positive and will take your word but it sure looks like a chipokae to me. Could be wrong and wouldn't be the first time.
I searched after reading your reply and came across these 2 sites and it doesn't look like an auratus but I dunno...
The other fish are various types of Zebra. The orange and brown fish is known as an O/B Zebra, they have been in the industry since the early seventies. The auratus is most likely a female unless it is very small. Chipokae are much worse for a community tank because they feed on small fish in addition to insects and plants.