Stepod72 Posted January 19, 2013 Share Posted January 19, 2013 Hi all,I have a question regarding Pseudotropheus saulosi.I'm curious to know, on a true saulosi, how many bars should they have?I've heard 1 or 2 different versions, is the true saulosi supposed to have 5 bars or the more commonly seen 7 bars?I'm currently breeding 2 colonies, one with males with 7 bars and the other with males who have 5 bars.How I can get some help with this.Cheers,Steve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Posted January 20, 2013 Share Posted January 20, 2013 Mine have 5 on the body and a faint bar between the dorsal fin and tail. This is the same as the photo in the back to nature book. Malawi Cichlids in their natural habitat show a Saulosi with 6 bars and one between the dorsal and tail.... Good question I guess? Is it 5,6 or 7?All my males are from one source, but my females are a different bloodline. Josh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stepod72 Posted January 20, 2013 Author Share Posted January 20, 2013 Thanks for the reply josh, thought I'd ask the question out of interest sake and to bring back some nice pure saulosi.I'm thinking maybe the barring could be different depending on which part of the lake they come from?Could anyone else put in some input please.Steve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Posted January 20, 2013 Share Posted January 20, 2013 I think they only come from one location as far as I know. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimB Posted January 20, 2013 Share Posted January 20, 2013 Mine has five bars and then a faint 6th bar near his tail fin..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DFishkeeper Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 Hi Guys,As far as I am aware, saulosi are only found in the Taiwan reef location in lake malawi. I did a fair bit of googling and reading a while ago looking at this same issue, and I did not come up with a definitive answer. I found pictures of saulosi with ranging from 5 to 7 bars in the males, which matches my own personal observations. I have also seen fish with differing numbers of bars on each side.I suspect there is no true answer and that fish in the wild do not have perfect even numbers of bars, much like wild frontosa. A ripe female fish does not care how many bars the male courting her has, as long as he is the correct colour and shape and is actively courting her. It is only us humans who desire the fish to have perfect even barring.Having said that, when selecting males for breeding, I myself try and select males with nice even barring and the same number of bars on each side, whether it is 5, 6 or 7. I also select the brightest coloured females I can find. There seem to be an awful lot of very ordinary saulosi getting around, with not very bright colouration in the juveniles and females, and even some suspect elongated body shapes with more than 7 quite thin bars.Cheers, Doug Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stepod72 Posted January 21, 2013 Author Share Posted January 21, 2013 Thanks for the info doug, I to have done a bit of googling and pretty well came up with no definitive result aswell.If they do occur in the wild with random barring would that lead to classing a saulosi by the number of bars a particular fish/ bloodline has? Sorry I don't mean to re-write the books when I say that.Or......has a true saulosi have 5,6 or 7 bars.I think this might be good info for all saulosi breeders to know. I have 2 young colonies of saulosi and believe I have good examples of both 5 bar and 7 bar saulosiCheers,Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dazzman Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 P.saulosi are one of my favourites, I don't have them anymore but this was my male Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
epiccichlid2013 Posted January 21, 2013 Share Posted January 21, 2013 Thanks for the info doug, I to have done a bit of googling and pretty well came up with no definitive result aswell.If they do occur in the wild with random barring would that lead to classing a saulosi by the number of bars a particular fish/ bloodline has? Sorry I don't mean to re-write the books when I say that.Or......has a true saulosi have 5,6 or 7 bars.I think this might be good info for all saulosi breeders to know. I have 2 young colonies of saulosi and believe I have good examples of both 5 bar and 7 bar saulosiCheers,Stevetiwanee reef saulosi have 5-6 thicker black bars. And bright yellow females. Coral red saulosi have 7-8 thinner bars and females are orange. The coral reds are saulosi and red zebra crossbreed a and aren't found in the wild. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidf Posted January 27, 2013 Share Posted January 27, 2013 Just a bunch of shots I had of my breeding colony. Some are blurry but there to give you an idea of shape and colour. Really happy with the quality of fish I have,b Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
epiccichlid2013 Posted January 27, 2013 Share Posted January 27, 2013 Nice pics. I will post pics of my wild male when I get him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ged Posted January 27, 2013 Share Posted January 27, 2013 Nice pics. I will post pics of my wild male when I get him.Looking forward to seeing them.Great photos David. Love the tank setup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ged Posted January 27, 2013 Share Posted January 27, 2013 This was one of my males when I had them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidf Posted January 27, 2013 Share Posted January 27, 2013 Nice pics. I will post pics of my wild male when I get him.Looking forward to seeing them.Great photos David. Love the tank setup.Thanks Ged,One of the biggest things i found was having that rock wall as high as possible. It really changed the behavior in the tank. Instead of sub dom fish being chased out of territories into open water, they had the higher rocks to establish other territories/shelter away from dominant fish.The other benefit I found was a lot of open water in the front 2/3 of the tank and a large open sand bed.Ged any thoughts on the disparity in the barring between the fish? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
epiccichlid2013 Posted January 27, 2013 Share Posted January 27, 2013 Also since Mbuna tend to stick to the rocks due to natural instinct, the taller the rocks are in the tank, the higher up the fish swim. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ged Posted January 27, 2013 Share Posted January 27, 2013 I agree with Doug.In the wild (Taiwan Reef) P. saulosi can be found with different number of bars. Even the photos that Ad took back in 1990 showed males with different numbers of bars. If that is what occurs in the lake then that is what we will have in the hobby. I have seen photos taken of schools of P. saulosi in the wild where males in adjoining territories have different numbers of bars.When t comes down to it they are all P. saulosi and it comes down to selecting the highest quality fish. The females and juveniles should be have that depth of yellow and males symmetry to their barring. I like the ones with 5 bars but that is just a personal preference. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stepod72 Posted January 27, 2013 Author Share Posted January 27, 2013 Thanks for that info Ged, I can sort out my 2 colonies now and free up a tank.Thanks for all the pics everyone, it gives me a good idea of the quality of fish out there. My females are more orange that the yellow though.......Should I be trying to get females that are more yellow?Ill try and get some pics of mine today and ill post them up tonight Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ged Posted January 28, 2013 Share Posted January 28, 2013 I would be aiming for the ones that are moving towards a shade of orange.I would like to see your photos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stepod72 Posted January 28, 2013 Author Share Posted January 28, 2013 here are a couple of pics of my breeding colonyhere are a few more pics of another colony i have started with a young male Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
epiccichlid2013 Posted January 28, 2013 Share Posted January 28, 2013 Orange could mean coral reds??? Depends how orange? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
davidf Posted January 29, 2013 Share Posted January 29, 2013 Thanks for the info Ged.Why aiming for a shade of orange? Any idea on the quality of my females? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ged Posted January 30, 2013 Share Posted January 30, 2013 They are not a deep orange. This is what happen when I don't explain myself ullyAd Koning photographed two different shades of colour females on the reef as far as I am aware. They can be seen here.http://malawicichlids.com/mw09007u.htmhttp://www.cichlidae.com/article.php?id=82I tend to aim to select females that have the depth of colour in the top photo.Having said that females that show a strong uniform colour that are not washed out is what you are aiming for your colony. David your female are nice and vibrant and should produce quality juveniles. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
epiccichlid2013 Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 This is my Wild male. Just got him in the tank a few hours ago so he is kina stressed so his color isn't the best at the moment Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Link2Hell Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 Hope he colours up well for you Epicwe wish we could get WC but if it's not on the import list there isn't much hope out hereas far as "coral red" is concerned these will be line breed for the mostorange colour in the females like the other intense colour forms of linebred species that seem to come from Europe (eg Rubin Red Peacocks)send another pic when settles down where abouts in the US are you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Josh Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 All my girls are bright yellow.Quick vid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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