# Took over someone's tank - need ID on this cichlid!



## canlax (Mar 30, 2011)

Hi All, I recently bought an established tank from someone who is moving and I don't think they were totally up to speed on their stock as they couldn't fill me in on the details. Anyways, I have narrowed it down to 2 Yellow Lab, 1 male Ruby Red Peacock, 4 unknown (see picture) and 2 presumably female Ruby Red Peacock (see picture).

I would really appreciate some assistance on IDing the 4 unknown and if my speculation that the drab looking peacocks are indeed female Ruby Red.

Here is the unknown:









Here is the male Ruby Red Peacock:









Here is the female Ruby Red Peacock (to be confirmed!):









Thanks for your help!

As a side note I have been using these forums as a great resource to do a crash course on keeping Malawi Cichlids and want to say it seems to be a great community.


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## noki (Jun 13, 2003)

1. is a hybrid of many fish, usually sold as a Peacock of some sort, similar to the OB Peacock hybrid. Doubt will ever look any better.

2 and 3 are probably "Ruby Red", the female does look correct just be aware that that the fish sold as such are rather vague in history. The trade names don't necessarily mean any sort of pure this or pure that. The male looks colourful.


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## AC (Jul 26, 2010)

How big is the fish in the first pic?

I have some ureka reds that are now growing out and the females look like that...

A little less pink in the body, but I suspect that might be the white balance in the camera causing that coloring.

The red rosey cheek below the eye is very much the same...


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

re; Fish 1 Definitely not an Eureka female, and is one of the hybrid Peacocks.

Impossible to say what the female is... could be Red Ruby, could be something else....


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## canlax (Mar 30, 2011)

The hybrid peacock makes sense as he did say the smaller fish in the tank were born in there.

My understanding is that hybrids are frowned upon in the cichlid world (by the purists anyways). Will a lfs take a fish like this as trade in if I go for more colorful species instead?


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## groahjc (Mar 22, 2011)

98% positive first fish is a "dragon blood" peacock female. So be careful or you are going to have some cross breeding going on. Males are beautiful but as with most purests people frown on them(I secretly like them).


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## Chunkanese (Feb 4, 2011)

groahjc said:


> 98% positive first fish is a "dragon blood" peacock female. So be careful or you are going to have some cross breeding going on. Males are beautiful but as with most purests people frown on them(I secretly like them).


Agreed. Dragon Blood or Sunburst peacock female, pretty much same thing, i have 2, which over time got a little more color, but not much. I love this hybrid fish, you can definetly find some very attractive fish. Im just waiting to get a large male for them. People will pay top dollars for the males, even though its a hybrid, or man made species.


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## PortiaD (Mar 7, 2011)

Wow! I'm also a newbie with juveniles and your photos could have been taken in my tank. My ruby is a little more colorful, but other than that my fish are identical!


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## canlax (Mar 30, 2011)

I made some changes and actually sold 3 of the 4 dragon bloods and the 2 female peacocks to the fish store where they were restocked as assorted cichlids...I felt bad but now I have started adding some new species with more color which makes me very happy. It it hard taking over someone else's stock when it isn't the direction you want to go with the tank. He gave me a great deal so I would have paid him the same amount just for the tank and accessories alone!


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