Blue morph

 BLUE MORPH:-

General Body Form:
 
Long and thin for an Mbuna, the body is very slender. The males are Blue with dark bars and females are pale yellow with a hint of blue and sport a nice black dorsal fin.

Coloration:
 
Pseudotropheus elongatus Males have the pronounced egg spot on the anal fins. The male are cobalt blue with dark bars and females are pale yellow with a hint of blue. The dominant blue male will cause the submissive male to turn yellow similar to the female coloration. The only way you would know the difference between these submissive types is when they reach adult maturity. The males will be bigger in size then the females. Males are about 4-5 inches and females are 3- 3.5 inches in length.

Maintenance:

These fish are a nice addition to any mbuna tank. They are best kept in larger groups to spread aggression, as males can be quite belligerent. Territorial males dig a small tunnel or guard a rock as a territory. Females are more docile and may stay together but rarely school together. To maintain a good environment that duplicates the wild lets start with the water. The vital substance your fish will be in for their existence. Malawi cichlids come from water that is much alkaline {PH 7.5 to around 8.8} yet has relatively soft to medium hard water. Therefore an attempt should be made to duplicate these conditions in the home aquaria. To obtain a high PH in the home aquaria is to use a material that will naturally buffer the PH high. The most common material to use is crushed coral sand/gravel that is either placed in the substrate or in the stocking container to be placed in the filter {s}. The coral leeches minerals that raise the PH. Other materials like Crushed shell {oyster shell} can also be used. Another option is to use rocks, like limestone. The advantage of this option is that the rocks provide decoration, shelter, territorial markers. Spawning sites and maintain ideal water conditions by raising the PH of new water used in water changes. Lake Malawi cichlids do not stand high temperatures very well. Locate the aquarium away from sunny windows, space heaters etc. Even if you live in a warm climate it is recommended to use an aquarium heater in your home aquarium as this helps prevent fluctuation of water temperatures which lead to stress in the fish.

Breeding:

Maternal mouth brooders, the fish are not hard to spawn. Females hold for about 25 days. Males should be about 4- 4.5 inches and females 3.5 inches when fully matured. Sexual maturity is about 3 inches. Come spawning time the male does a little dance, or jittering, in front of the females and if any are ready she will follow the male into the breeding pit. The male will then scrape his anal fin on the rocks to show the female a good place to lay her eggs. The female will follow lay her eggs and then pick them up quickly. She does this a number of times and as she picks up her eggs the male rubs his egg spots on the rocks as well. The male does this to entice the female to try and pick up his egg spots also; when she tries he will release sperm into her mouth to fertilize the eggs. This process takes but a few hours. The fry hatch in about 21 days. Typical clutches range between 10-20. Raising the fry is very easy. Crush some regular cichlid flake food and feed twice daily. Also spirulina flakes as well. They grow pretty quickly.