Ant Posted January 7, 2004 Share Posted January 7, 2004 Why has this occured? they couldnt be differant locations because they are 'Hongi', are they differant colour variations from the same area? or has the variants been created in aquariums? Anthony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Posted January 7, 2004 Share Posted January 7, 2004 Hey Anthony, I have also heard of red top hongi aswell I think they are caught in different parts of the lake but im no xpert...ask Fiona or someone that keeps and breeds hongi. cheers Richard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLACKBAR Posted January 7, 2004 Share Posted January 7, 2004 hey there the red hongi you are talking about are the ones with the oracgey red instead of the yellow right?? well on some american sites i've seen them called super red kipuma's or red top kipuma well it was something like that.. but the ones that i have seen were yellow till they started being fed on tetra bits which enhances the yellow to an orange/re colour does the same to the leleupi's dunno if this accounts for all the red hongi's around maybe there is another variant in but the ones i know of i have seen change slowly from yellow to red from being fed on tetra bits Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spooky Posted January 7, 2004 Share Posted January 7, 2004 Gday Blackbar, not all red hongi are fed on tetra bits as i kept and bred mine for a long time and they were always red from when i bought them at 3cm till they grew to adult size and they got nothing more then flake and brine shrimp... sorry i cant really explain the reason why there are diff colour variations but would assume diff colour morphs..ohhh and b4 i forget the hongi seem to be a fish that adapt to diff colour suroundings in a tank... ie in with darker or reder colours they go that colour.... in with white rock go more a blue colour... hth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ant Posted January 7, 2004 Author Share Posted January 7, 2004 Red???? Mine are bright fluro orange and the body is some what purple. They have never been fed tetra bits. Is it possable that we have mistaken our hongi, perhaps for this species: http://www.russutslersfish.com/pictures/mb...mpuma_nkali.jpg labidochromis Kimpuma Nkali or perhaps they are even a X Breed . Or is this fish a "hongi" variant? Maybe this is the species that the Americans (As Blackbar said) were talking about "super red kipuma's" and we have assumed they are Hongi when they could be infact labidochromis Kimpuma Nkali. Anthony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
E4G13M4N Posted January 7, 2004 Share Posted January 7, 2004 There was some talk some time back on the old forum about wether or not we had 2 variants or 2 different fish.. Not sure if anything was resolved though, all the ones i have had started out yellow and as they grew they showed slightly more orange tint but not to the extent as that pic .. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ant Posted January 7, 2004 Author Share Posted January 7, 2004 My fish were originally from Andy (AKA Hyperdive) so im pretty sure they are pure. But mine are even more probinant fluro orange than that picture and have a lilak purple body (some of my males siblings had a lighter body). Anthony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danpri Posted January 7, 2004 Share Posted January 7, 2004 With two definate strains,yellowy and reddey,it seems we should come clean and say probably neither are pure 'Hongi Is' if that itself is even a fair dinkum variant,but I'm sure I won't see a flurry of hands going up to admit "Yes,my Hongis probably aren't pure" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tangalicious Posted January 7, 2004 Share Posted January 7, 2004 Hiya Anthony. Yeah Ive always wondered this myself. I remeber on the old SCP page where the hongi in the main page didnt look like the ones I purchased. And from what I remember that were some posts a looooong time ago in regards to the different colours available. The ones you got from me are originally from Andy so yeah its probably best if you ask him which variant (if there is a thing) Seay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ViS Posted January 7, 2004 Share Posted January 7, 2004 Konings (2001) considers Labidochromis sp. "hongi" and the similar Labidochromis sp. "red-top kimpuma" to be synonomous (variants of same species) Distribution: Hongi - Lundo Islands; Liuli; Mbamba Bay Is.; and Undu Reef, Lake Malawi So basically it means that the hongi are all the same, but the colour varies slightly depending on where in the lake they were caught from. I wouldn't be too worried. I wouldn't think that anyone would be in a hurry to bring in any more for a while, as the ones we have here are both nice looking fish and prolific breeders, so the bloodlines will be strong for a long time. It seems to come down to personal preference on which colours people consider the nicest, and mixing two colour variations will not be crossbreeding, but you will end up with fry who may be a mix of the colour of both parents. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catalyst Posted January 8, 2004 Share Posted January 8, 2004 Mark the ones I got from you look exactly like that pic especially the dominate male when he colours up and you know I dont feed tetra colour bits. Mind you I love the orange and purple it is a nice change from the yellow and blue that dominates my Mbuna tank. From what I have managed to find the ones I have are refered to as Hongi Red tops (labidochromis Kimpuma) Hongi Red top and the yellow ones are refered to as labidochromis sp. Hongi Lab sp. Hongi So I think mabe there are two different lab hongi around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danpri Posted January 8, 2004 Share Posted January 8, 2004 but I'm sure I won't see a flurry of hands going up to admit "Yes,my Hongis probably aren't pure" I've predicted right on this so far. If they are diff variants of the same species they should not be crossed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLACKBAR Posted January 8, 2004 Share Posted January 8, 2004 yes we should keep them seperate or we are gonna end up with one variation which in between the two in colouration and occassionly throws back to the seperate colour form look what happened to fuelleborni...... at one stage we had a few varieies blue male blue female blue male o.b female blue male tangerine female red top male ob female now we just have fuellborni all of them mixed together occasionally you find some that look different to the mixture that we have one day people will be trying to line breed hongi back to their original two forms if we starting mixing them up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catalyst Posted January 8, 2004 Share Posted January 8, 2004 I definatly will not be mixing my Hongi red tops as they are a great looking fish and the suprise for me this morning was that one of my female is holding, It looks as if removing the 2 holding solusi has taken away the male solusi's aggression and dominance and now the other fish are having their turn at breeding. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fiona Posted January 8, 2004 Share Posted January 8, 2004 I just noticed something, take a closer look at the two photos that catalyst has provided as examples. They are exactly the same photo, but with the colour balanced differently. I have never personally seen a "yellow top". By that I mean, a strain in which none of the fish will go orange no matter what they are fed or the conditions they are in. If someone has some, I'd be interested to know. In mine, the more dominant ones are orange, the less dominant ones are yellow. And the purpley body. Until I hear of some true yellow tops, I would be starting to suspect (based on the pictorial evidence) that the "strains" might be more from photoshop than from life. Happy to be contradicted! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ViS Posted January 9, 2004 Share Posted January 9, 2004 If they are diff variants of the same species they should not be crossed. Danpri, to be a stickler, if they are the same species, they cannot be crossed. It's like saying you shouldn't mix two lines of Dimi comps because they are caught at different locations in the lake. One variant might show more red in the anal fin than another, but they are still regarded as the same species, but diet and other environmental factors may mean they will have slightly different colour, which is what Ad Konings is getting at. I don't keep hongi so I can't compare different fish, but mine all had a nice orange fin. Not yellow, but not as red as some I've seen that have been fed tetra bits. If it was me buying hongi, I'd be looking for parents who have similar colour to the ones you currently keep. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mazimbwe Posted January 9, 2004 Share Posted January 9, 2004 but I'm sure I won't see a flurry of hands going up to admit "Yes,my Hongis probably aren't pure" I've predicted right on this so far. If they are diff variants of the same species they should not be crossed. hmmm...sorry Dan. Can you tell me where in the lake you(yourself) got, all, your fish from? Maybe if you tell us all exactly where you got them, and how you got em back from the lake...we can all sit on the "High-horse" with you. I mean, really! They are not varients...there is 1(one) L.hongi. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ducksta Posted January 9, 2004 Share Posted January 9, 2004 I currently have a breeding colony (made up from Fiona's fish and another source whose stock is from the same import batch *as far as anyone can find out*) I also have a few other Hongi in another tank, which look sufficiently different to me to force me to keep them seperate until I find out more, which I have been trying to do - but apparently, nobody wants to take credit for the *mystery line* fish, so I am uncertain and remain hesitant of mixing the two. The *mystery* fish are substantially "redder" in the fin and forehead, even though they are much younger, and no I do not feed any colour bits at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BLACKBAR Posted January 9, 2004 Share Posted January 9, 2004 there are 2 variants and ducksta has a perfect example with his 2 distinctly different batches of hongi if you go to riverside at campsie norm had the two different types in one tank the red the other the yellow there was a big difference in colour between the two i dont think he has any of the yellow left though as he had these for a longer time than the red but take a trip to auburn aquariums and they have the yellow variety then go to riverside and you'll see the red variety Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fiona Posted January 9, 2004 Share Posted January 9, 2004 Except that mine (and duck's less red ones) are the orange tops not the yellow tops ... so what does that make the even more red ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ant Posted January 11, 2004 Author Share Posted January 11, 2004 Thanks for info Anthony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ute God Posted January 11, 2004 Share Posted January 11, 2004 Well since im new to the whole fish thing I just want to clarify that my hongi are hongi Male Female They are about 4-5cm at the moment so the female could be a male. But are they hongi? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rolla Posted January 11, 2004 Share Posted January 11, 2004 Well since im new to the whole fish thing I just want to clarify that my hongi are hongi Male Female They are about 4-5cm at the moment so the female could be a male. But are they hongi? Yeps they are hongi alright Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anchar Posted January 11, 2004 Share Posted January 11, 2004 My vote is 'yes' merjo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ute God Posted January 11, 2004 Share Posted January 11, 2004 and they are yellow top? yellow top black bar? just so that i know in the future they were supposed to be $20 each but got them for $14 after swapping my rusty. Is that a good price because after cruising around some of my lfs i saw that the prices on some fish at a1 aquariams are half that of other shops. e.g my clown loach was $8 (cheaper to me since im so nice) and for the same size in another they were $30 and he/she is about 7-8cm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.