Help Identify my fish

[jonesm12]

Hello everyone, I am fairly new to fish keeping (8 months) and I've become infatuated with Frontosa. I now own several and I am having a hard time pinning down the exact breed I have for my large male. His fins are picked because I had two large males and the alpha would not leave him alone. I picked them up from a local guy who picked them up from another guy with a wild caught group. He was essentially getting rid of males. At the time I didn't think I would be looking for a wild caught group. But, I am now in search of a colony of my own. I want them to be wild caught and I would like them to breed eventually. I need to know exactly what this guy is to help me decide what group to buy as I don't want to mix them. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I believe he is a zaire, possibly kitumba, maybe mikula. He is roughly 11" long. All photos in album are of the fish.

Thank in advance,

Michael

[jonesm12]

I can't figure out how to upload pictures. Any suggestions?

[jico2]

It's definitely a kitumba!!! Hate to break it to you but even if you do post pictures, if it's a Zaire no one will be able to tell you what variant it is.

[jonesm12]

Okay, thanks. If you click the link it will take you to the photos of the fish.

[jico2]

And after seeing the pictures, I'd still say kitumba but seriously if you threw all the Zaire's into a tank,GOOD LUCK SEPARATING THEM.

[jonesm12]

Originally Posted by jico2

And after seeing the pictures, I'd still say kitumba but seriously if you threw all the Zaire's into a tank,GOOD LUCK SEPARATING THEM.

After looking through several pictures on here and on google I'd have to say I completely agree with you. No matter what zaire I type into the search I can find one that looks similar to mine! Kitumba seems to be the most consistent with my particular fish's features.

Thank you

[neutrinoman]

That's the trouble, they're so similar and there's variation within a type-- including individual differences, exports of the same location collected at different times, some of the locations aren't that far from each other, etc. Makes it hard to pin down, especially from photos.

As an aside to your main question, I've seen comments from some cichild writers who have seen them in the lake detailing perceived differences at different locations (for example, Eric Genevelle), then another one says they're all the same (for example, Ad Konings). My personal opinion, based on other science that says animals that look virtually the same can be genetically distinct enough to be looked at as separate populations or even separate species, is that I'm assuming this is a possibility with cyphotilapia until genetic testing rules it out.

In any case, any possibility of tracing back a couple of steps to see what they were sold (or imported) as?