# sunshine peacock labidochromis lemon zebra???



## Mcdaphnia (Dec 16, 2003)

No black stripes like a yellow lab. No blue like a sunshine peacock. No blunt face like a zebra.

What is it, or is it a little of all the above? What is with the white anal fin and white edging on the bottom paired fins? Monster egg spot?


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## noki (Jun 13, 2003)

Yes to Yellow Lab hybrid. No to the ideas they have anything to do with a Sunshine Peacock.

They do pose well together.


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## GotCichlids? (May 21, 2010)

I have heard that in some areas that they are breeding out the black in the labs and are just labeling them Electric Yellow Labs just not Lions Cove I! I heard this from a breeder and he said that there are a few stains successfully breed this way but they are hard to come by! Might be that you have gotten your hands on some!


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## SinisterKisses (Feb 24, 2004)

Incorrect info unfortunately. There has been a debate going on for ages, but the long and short of it is that yellow labs without any black are hybrids.


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## GotCichlids? (May 21, 2010)

SinisterKisses said:


> Incorrect info unfortunately. There has been a debate going on for ages, but the long and short of it is that yellow labs without any black are hybrids.


I don't think that this statement is entirely true. What you are saying is that basically it is impossible to line breed a specific recessive trait in a fish! If that were true we wouldn't have albinos classified as their own individual species. Case and point Metriaclima greshakei (Albino) and Metriaclima greshakei. In Lake Malawi maybe one in a million are actually Albino at an adult which would make this one of the hardest species to get yet in the hobby you can get these at just about any LFS. They simply found two fish with the recessive albino gene and line breed them till they had all albino fry. Same process for things that say for instance "Super Cherry Red Zebra". Genetically same as any old Metriaclima estherae just line breed to achieve the more reddish coloration then the typical orange and peachy males. So line breeding the Labidochromis caeruleus (Yellow Labs) who carry the recessive gene to show no black and basically breeding out the black isn't that far fetched or impossible, and IMO can be done with out hybridization! Though in this case with only one picture it is hard to tell whether or not they are hybrids so I think that more pics maybe in the tank would help others make a common judgment on the species/hybridization


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## 24Tropheus (Jun 21, 2006)

I have not seen any line bred yellow labs without any black.
Yep lots of hybrids. Not sure it is not possible just not yet achieved to my ken.
Besides the mouth shape and fish shape is wrong for pure Labidochromis caeruleus.

Now as to what they are. Dunno 

Guess would be if not wild then some sort of Metriaclima estherae cross but then I do not know all the fish from the lake 840 species with up to 24 known variants per species.

Impossible to guess without some sort of clue as to were they are from and thier provedence?

Nice fish but as the guys seem to be saying could be man made as yet no pic of anything from the wild that looks the same.

All the best James


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## noki (Jun 13, 2003)

GotCichlids? said:


> SinisterKisses said:
> 
> 
> > Incorrect info unfortunately. There has been a debate going on for ages, but the long and short of it is that yellow labs without any black are hybrids.
> ...


That theory, while possible, would depend on if they found an attractive Yellow Lab mutation that was born without black pigmentation except for the eye. Not sure that they have, or what other examples of cichlids you could give in the hobby that would be similar. Metriaclima estherae variations all come from natural genetic variations from the lake.


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