Afra Cobue from MCA Auction

[scifisarah]

I purchased five Cynotilapia afra (Cobue) from the auction a week and a half ago. Of the five, four of them look very similar in shape and often swim around together. One is definitely a dominant male, although I'm still not quite sure if the others are females or possible one or two sub males. Then there is this fifth fish. None of the other four afras like it, it never swims with them, and it has slightly different shape of the head and mouth. There seems to be less of a bump on its forehead and the overall look of the face is more narrow. It also does not have the irridescent patch on the cheek like the other four. Is this a different kind of fish, or just a "funny looking" afra Cobue? It is also very territorial and fighting with my Rusties a lot. Behavior is a lot different and it was very hard to photograph. The other four afras come and look at me, but the fifth one is always hiding and lurking in the shadows. There was no contact info on the bag so I don't know how to get ahold of the breeder to ask if maybe it was put in by accident. What do you all think?

Dominant male, his stripes darken up when he is feisty:


Two of the four that are either females or sub males:


These last three photos are of the fifth fish I am not sure about:

[djlamonica]

Not exp. With Agra but I  I had to take a guess that may be your lone female?  I know there are a few very exp Agra breeders on here hopefully they chin in my interest is peeked.

[scifisarah]

Not exp. With Agra but I  I had to take a guess that may be your lone female?  I know there are a few very exp Agra breeders on here hopefully they chin in my interest is peeked.

Haha, that would be funny. Well the four seem to get along so well. I figured if they were all boys, they would be fighting more, but maybe you are right. I have no idea how to tell the difference between females and sub males.

[djlamonica]

Well there really not breeding size yet most of my mbuna got along very well until it was breeding age/size now the 3 rusty males I have hate each other even though they same together and played in the filter flo for about 6 months. Same with the psdeuo tropheus and yellow labs. 

[djlamonica]

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=1371

There is a link that shows pictures Id say for sure that she is a she and the others are males young adults still coloring up.

[scifisarah]

Exept all the females in photos have different shaped heads, and have the irridescent ear spot, whereas this fish doesn't. I'd say they are all at least 3 inches, so not really small.

[Ron]

I think that the odd one out is a female.

I'd say at least 2 of the 4 that hang out together are males, but wouldn't say they are all males without seeing them first.

[Regalblue]

Not exp. With Agra but I  I had to take a guess that may be your lone female?  I know there are a few very exp Agra breeders on here hopefully they chin in my interest is peeked.

  ignore me.... I just had to quote this post. Looks like Dan had a few "pops" at lunch. .

[djlamonica]

Not exp. With Agra but I  I had to take a guess that may be your lone female?  I know there are a few very exp Agra breeders on here hopefully they chin in my interest is peeked.

  ignore me.... I just had to quote this post. Looks like Dan had a few "pops" at lunch. .

Hmm I did it on my phone.......No I didn't I got nothing.

[scifisarah]

Well I guess I will just keep them all and see what happens as they mature more. I really thought that one might be something else entirely the way they all act and look differently. I guess true for people, and fish perhaps.

[Michigan_inverts]

I'm going to need better labels for the next auction. 

I brought the 5 Cyno. Afras to the MCA auction. They were part of a group (juveniles and adults) I purchased in September from a breeder who is scaling back. This is my first time keeping them, so I'm not exactly an expert.

The adult females I have (including one that just hatched a group of fry) all seem to have the iridescent spots. They will vary in color between individuals and mood, but very similar to your pics. The two dominant males don't show the spots. There's a subdominant male hiding somewhere in one of my tanks I haven't checked, but he stays pretty scarce.

My guess is that it is just a loner type afra. It may be some fluke when I got them originally, but I think it's not very likely since he tends to keep even his grow out tanks stocked so similar colors aren't together.

Jeff

[scifisarah]

Thanks for the info, I will just let them finish growing and see what happens.

[NorthernAquatic]

That's a very nice looking group you have there.