Hello again everyone. Well, I returned from the fish store about four hours
ago. After debating for a while between getting a half a dozen or so of
juvenile Zebra Convicts or a half a dozen of juvenile unknowns -- I'll
explain what I mean by "unknowns" in a minute -- I decided to get the
unknowns at $5 each.

The problem was that some of the cichlid tanks at the store were poorly
labeled; and by "poorly", I mean that they just had a
"Cichlids" label on
them, and nothing else, other than the price. No Latin name, no English
name; nothing. Of course, being the experienced aquarist that I am, [grin],
I had my Barron's "Lake Malawi Cichlids" book with me, as well as the first
volume of the Baensch "Aquarium Atlas", both of which I bought a number of
years ago.

From looking at the Barron's book, I had narrowed down the "unknowns" as
being one of four possible species; and I was happy with that, because they
were all dwarf cichlids -- four inches at maturity -- and from the Lake
Malawi area no less, which is what I had originally intended to purchase. I
bred Copadichromis Borleyi -- aka Red Kadango -- several years ago, and I
really enjoyed the male. Our water here is hard and alkaline, so African
cichlids, such as Malawi cichlids, do quite well.

The store employees didn't have a clue what kind of cichlids they were, but
then the store owner arrived; and after looking at her last order, plus her
catalog, she identified them as juvenile "Protomelas Spilonotus Tanzania".
Currently, they are each roughly two inches in length, with steely blue and
black body markings. If they truly are what she said they are, then once
they get older, the males should develop yellow ventral sides. We shall see.

So anyway, I finished purchasing my fish supplies and brought my "new
children" to their new home. As I said, they have been in my forty gallon
tank for four hours now, and it appears that they are already feeling quite
at home. They love the rocks, and the white sand. Their colors have
returned, and look great under the four foot marine glow bulb. They have
already begun sparring with each other as well. There are five of them, and
I am hoping that at least a few will turn out to be female, although I have
my doubts. Time will tell.

So, that's about it for now. If you have any fish stories to share, whether
freshwater or marine, I'd love to hear them, so that we can keep this echo
alive.

Take care!

Jeff Snyder, SysOp - Armageddon BBS  Visit us at endtimeprophecy.org port 23
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