Rock "piles" and shelf-like backgrounds are common designs and can be made from tufa rock, lava rock or slate. Substrates can range from the whitish coral sand used in saltwater aquariums to black freshwater sand or even regular decorative gravels. Visit That Fish Blog for more information from our marine biologists and aquarium staff on African cichlids and many other topics! Wood tends to lower pH and is not usually recommended for African cichlid aquariums. ** Note about scientific naming: As African cichlids are continually being discovered and redescribed, many scientific names have been changed over time. One of the most affected groups are the fish from the genera Pseudotropheus, Maylandia, and Metriaclima. Many of these fish were originally classified in the Pseudotropheus genus but the "Zebra" group was separated into the Maylandia genus created in 1984. In 1997, the new Metriaclima genus was created as a proposed "more correct" genus to replace Maylandia. However, the true "correctness" of the classifications is still highly debated and those three genera are still used interchangeably to refer to the same fish in some references.In the wild, this stunning species is found over rocky habitats where it feeds mainly on the phytoplankton in the water column. It belongs to the Mbuna group of cichlids. The aquarium should be at least 4ft long and aquascaped to emulate that rocky reef effect. Décor such as ocean rock can be used to build sturdy structures which stretch from the base of the tank to near the surface of the water. ![]() These structures should be built with the purpose of creating many crevices for the fish to explore but constructed in such a way so as to keep the rocks stable if the fish start to dig around and underneath them. Although a substrate of coral sand or Aragonite is often recommended to help to keep the water hard and alkaline, Mbuna feel safer and show better colours over a darker substrate. Ad konings does a very good jon of explaining the different fish at Minos Reef - red zebras etc.The Aragonite or coral sand can always be placed into a mesh bag and kept inside the external filter for buffering purposes. Personal experiences in the aquarium however my white male has not bred AFAIK If you guys dont see any egg dummies on your redxred fish they are either a) not estherae, b) not red zebra or c) a crossbreed.ĭiving experience at Minos Reef, Chiloleo, Gome and Chiofu, where I watched breeding occur in the wild what the florida guys do is import a white male and breed it like crazy However most common in the petstore is "RedxRed" which was created if you remember above I said white male + orange female = orange males and female fry. So those fish you see in the hobby "red zebra" are probably metriaclima estherae IF there is a blue male and they have egg dummies on their dorsal. WHITE male + O female = ORANGE male, orange femaleīlue male + brown female = blue male, brown female So - the metriaclima estheraes know to stay away from Blue Reefs ( and not crossbreed).īlue Male + Orange Female = Blue male fry, orange female fry.īlue male + OB Female = Blue male fry, OB female fry. There is a COBALT blue zebra also at Minos Reef with brown females, (metriaclima zebra blue reef) this fish does NOT have egg dummies on it's dorsal. This is the only species of metriaclima (formerly pseudotropheus) that has egg dummies in a spot other than the anal fin. About 10km south of Minos reef you get yellower females, further still down near Chiofu you get brown females.Īll Estherae have yellow "egg spots" on the back of their dorsal fin. ![]() Males are blue, there are white ones too but they are rare. Red Zebra, aka Metriaclima Estherae is caught from Minos Reef, central eastern Lake Malawi. the estheraes were named after Esther Grant, wife of Stuart Grant one of the exporters from Lake Malawi (Kambiri Point,Salima) Red zebras are probably my favourite fish because of what I am about to explain. Soulfish pretty much summed it up but I can go into further detail.
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