Lombardoi female to male

[Snaus]

Hi all. New to the forum scene. My topic for discussion is : Lombardoi females (apparently) turning male.

So i bought a trio 1m 2f at about 5cm. Fed daily on Absolute Colour. 2 weeks later the blue females have turned yellow with eggspots on their anal fins just like the male.

The seller was pretty knowledgeable about the species and had a large colony that looked great. Hence the reason i bought some.

Fast forward 3 months and i went back to the seller with some pics of the so called females and he kindly gave me 3 more (females). 3 weeks later they too are changing to yellow with eggspots.

Is it just that some fish take longer to show their male colours or could it be the food they are being fed???

Any feedback would be appreciated. Cheers.

[Spiesie]

Definitely the food I'd say.

Color enhancement food should not be a stable diet as the nutrition value is not as good as something like NLS. Sera Flora, etc.

If you have bought some good quality fish, there would be no reason in feeding color food.

If I was in your shoes, I would stop using Absolute Colour and buy something like NLS or Sera Flora(1st pick) and only use that. No reason to use anything else. Except if you have other fish with them that need higher protein diet, but most should be fine with just that.

It will probably take several weeks for the females to be back to their normal blue color.

 

But some males do take some time to color especially if there is already a dominate male around, in this case it would be the food.

[Spiesie]

 

 

 

[Buccal]

This is normal,,, males can successfully present as males in lower dominance rank,,, they do breed male heavy at times.

Ive had large numbers of mature enough fish with only a male presenting, every time I take out the male, another turns yellow and shows up dominant, even within five minutes.

The only color enhancing food that actually does what it says is white crane super r or g,,,,, every other food that claims to improve colors, are simply color promoters, not enhancers,,, promoters bring the fishes colors to its best it can be,, where as enhancers will modify or over intensify colors.

If Lombardoi were to be color fed with white crane,, then the bright yellow males would turn blue....

[300Magnum]

Absolute Colour is a mixture of White Crane Green and White Crane Red with a different label.  I have confirmed with the wholesaler that this is the case.  It is a powerful colour enhancer which makes females take on male colouration.

If you are feeding them Absolute Colour every day, then the females will definitely change to male colouration and they will likely not breed.  If you want to breed them, then stop feeding Absolute Colour and feed them standard food like New Life Spectrum or Hikari.  After a few weeks, the females will change back to female colour and they will hopefully start breeding.

[Buccal]

You got that wrong mate.

In general Yes, your correct, it makes females take on male color and appearance.

In the case of Lombardoi, it will turn yellow males into blue color, the female color.

 

[300Magnum]

Hi Buccal, never tested it myself so can't confirm what happens with Lombardoi.  Females from species such as Peacocks definitely turn to male colours on Absolute Colour, but I can't confirm what happens with Lombardoi.  Considering the OP said that in both cases the females turned into male colours within 3 weeks, it seems very similar to the time frames for white crane/absolute colour.  I guess the best way to be sure is for the OP to stop feeding Absolute Colour for a month or two and see what happens.

[Snaus]

Wow. Thanks all. Speedy resonses too which im very thankful for. Im off to the LFS tomorrow. 

Great to know ive found an aussie cichlid forum aswell.

Cheers.

[Buccal]

The outcome supports what I said,, color food makes yellow males turn blue,,,, once Snaus keeps the fish for a week or two, the color food wears off, and blue males begin to turn yellow again.

Absolutely pointless feeding Lombardoi color food,,,

I'm not guessing this, so you know,,, lol.

[Snaus]

Sorry buccal. In my case Its the other way around. They are all turning yellow. When i bought them they were 1 yellow male and 2 blue females. 

I will be switching to NLS today or tomorrow. Cucumber and flake food til i get some new stuff.

Look forward to conversing with you guys on future posts.

Cheers

[Link2Hell]

older females can turn yellow but tend to still show the bars

I feel that the food has been juicing them also

the best thing is change their feeding and see what the results are

[Snaus]

I will post some pics later so we can watch the progress.

[Snaus]

Two of the fish from original trio. Fish on the left is the original male.

[Snaus]

Third fish from original trio

[Snaus]

Now for the 2nd batch of three females. As you can see not as yellow as the first lot but a couple of months younger. Will post a pic in a fortnight or so and see the difference.

[Snaus]

this was a good one of the two batches.

[Buccal]

On 3 August 2016 at 7:10 AM, Snaus said:

Sorry buccal. In my case Its the other way around. They are all turning yellow. When i bought them they were 1 yellow male and 2 blue females. 

I will be switching to NLS today or tomorrow. Cucumber and flake food til i get some new stuff.

Look forward to conversing with you guys on future posts.

Cheers

Nooooo,,, mate your confused, you still have it wrong,,,,,

the shop has heaps of yellow (males), and heaps of females (blue),,, all not color fed.

the shop then feeds the fish color feed,,, the yellow males turn blue, so every fish is now blue.

now you walk in and buy apparently females which are all blue.

you take home and obviously not feeding color food or lowered the intake considerably,,  so once color food wears of,,, they resume to male colors which are yellow because they're male.

confusing for most,,,, so so so simple to me.

ive just given you a 100% correct answer,,,, lead your self to more dead ends if you like.

 

as I've already said, subdominant males also turn back almost blue to save themselves from being beaten up also.

[Ageofaquariums]

On 08/03/2016 at 7:41 PM, Buccal said:

No.

Any food with a high astax or castax content can achieve this.

Also a male lombardoi fed crane would stay yellow.
 

Quote

 

The only color enhancing food that actually does what it says is white crane super r or g,,,,, every other food that claims to improve colors, are simply color promoters, not enhancers,,, promoters bring the fishes colors to its best it can be,, where as enhancers will modify or over intensify colors.

If Lombardoi were to be color fed with white crane,, then the bright yellow males would turn blue....

 

 

 

[Ageofaquariums]

On 08/03/2016 at 7:58 PM, Buccal said:

You got that wrong mate.

In general Yes, your correct, it makes females take on male color and appearance.

In the case of Lombardoi, it will turn yellow males into blue color, the female color.

 

Absolutely ZERO chance it will send yellow males blue.

[Ageofaquariums]

On 08/07/2016 at 8:43 AM, Buccal said:

Nooooo,,, mate your confused, you still have it wrong,,,,,

the shop has heaps of yellow (males), and heaps of females (blue),,, all not color fed.

the shop then feeds the fish color feed,,, the yellow males turn blue, so every fish is now blue.

now you walk in and buy apparently females which are all blue.

you take home and obviously not feeding color food or lowered the intake considerably,,  so once color food wears of,,, they resume to male colors which are yellow because they're male.

confusing for most,,,, so so so simple to me.

ive just given you a 100% correct answer,,,, lead your self to more dead ends if you like.

 

as I've already said, subdominant males also turn back almost blue to save themselves from being beaten up also.

Sorry mate, but you are 100% wrong.

If you colour feed juvie lombardoi they will all turn yellow.

Older females that have become territorial will also become yellowish. Just as old auratus females who are territorial will go blackish.

 

 

[Buccal]

Back in the early day when I supplied city farmers cichlids,, they would ask for common fish super G'd,,,, I could grow them out almost full size with 20% G in diet,,,,,,,,, never see a yellow one till G ceased.

G will also take the red flanks away from a Protomelus red empress, and make it look like a Protomelus fire blue, just blue all over.

G does not effect yellow crest on lithobate head top.

G will make orange tops on orange cap perspicax fade to almost nothing and present as all blue like a poor quality one, but will go a touch or tinge of purple.

want me to stop ?, or want more results from a constant G user for clients over 8 hardcore years ?, and I don't doubt at all you have notable experience or even more,,, just letting you know I'm not a random "1 month in" pot shotter.    

[Buccal]

In fact, G only works on the fluorescence in Malawi cichlids, and possibly with exceptions to a few other species.

This is why it only tends to impact on colors that come and go, usually rendering them with a glowing blue,,,,, the coloring effects are outstandingly rapid over two days, again it gets into the flowing fluorescence under the skin,,, in a exasperated situation to elaborate, is much like the moving colors through the squid,,, this is fluorescence and a mild version seen in cichlids,, PSB and derivatives from oil as the active ingredients for the G effect seem to flood the areas of flushing color with blue.

The astaxanthin in G is a seperate added colorant, which works differently,,, it actually puts a die like deposit (but naturally obtained), into the flesh and skin under the scales,, this is a long term resididual build up in the fish and will only increase in color as the body mass grows with the food,,, astaxanthin is also a excellent antioxidant and used extensively many years ago to increase fry mortality rates,,, farmed Atlantic salmon, is loaded with it, hence the orange/red fillets,,,, a more exasperated situation is the pink flamingo receiving heavy doses of carotenes in a similar class to astaxanthin called canthaxanthin from the crustacean species they sift from the water,, other wise they're grey dull white.

G will not give a American fish the same effect as a Malawi.

G won't work on American fish except for astaxanthin in it, which will be long term gain.

To much incorrect hype surrounds the G,,, 

[Buccal]

12 hours ago, Ageofaquariums said:

Sorry mate, but you are 100% wrong.

If you colour feed juvie lombardoi they will all turn yellow.

Older females that have become territorial will also become yellowish. Just as old auratus females who are territorial will go blackish.

 

 

Definetely not interested in fighting I'm just a walk awayer.

But yes I've seen a lot of females territorial turning yellowish,, as I've seen males go blue between yellow areas (fluorescence) subdominant or any other order.

Excellent little fish.

 

[Ageofaquariums]

A walk awayer?

 

Astax colouration is not linked to flesh gain, I don't even.

Super G and Super R are not designed to be staples. They are supplements, designed to load fish with pigments.

 

Astax will turn female or juvie lombards yellow. Thats what happens.

And no amount of words is going to change that simple truth.

[Buccal]

Yeah walk awayer,, some people just in it for the fight, not me, I just go quite lol.

astaxanthin is not at all linked to weight gain, go back and read it, you'll see what I mean...    The flesh that grows (as per normal, and not superseded by the astaxanthin), the flesh that grows with the astaxanthin added to diet is where the color begins to build up, as I said, it's long term,,,, and I personally have never seen any significant effect of astaxanthin in less than six months and usually eight months or more.   PSB in white crane turns a Malawi bright colors in days,,,, this will not happen with any American Cichlid, but longterm the American will as the astaxanthin will eventually boost the Reds and oranges,,,,,    Remember,, I'm not trying to push or sell any products.

watching a blood parrot grow on astaxanthin enriched diets truly shows how astaxanthin works,,,,, 

the PSB 'photosynthetic bacteria' cultured and added to white crane actually stimulates and triggers the fishes system to work in overdrive and create a excess pigments during the stimulated natural process,, funny bunch of words then using the term natural,,,, it's abnormal, but it's no hormones or any bad juice, but in saying that, as AOA mentioned, it's a additive colorant food and not staple,, it will effect the fishes liver and or shorten life,,, so think of it as a tool and not food,,, 20% G in diet.  If breeding throw the stuff in the bin.

super R for reds oranges 

super G for blue and greens

but super R yes R will still take away the red flanks from a red empress.