Scienceman Posted January 3, 2005 Share Posted January 3, 2005 I bought four maingano from my LFS a month ago and now notice that there is quite a range of colouration. Some have a washed out blue along their ventral side towards the tail and the black stripes become more greyish toward the tail too. There also seems to be quite a variation in the blue colouration between fish even though they are presumably from the same batch or same parents. When I bought them it was quite a chase to net the ones I was choosing and they seemed to "colour down" during the process making it more difficult to pick the better coloured fish. I have seen some ripper photos on various websites with very strong blues and blacks which is what I would prefer. So I was wondering if the colouration will become stronger as they age or will they stay the same? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ducksta Posted January 4, 2005 Share Posted January 4, 2005 From what I have seen maingano should have good strong colour as fry. Like all fish this will change according to mood and stress levels. The colour in adults ( at least in breeding adults) is much brighter than in fry. Depending on where you sourced your fish from, you may be faced with a case of having fish that were artificially coloured in store. If this is the way the fish gained their colour, there is a good chance unless you buy the 'super food' that store is feeding its cichlids, you will have dull maingano for life. There is some colour enhancers which, once they stop being eaten, will strip almost all colour from a fish, even colour which was prominant before being fed the product. Unfortunately, from what i have seen, use/sale of these products is quite prevalent in the smaller stores on the Central Coast, and also a small number of the larger stores. ps. I am working on getting up there today or tomorrow with your fish, but its still hectic down here having not been home for a week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scienceman Posted January 4, 2005 Author Share Posted January 4, 2005 Thanks Ducksta, I was going to ask your opinin when you drop by as then you can see the colours and tell me if they are good / average / poor. I am seriously thinking of returning the dull fish to the LFS, keeping the 2 good ones and buying from another LFS who sources from interstate and is more expensive but "guarantees" better quality. I agree with you about mood and stress as the biggest is usually the dullest but has moments of strong colour. I will be home today and tomorrow as my only plan is to go fishing on Friday. May go out for a few hours but can fit in with your plans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aquaman Posted January 4, 2005 Share Posted January 4, 2005 Hey Duksta, You say: There is some colour enhancers which, once they stop being eaten, will strip almost all colour from a fish, even colour which was prominant before being fed the product. Are you able to provide my any further info on that (which products, etc)? Maybe PM me if you're able and we can discuss off-line if that's more appropriate? Cheers Richard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ducksta Posted January 4, 2005 Share Posted January 4, 2005 It is the very same product which has been discussed to no-end on every Australian forum. I am sure you know which. The only evidence/proof I have is what I have seen with my own eyes, and what I have heard from others, which generally is exactly what I have seen anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ViS Posted January 4, 2005 Share Posted January 4, 2005 My guess is that the fry were probably stressed in the lfs tank. We have mostly excellent maingano bloodlines here, so a majority should show good colour from 2cm upwards. The fry that were coloured better may have been the ones that were least stressed. I doubt even hormone foods could make maingano more attractive as juveniles than they are naturally. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rol&Jas Posted January 5, 2005 Share Posted January 5, 2005 I totally agree with Andy. The mainganos have good colour from 1.5-2cm. They do not require the best quality food to show their good colour. So, I doubt it as well that colour enhancers would improve much their colouration. They can turn paler blue when stressed or not happy. Roland Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lepperfish Posted January 5, 2005 Share Posted January 5, 2005 Dont most LFS avoid colour enhancing foods ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scienceman Posted January 5, 2005 Author Share Posted January 5, 2005 Unfortunately the LFS sourced these from Sydney rather than the Central Coast. I have had the fish for 3 weeks now and the difference in colouring has shown up under happy tank conditions rather than as a result of stress. Two show strong colour, two are pale, and the largest is variable, one minute he is good the next he is pale. One of my problems is that I am not sure what to expect. What consitites good colour in a juvinile? Does anybody have any pics they consider show good colour in young fish (2-4cm)? I am seriously considering returning the pale fish to the LFS if I can get better quality fish here on the Central Coast. I dont care if I dont get much credit, I would prefer to have good fish which will be with me for their lifetime. Andy, do you know of anybod y on the coast with juviniles for sale? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danpri Posted January 5, 2005 Share Posted January 5, 2005 You'll probably find the pale ones will end up the females, Lee Miller has as good maingano as you'll find IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ViS Posted January 5, 2005 Share Posted January 5, 2005 My juveniles are not "pale" but they are definitely lighter blue than when they become mature. I'll try to get a pic for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scienceman Posted January 5, 2005 Author Share Posted January 5, 2005 Pardon my ignorance but who is Lee Miller? Is he on the Central Coast? I am pleased to know that they might darken up a little when older and would appreciate pics when you can manage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lepperfish Posted January 5, 2005 Share Posted January 5, 2005 Speaking of maingano, I picked myself up 4 of these guys today.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JiggyJigs Posted January 5, 2005 Share Posted January 5, 2005 Id bet that your paler ones are female, the ones that are always dark are dominant males and the one that changes is prolly a subdominant male. Juvenile maingano are incredibly coloured up. My fry (bout1.5cm) have awesome colours atm. Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiger Posted January 5, 2005 Share Posted January 5, 2005 part of my adult breeding colony fry @ about 4 to 5cms fry @ about 2.5cms Sorry about the food floating around but i just saw your querie and took a few quick snaps . HTH Cheers Kevin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aquaman Posted January 5, 2005 Share Posted January 5, 2005 Pardon my ignorance but who is Lee Miller? He's a member of this forum, pretty sure he just goes by "Lee Miller" when posting. If you have a look around the forum you might be able to find one of his old posts and get in contact with him that way... Cheers Richard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scienceman Posted January 5, 2005 Author Share Posted January 5, 2005 Thanks for the pics Kevin. Your adults look great. Comparing your juviniles to mine, the main difference I can see is that the lower blue stripe is much paler on mine whereas yours seem to have the same colour top and bottom. Funny enough but the fish which changes from pale to strong colours all the time is about 2x as big as the others (~5cm) so I would expect him to be and stay dominant, unless it is a female I guess(?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Miller Posted January 6, 2005 Share Posted January 6, 2005 Hi Scienceman, I'm Lee Miller. We had a conversation once about the definition of 'genus', 'species' etc. I signed-off that day as "Literatureman", but I usually go by the name my mum gave me Hi Dan, Thanks for the wrap Cheers, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scienceman Posted January 6, 2005 Author Share Posted January 6, 2005 Hi Lee, Yes that was an interesting discussion and I learned a lot. As you can tell from my posts I currently have some juvinile maingano and I am not sure if they are as good quality as they could be. It would really help if I had a digital camera but have to resort to verbal descriptions. What colouration should I have in young fish to ensure good adults? As I am setting up my community tank now, and did not get any replies to WTB posts a few weeks ago I decided to buy from a LFS on the Central Coast. If I can get some better quality replacements in the next few weeks I am thinking of giving these back and cutting my losses. Any suggestions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Miller Posted January 6, 2005 Share Posted January 6, 2005 Hi Scienceman, The reason you didn't get any replies to your WTB was probably to do with your location. Mainganos can vary quite a lot under ideal conditions and even more under stress. Lighter coloured bellies can indicate females but one of my best breeding females is as dark as any male and has two eggspots. It's really hard for me to comment on what juveniles will look like when all grown-up 'cause virtually all of mine leave home and go out into the real world quite young. The photos posted by Tiger show some pretty typical (good colour) mainganos. If yours are anything like that colour I wouldn't worry about swapping. If they are much lighter (and I've only seen light coloured mainganos once - in a LFS) then I'd probably give them a week or two of good quality food, to see if they improve, before swapping. HTH Cheers, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nannat Posted January 6, 2005 Share Posted January 6, 2005 im wondering about the alkalinity of the water you have scienceman.if the colouring on our maingano is reputed to be strong perhaps you may have a neutral ph.this can lower the colour in cichlidfish i believe. just thought this needed to be asked.maybe also what food do they get?im not suggesting to give them colour food here either... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scienceman Posted January 8, 2005 Author Share Posted January 8, 2005 Thanks for the suggestions Nannat, but the pH is 8 and they have been eating Sera vipan flakes for several weeks now. The juvinile photos that Tiger posted are a little out of focus so while the adults are beautiful I cannot clearly see the bottom blue stripe which is the palest in mine to compare. I guess mine might be OK but I will try and find better during the next few months while my "setting up" window is still open. Thanks for your advise. Please let me know if you have any mainango juviniles coming soon as I visit the Sutherland shire from time to time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattzilla Posted January 8, 2005 Share Posted January 8, 2005 i only very recently got some very good quality mainganos from lee miller and in the short time i have had them i have noticed that the darker ones seem to be acting like males....you know establishing territories and chasing off other darker/male fish. the paler fish i just assumed where females or sub dom males. their colours deffinately do vary quiet a lot.... but i i think that has a lot to do with sex and mood they are in.. i could be wrong though as i am very new to them, but that is what their behaviour is telling me matt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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