Does anyone here keep Astatotilapia latifasciata?

[Mettle]

AKA Zebra Obliquidens.

I was looking through some classifieds on another forum I visit and a guy in Guelph has these for sale. They're really interesting looking fish and I find their markings and colours to be quite cool.

Has anyone in OVAS ever kept/bred these? Or perhaps someone is doing so currently?

They're really interesting and I think having a colony of these would be great! 

[Nerine]

ok I looked them up...and they look exactly like mine but mine weren't sold under that name...

haplochromis obliquiden "zebra" was what I bought mine under <edit> some sites say they are the same fish others say no. but mine look exactly like the photos.

they are VERY good parents (if this is what I have, will get pics)
I haven't had my current batch reproduce, I sold the parents awhile back and most of the offspring. I have only 7 left they are only a few inches right now but growing quite quickly. They currently live with a large pleco and syno and several rainbows. They are very agressive...they have killed most of the other africans I've put in with them or any other fish as well. <edit> the sites say they are all peaceful...I guess there are exceptions to the rules

I'm hoping they will breed soonish...and hope to find some more to introduce new blood

[Mettle]

It is a bit odd. I've talked to two other people who have owned them and they have both said that these fish were pretty aggressive as well. Never having kept Africans maybe they're mildly aggressive for Africans? Haha. I have no idea. 

I find them to be very beautiful fish, however. Great looking!

Do yours have a lot of personality? Do they hide a lot? Swim out and about a lot? Just curious because if I set up a tank with a colony of these I want them to be clearly visible and out a lot. I hate fish that are scared, skittish and hide all the time. I've owned too many SA/CA cichlids for that kind of behaviour! My flowerhorn jumps 3-4" out of the tank when I open the lid for feeding, lol. 

[Nerine]

oh they'll jump out of the tank all right!! they LOVE feeding time!! when I had them in my kitchen, they would stare at me until I gave them something!

same with the living room...they used to creep out our guests because the guest would be sitting in the arm chair and EVERY SINGLE fish would sit there in a line (very straight one too!) and stare hehehe it was great!!

Now whenever I go into the basement, they all pop out of hiding and want to know what's going on.
They have tons of personality! and they love tearing up plants for the heck of it too hehe
I highly recommend them!!

[darkdep]

I have found that most Victorians have similar personalities.  I have three Victorian species now and all are similar in nature.

The bigger ones I have (C44's) I would call aggressive.  One thing I have noticed from my time keeping Africans is that aggression seems to be one of two forms...aggression to dominate and aggression to kill.  My C44 breeding tank is a battle royale all the time, but it's not "killing" aggression if that makes sense.  But the fish in that tank know their place, for sure

These are probably similar.  Cichlid Forum calls these "Mildly Aggressive" but I would take their listing on aggression with a grain of salt; I've kept many things where my own experiences have disagreed with their aggression rating.  I think aggression with Africans is affected so much by things like tank decor, other inhabitants, food, and individual personalities that it's hard to nail it down to a 100% guideline.

BTW, let me know if you find them for sale anywhere   I'm on a bit of a Victorian kick at the moment and am trying to get as many species as I can.  These, BTW, are "critically endangered" so the chances of finding them in store are going to be pretty much nil.

[Nerine]

that's why I'm trying to breed them!!!

they are beautiful and full of spunk

I sold a whole bunch of them earlier in the year (I had over 60) and actually had wanted to sell them all but there wasn't interest LOL

[limmer]

Hi,
They look like Haplochromis Obliquidens.  I had a bunch of Hap Obliq, but by accident wiped most of them out.  I now have 2 males and 1 female left.  They have not been aggressive towards any of the other Africans I have.  I got them in Toronto a year or 2 ago.
I also got some Haplochromis Flamebacks at the same time(only 2 males left).  Now this is a nice looking fish.  Wouldn't mind picking up a female or two.

[Nerine]

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/a_latifasciata.php

"Astatotilapia latifasciata is commonly referred to as the "Zebra Obliquidens."

their common name is "Haplochromis sp. "zebra obliquidens""

according to a bunch of cichlid sites I have been to.

they are nice fish and this morning I noticed the male coloured up really nicely...he is starting to flirt with the females!

[Mettle]

Nerine - I am so interested in these fish that I would be willing to set up a new tank just for a small colony of them. So if yours breed I've got dibs on some of those fry. 

[Nerine]

done! I'll keep you posted on what happens

there's lots of activity in the tank right now...I'm going to move the rainbows out so that there's less chance of the fry being snatched up!

[pegasus]

I was breeding the Haplochromis obliquidens a few years back, and yes they were aggressive but the C44 & lambardoi would put them back in their place.

FYI back in the 70's, half of all riff Africans were Haplochromis, Pseudotropheus or Lamprologus. For the last 10 years, many of them have been reclassified after further study using DNA.

[Nerine]

I heard about the DNA classification...that's a whole other thread on it's own!! I haven't read the article yet but Canadian Nat Geo has done an interesting article on DNA