Julidochromis marlieri 'Gombe'.

When I bought my Julis, I never doubted that they were Julidochromis transcriptus. For starters, I bought them under that name as BAP fish at an OCA meeting. Also, it took me a long time before I could get a photo of them where you could actually recognize a fish, since they were secretive and hiding out in the rock background of my tank. The first good photo I got of them is pictured below, and the fish in it does indeed look like a Julidochromis transcriptus.

Due to the lack of markings under the eye this fish looks a lot like Julidochromis transcriptus, but the other photos of my Julidochromis colony clearly show them to be Julidochromis marlieri.

In Febrary 2009 I posted some new photos of them on the web, and it was Brett Harrington (a.k.a. Fogelhund on Cichlid-forum) who pointed out to me that the fish are actually Julidochromis marlieri 'Gombe' - a dwarf variety of Julidochromis marlieri that has erroneously been traded as Julidochromis transcriptus in the hobby for years. I never knew the difference, but have since learned that Julidochromis marlieri have markings under the eyes while Julidochromis transcriptus have not. Curiously, these markings are almost completely absent in the Juli that I first got a photo off, although newer photos show markings in all fish of my colony, which descended of the unusual Juli and only two or three others that I had in the tank at that time. Here is what I wrote about these fish when I still thought they were Julidochromis transcriptus:

I picked these julis up as BAP fish at an OCA meeting, simply because the price was irresistible, and I had never kept julis before. The transcriptus seemed one of the most desirable varieties to me because of their interesting and versatile pattern on their side that looks like writing - hence their Latin name. At the time I didn't realize that they are one of the smaller varieties with a maximum length of about 3". Of course for this tank with lots of larger tank mates, a bigger variety like marlieri or regani with a maximum length of about 5" would have been preferable.

Anyhow, I still like the look of the transcriptus best. There was actually a picture of one posted on Cichlid-forum at some stage that had 'HELLO' written on the side! I am not kidding you, and it was not one of those horrible 'painted fish', just a fluke of nature. I put all six of my little transcriptus in this big tank, and I now think that might have been a bit mean of me, and I probably lost five of them, presumably due to predation. At any rate, I have only ever seen one of them in a long time now, and that one always hangs out around the same little cave in the background on the overflow box on the right-hand side. It's entirely possible that there are still more of them in the tank, and are hiding in the background, but if they do, they are doing a fine job of it, seeing that I haven't spotted them for so long. I have been reluctant to replenish the juli population, or add any other rockdwellers for that matter, because I feel like the caves that they would want to occupy have probably already been taken up by my leleupi.

Addendum Juli 2007:

Earlier this week I discovered a juli on the other end of the tank from where the one known survivor tends to hang out. Since then I have been watching to see if he/she travels about or if there is another one. Last night finally I managed to spot two at the same time, with one being slightly larger than the other, but none over 2". Coincidentally today I did a major sump cleanup and next to one 4" petricola catfish, 10 small BN plecos, and 12 small leleupi, I also discovered one tiny (about 0.5") juli in the sump. I initially thought I had spotted my first frontosa fry, but the fish clearly is too slender to be a front, and there are way to many stripes. Consequently I have to concede that there is not only more than one surviving juli in the tank, but they are even breeding! I wish I could get some more fry from them, but I guess I can only hope for more to jump in the sump not too long before I do a service.

2nd Addendum Juli 2007:

With the knowledge that they are there, I have finally managed to locate the spawning cave of the juli pair, of which the original suspected lone survivor happens to be no part. I also managed to get some better photos of them, which you can now see on this page.

The first picture shows one of them in front of the cave entrance - the vertical dark line on the left. In the second picture, you can just barely see the second juli in the cave.

An about 0.5" juvenile.

Addendum January 2009

The Julis are well on their way to take over the whole tank! My guess would be that there are hundreds of them in the tank. Wherever one looks in the plants there are little Julis looking out between the leaves. I never thought that Julis could live in colonies, but their behavior in this tank is reminiscent of N. brichardi.

Some pictures from 2008 and 2009

Video from January 2011. The pair is defending a clutch of eggs in the Anubias plant.