The tank looks great, I love the holey rock.

The ID looks like a borleyi female.

I reckon the stocking number is fine at the moment - comes down to how much maintenance you are happy doing on it. e.g. when the strigatus, red empress, venustus, borleyi etc get big in a year or so, it may seem crowded then but fine when they are that size now. I keep large haps aswell and find that the bigger the fish, the more maintenance required and the more waste they produce, so when the fish get bigger I thin out the stocking a bit.

Riggers ID's on fish 1, 2 & 5 are correct, but I think fish 3 is the aceii and fish is a fish 4 is a copadichromis borleyi red fin kadango. 

Hi, I have similar stocking idea for my 10 foot, I wanted the females to look colourful aswell. So I have ended up mainly stocking it with white lip mdoka and exochochromis anagenys. Both are quite peaceful species and the females look just as good as the males.

Great fish you had there, I particularly like the torpedo blue, probably the best of the torpedos. The other nice one being mylochromis ensatus which was more recently discovered, looks similar to the blue and grows larger. I think that one is available in the hobby now aswell.

Yes, the torpedos are not very assertive in the aquarium. Would have been a great tank you had with the torpedo blues and Taeniochromis, they are an awesome species aswell.

Fantastic shots of the haps, I've really enjoyed the thread. This is my opinion of the silver torpedo situation below.

I believe I have seen all 3 different types in the past 5 years.

The first one I kept about 5 years ago was a true silver torpedo. He is pictured below. You will note that he has quite a blunt face and not as gold coloured. The side barring was prominent. I remember a gold coloured glow in the dorsal aswell. But the head shape is what was most obviously different.

I dont think they are around any more.

The second type I have kept I think are the torpedo blue. I cold only find a single female and its the only one I have ever seen about 4 years ago. It wasn't labelled at the time and was the only one in the shop.

Here are some photos of it, you will see its a lot different, more elongated and a much blunter face.

I would be surprised to see either of those around in Oz any more.

The newest one that was called silver torpedo was on the scene a couple of years ago. I got a few at the time but realized they were different to the others I had before. Below is a pic of one.

It could be golden blue face, it answers a lot of questions about the species for me. Here is the pic of the one, you can see it doesn't quite get as elongated as those first ones I kept and the face shape is different.

Mattia, did your torpedos look like the one in my second pic? e.g. the very blunt face and do you think they would still be around?

Regards, Rob

Thanks for the updated pic, easier to identify now. Now I'm leaning towards Otopharynx sp. Yellow Fin Mloto.

The first photo for some reason looks like a much fuller bodied fish. But the second photo shows the distinct melanin pattern and barring of the yellow fin mloto. If it is, when it is colored up it will get a really nice torquoise blaze above the head. 

That is something really special you captured there Kathy, thanks heaps for sharing it.

Looks like those ones are the Malawi side variant which differ slightly to the Tanzania side variant we have here. 

I am so glad to see you have a colony that could breed, best of luck, they are such a great fish. The male at Senga bay is a beauty! How big was he - he looks to be around a foot long. Here is a couple of shots of my male from a few years back.

Hi all this is my first post on the forums & thought I chime in. 

Probably a hybrid as others have mentioned but just in case...

Could it possibly be a Trematocranus Microstoma?

I have never seen the Microstoma, only the Placadon first hand. There was some Microstoma kicking around a year or 2 back though. Interesting egg spots and position of the 3 spots. The 3 spots are high on the body and also the head shape is similar to Microstoma and although you look at that head and say it might is a venustus/dolphin hybrid, I doubt if that was the case it would have that melanin pattern and that many eggspots.

Interesting fish, quite a stocky fish.

Regards, Rob