My ichthyology is very poor (nearly as poor as the labelling in the otherwise excellent Afrykarium!). Any help identifying these various fish pictures would be very much appreciated (and my apologies - I am sure they are fairly common species which I probably *should* be able to identify myself).
Not an easy one, it looks like one of the bigger Malawi cichlids, which are not often kept by hobbyists. Perhaps a Petrotilapa species, the one usually imported is the 'Trident Tiger' P. tridentiger and there is a race called 'yellow chin'. This might be a big old male with a darker body than usual. If so he will have three rows of teeth across his lips - do you have any shots with his mouth open a little wider?
Not an easy one, it looks like one of the bigger Malawi cichlids, which are not often kept by hobbyists. Perhaps a Petrotilapa species, the one usually imported is the 'Trident Tiger' P. tridentiger and there is a race called 'yellow chin'. This might be a big old male with a darker body than usual. If so he will have three rows of teeth across his lips - do you have any shots with his mouth open a little wider?
If there is one person on this site who can be counted on to identify an obscure cichlid, it would be you, Alan - so thanks for trying with this one!
I was told by the zoo's director that this tank contained some cichlids which had not yet been scientifically named - so maybe this was one of those....
I wouldn't argue with that and I had considered it as a possibility. Petrochromis species are not imported frequently, as most are too big and too aggressive to be of interest to fishkeepers and I can only recall seeing one species in the flesh (the beautiful P. trewavasae). That species has a much wider mouth and fleshier lips than this fish appears to have, but that may not be significant.
Sorry for the response on a topic of 4 years ago. I just wanted to give a little update on this species. Together with Gentle lemur, I looked into this species just today. It was formally known as the undescribed species Petrochromis sp. 'red bulu point'. While remaining partly unclear, I think we can almost say for sure that this fish now has the name of Petrochromis lisachisme. Only described in 2018, this new species seems to match the best with both the typical Red Bulu cichlids and the specimen in your picture.
