# red mbuna



## shoebag22 (Oct 14, 2007)

Is there a red (not rust) colored mbuna?


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## GaFishMan1181 (Dec 17, 2008)

orange is about the best you can do. no red mbuna that i know of. if you want red you would have to get some peacocks.


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## csnake (Feb 22, 2009)

There are certain strains of line bred "red zebras" that are more red than orange. If you look hard enough, you should be able to find a few online dealers that deal with "cherry red zebras", www.bluegrassaquatics.com is one that I know of off the top of my head. I'm not sure how red these actually are, as I've never seen any in person, though some of the pictures look a bit tinted to show more red. As I stated before, these are line bred by hand selecting the reddest of the red zebras to breed, then selecting their reddest offspring to breed, and so on down the line until they achieve the desired coloring. So, they are in fact "pure" Pseudotropheus sp. Red Zebras, however, you won't find any of these cherry red zebras naturally in Malawi.


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## GaFishMan1181 (Dec 17, 2008)

wow... those things look very red from the picture. I wonder how red they really are. anyone own any of these?


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

I have cherry reds, mine are just a little more red orange than yellow orange. But definitely no red.


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## kbuntu (Aug 25, 2008)

I had some and they are certainly not red. I would describe it as a dark orange.


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## harveyb27 (Dec 15, 2008)

http://www.bigskycichlids.com/gallery_mpanga.htm

not sure if they are line bred though! Or if the camera makes them look "reder" lol but there defo are no true red mbuna, like everyone else mentioned closest would be a dark orange.


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## caseyof99 (Aug 5, 2009)

Labeotropheus Trewavasse Mpanga Red.










These guys are as red as it gets.


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## TheSimster (Jul 30, 2009)

I have seen purple zebras. They were an extremely dark red that bordered on purple, but you could tell they were bred, they looked very unnatural.


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## harveyb27 (Dec 15, 2008)

caseyof99 said:


> Labeotropheus Trewavasse Mpanga Red.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Hey caseyof99, is that your fish?


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

caseyof99 said:


> Labeotropheus Trewavasse Mpanga Red.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Whoevers fish this is, it's either heavily photoshopped or heavily hormoned.

I've had the pleasure of seeing wild ones and actually raising them - they aren't that red...


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## harveyb27 (Dec 15, 2008)

I agree, and thats exactly why i asked if it was his/hers. So i could question its quality. Definately line bred or photoshopped IMO. This may be of some interest to you all:

http://www.cichlidae.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=5004


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## caseyof99 (Aug 5, 2009)

this is an actually pic of the fish that this local breeder i go to has. I've seen the fish in person and they are very red. no photoshop no hormones. I would of bought this male but i have red top trewavasae and they wouldn't mix well.


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## caseyof99 (Aug 5, 2009)

I should add that there are no hormones that i know of. Can't say for certain as im not 100% sure. He says he just feeds em a combo of 4 flake foods and a powder food and thats where he gets all his success from. He was also explaining to me that it took him a long time figuring out diff combos of fish in his tanks to make the best coloring. He even has some super orange top hongis that are more on the red side than orange. Ill try to get him to email me some pics of em ill post em.


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

caseyof99 said:


> I should add that there are no hormones that i know of.


I'd definitely steer clear of this breeder, if you've seen the fish in person and it is truly that colour. :thumb:


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## chris777 (Jun 27, 2008)

cichlidaholic said:


> caseyof99 said:
> 
> 
> > I should add that there are no hormones that i know of.
> ...


Agreed. This is a picture of my Wild Caught Male and he gets a bit more red when he is trying to show off for the females/breed but other then that he still isn't all red like that picture above.


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## caseyof99 (Aug 5, 2009)

So i read up on using hormones on cichlids and it says that it makes them sterile and once you take them off the hormones their color goes away? The fish i pictured is his main breeding male so isnt it more likely that he is not using hormones? Is it not just possible he has an amazing set of fish?


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## Schneider (Jul 27, 2009)

My lfs had a red zebra that someone traded in that had some intense red on him. Top third of the fish was very red. This fish looked awful. Line bred or hormoned I still don't get the point. Sometimes if you try to make a fish red that isn't normally red you just end up with an ugly looking fish!


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

caseyof99 said:


> Is it not just possible he has an amazing set of fish?


Anything is possible, but with this species, it just isn't probable.

chris777 just posted an excellent example of a wild male, and stated that the red intensifies somewhat at spawning time, but never looks like the one we're discussing.

From my own personal experience with this species, I agree.

And hormones don't always cause sterility...They certainly _can_ cause sterility, but most of the effects of hormones appear over time, and are not immediate.

This species looks absolutely amazing, without any help from us. I just don't get it...


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## harveyb27 (Dec 15, 2008)

chris777 said:


> Agreed. This is a picture of my Wild Caught Male and he gets a bit more red when he is trying to show off for the females/breed but other then that he still isn't all red like that picture above.


Great looking male. Have you got any pics of the female?


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## chris777 (Jun 27, 2008)

> This species looks absolutely amazing, without any help from us. I just don't get it...


Your not the only one that don't get it.



> Great looking male. Have you got any pics of the female?


Here is a picture of one of my females in the group.


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## harveyb27 (Dec 15, 2008)

Would that count as an O morph as there isnt enough blotching to make it an OB?? :?

Thanks for pic.

Even when breeding, they dont get that red:


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