Steve Wolstenholme wrote:

On Thu, 21 Dec 2006 17:06:39 +0800, Jim Morcombe
wrote:


I have been selling a few of my "Electric Blues" to a LFS for very
little money. I tried another today and he looked at my fish and said
they weren't electric blues. He noticed there were "dots" on the side
of some and said they must be a hybrid with a peacock. He then showed
me his Electric Blue and showed me a reference book with a picture of a
Sciaenochromis fryeri.

Researching the net, mine are definitely Scianochromis ahli - both the
male and the female match pictures on the web exactly. However, how do
I explain the "spots" on some of the juveniles.

Does anyone have any knowledge of Sciaenochromis Ahlis?


S. ahli and S. fryeri are the same fish. Ahli was the original name.

I bred hundreds from wild stock about 30 years ago supplying shops. I
don't remember black dots on them. They get a bit less colourful when
breeding from tank bred stock and may show marks but I never noticed.
They are quite distinct from peacocks - much slimmer for starters.

Steve

Actually, S. Ahli and S.Fryeri are very different fish. In the US, the
wrong fish was imported and sold as Ahli. Later the mistake was
corrected. Later, there was a name change within the species.

As you were in the industry a long time ago, the fish you bred may have
been S. Fryeri but were sold as S. Ahli. In this case, they would have
had a "roman nose" and have had a slightly darker blue.

The S. Fryeri is shaped a little more like a peacock and is lighter in
colour.

On this issue, you will have to go to hard copy books for identification
- recent books because of the change in names. The information
available on the internet is contradictory and experts state opposite
poitions with equal levels of certainty.