Matty Posted November 23, 2005 Share Posted November 23, 2005 About a year ago I bought two lombardoi's, a male and a female. I had no intention of breeding them, just to have them in a display tank purely for their colours. The male has hassled the female from time to time, but not enough to bring her any harm (maybe once or twice a month he gets a bit toey with her.) but she is still a very healthy fish. What I have noticed is that she has changed colour from a brilliant blue to an "orangy" colour similar to the male, but she is still a very healthy fish. Here are a few pictures of her colour transformation. What are your thoughts? Any feedback is appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danpri Posted November 23, 2005 Share Posted November 23, 2005 Females often disguise themselves in male colouration to stop from being hassled so much, unless it's a late colouring male? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ViS Posted November 23, 2005 Share Posted November 23, 2005 How are you sure it's a girl? Has she spawned before? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matty Posted November 23, 2005 Author Share Posted November 23, 2005 How are you sure it's a girl? Has she spawned before? ← Nope, I just assumed she was female because of her colour when I purchased her. I bought the two of them when they were both about 6-7cm. To me, (and the LFS owner) I had a male and female, and the behaviour of the male towards her IME would also suggest that she is female. Do all lombardoi's start off as the blue colour and only the males turn yellow? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matty Posted November 23, 2005 Author Share Posted November 23, 2005 This is her colour as of 5 minutes ago, so as you can see, her colour varies as to what type of mood she is in. This colour is about as close to "blue" as she gets. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caesar Posted November 23, 2005 Share Posted November 23, 2005 Hey mate, I had four lombardoi which I was trying to breed. Two of them did exactly the same thing. So I bought a big male and chucked him in and within 48 hours they had returned back to the blue colour. I also asked this question a few months back and some of the responses I got were that if they showed any yellow they were males. But I have recently disproved that advice as my two multicoloured girls have breed now. " Females often disguise themselves in male colouration to stop from being hassled so much, unless it's a late colouring male? " I think this comment was on the money. Ave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ant Posted November 24, 2005 Share Posted November 24, 2005 Some times males take a while to show particularly if there is a bigger and or more aggressive male in the same tank. I would say that it is probably a male, but I have had a dominant female change colour (not to the same extreme as yours though). She was the dominant female of 8 females. I have never heard of the opposite happening as danpri stated (not to say it can't). All lombardoi start off blue and males turn orange/yellow. The known male would definitely have tried to spawn with it if it looked female. Your probably lucky that it is a male, because if it was a female he would likely end up killing her with her being the only female. My colony of 1 male and 8 females was just right. Your fish is still at the right age/size to begin to show it's mature colours. I'm not saying it's impossible but odds on that you simply had a more dominant male and a less dominant male when you purchased them. The sub dominant male is simply coming of age. Anthony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ged Posted November 24, 2005 Share Posted November 24, 2005 It is not unheard of females assuming male colouration so that they are not being harassed by the male but males will also do the same by taking on the female colouration. I had a similar situation when I grew six Lombardoi (Aline's line) out. I was really happy to see that once they had started to breed I had a ratio of 1:5. Then I started to catch glimpses of one of the "females" changing colour when they were being fed. I just think he would forget to camouflage himself from the dominant male. The majority of the time he looks like a female except during feeding and when he tries to sneak off and spawn with one of the females. Even then he doesn't lose the barring like the dominat male. I would say that it is a male that is reaching maturity but is not the dominant fish in the tank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canerod Posted November 24, 2005 Share Posted November 24, 2005 Lombardoi are a colony breeder, if you bought one male and one female then its probably a defence coloration to stop the male harrassing her to death. Note the strong black bars are still there, mature males tend to show only lite barring or non at all. These are very aggressive fish and you do need a ratio of 4-6 females to 1 male if you want to avoid serious damage or death to your females. They were the first cichlid I successfully bred and that was in a species tank with one male and 4 females and even then the girls got roughed up quite a bit. Oh yeh, and I love the pics, their first rate. Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matty Posted November 29, 2005 Author Share Posted November 29, 2005 Okay. So it's 6 of one, half a dozen of the other? No seriously, I appreciate everyones feedback. Even though all your comments are valid I still think that it is definitely a female, only because she sometimes changes back to a pale yellow/very light blue colour from time to time, and as canerod said Note the strong black bars are still there, mature males tend to show only lite barring or non at all. The male's bars are almost completely gone, and the females are still predominant. One day, (when I have the spare tank) I will take out the male for a few days, just to see which colour she chooses to absorb. Thanks again, Matty. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ged Posted November 29, 2005 Share Posted November 29, 2005 Matty This is what I believe is my sub-dominant male (I caught him on the edge of the photo of the school's lombardoi that I have just posted). He(She) ranges from looking totally like a female, through this intermediate colour pattern right up to looking like a dominant male. He(She) can change colour in seconds depending on what the dominant male is doing. The only reason I suspect he is a male is that I caught him trying to spawn with one of the females but being a young colony I am not sure if it was a successful. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matty Posted May 3, 2006 Author Share Posted May 3, 2006 Here's a quick update of my lombardoi. I know now that it definatly a female. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mezzacam Posted May 3, 2006 Share Posted May 3, 2006 hahahaha... Fascinating! Wonder whether the fry will turn out to act/be coloured like her? Good luck with the bubs! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D6C1 Posted May 4, 2006 Share Posted May 4, 2006 mmm look at HER teeth. I think fish with teeth look cute! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DFishkeeper Posted May 4, 2006 Share Posted May 4, 2006 Hi Guys I have read in Ad Konings books that it is not uncommon for dominant female mbuna to take on male colouration, or a paler variation of male colouration, in the wild. I have also personally witnessed this behaviour over the years, most recently with my breeding colony of Ps saulosi, where the dominant female is pale blue with visible bars and is currently holding. Cheers, Doug Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
r.d.m Posted May 4, 2006 Share Posted May 4, 2006 i have a colony of lombardoi that breed most of the time but one of the "females" has a yellowish tinge and shes never held , i can believe that theyd take on male colouring but i would think a mouthfull of eggs would be better than being beaten to death as a rival male.my elongatus "neon spot" also have a strange stragety,the females when holding sometimes take on male colouring if a male comes too close! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inphatu8 Posted May 26, 2006 Share Posted May 26, 2006 How about Venting the fish? or is it still too young for that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matty Posted May 26, 2006 Author Share Posted May 26, 2006 How about Venting the fish? or is it still too young for that? ← Nah, I haven't bothered. I'm 100% confident of a female. (see previous photo about 4 posts back) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matty Posted December 19, 2006 Author Share Posted December 19, 2006 Whoa, I've just had a thought about my "she-male" Is it possible that the food I am feeding her contains a hormone enhancer like that which is found in White Crane? The food they get has : Ingredients: fish meal, wheat flour, wheat germ meal, dried yeast, Spirulina, Soya bean, alfalfa meal, riboflavin, vitamin A compliment, vitamin C, B2, B12, D and "other trace elements." Any thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simonauv Posted December 19, 2006 Share Posted December 19, 2006 Whoa, I've just had a thought about my "she-male" Is it possible that the food I am feeding her contains a hormone enhancer like that which is found in White Crane? The food they get has : Ingredients: fish meal, wheat flour, wheat germ meal, dried yeast, Spirulina, Soya bean, alfalfa meal, riboflavin, vitamin A compliment, vitamin C, B2, B12, D and "other trace elements." Any thoughts? OMG- You said out loud that which should not be spoken Has it ever been proven whether that which can not be spoken contains hormones? Last I heard they were refuting it and were threateninbg legal action against anyone saying it lol I think I'd be getting a few more females to spread the love a bit more evenly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kilroy Posted December 19, 2006 Share Posted December 19, 2006 Just wanna say, what a nice looking fish, regardless of colour. Might have to look at getting some of these down the track. Cheers Shane Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
laurie Posted December 19, 2006 Share Posted December 19, 2006 I've had a colony of pseudotropheous elongatus 'neon spot' which to the life of me swapped from male to female over and over and over again. the females even displayed to each other while both in male colouration. Look at our own society, we have gay, lesbian, transexuals the lot..... it would appear that it happens with fish too! the only sure way is to cut them open and have a look. (or wait till they spawn) congrats on your mouthfull! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ViS Posted December 21, 2006 Share Posted December 21, 2006 the only sure way is to cut them open and have a look Or just vent them. Much less blood and loss of life...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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