# Identify this peacock



## tanganyika4ver (Dec 17, 2007)

I have a peacock group I bought as red shoulder the guy said they were red shoulder, here is the male and a female in the picture, my question is are they red shoulder or ruby red or ?


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## GotCichlids? (May 21, 2010)

I don't think that this is a peacock I do believe this is a Red Empress!


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## cater20155 (Jun 16, 2008)

Definitely a red shoulder peacock.


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## GotCichlids? (May 21, 2010)

huh? Looks a lot like my Red Empress here's a pic to why I say similar:










So are you saying that mine as well is def a Red Shoulder Peacock b/c I'm pretty sure its a RE


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## aquariam (Feb 11, 2010)

Yours is a red empress his is not. Those are very different fish.


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## noki (Jun 13, 2003)

aquariam said:


> Yours is a red empress his is not. Those are very different fish.


Agreed. The peacocks do seem like Red Shoulder. A "pure" Ruby Red is derived from the Maleri races, but then many "Red" Peacocks sold may be minor mixes. It does get confusing.


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## sevmeera (Aug 8, 2009)

I think it may be a hybrid, most red shoulders have egg spots that are barely visible, and the red coloration doesn't extend as far down towards the tail as this one does. Definitely looks Stuartgranti type though.


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## GotCichlids? (May 21, 2010)

I swear it still looks like it could be out of the same brood as my Red Empress I guess I just don't have the eye for the differences opcorn:


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## sevmeera (Aug 8, 2009)

the empress is a hap and has orange tipping along the dorsal, aulonocaras do not have this feature, that is the easiest way to tell, at least for me.


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## firenzena (Nov 29, 2009)

As long as you were happy with the common name and don't get drawn into trying to assign anything more specific to it, and they end up breeding consistent fry I'd say the name they were sold as, is a correct one.

Having said that, with that particular Common name describing quite a number of peacocks from many locations, and with those fishes history not known, and with things like the orange tips on dorsal of femaleand her overall colouring, I would say the chance of it being a 'Bonafide' example of one of those locational varieties is slim. Hybridised "Red peacock" ( My LFS calls them Red Nyassae), would be a truer, if not as exciting title IMO.


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## tanganyika4ver (Dec 17, 2007)

do you think the females look at all like rubys? the males face isnt really so green without the flash, it looks blueish purple,


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## tanganyika4ver (Dec 17, 2007)

i know it isnt an empress


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## firenzena (Nov 29, 2009)

I think the female looks almost subdominant male with colour eggspots etc which is a Ruby red trait .
But the only problem with "Looks like" is that it isn't 'is' although it is tempting.


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## tanganyika4ver (Dec 17, 2007)

I think these are ruby red because the guy who sold them to me didnt seem 100 percent sure, red shoulder is so broad, on another website a guy said they definitly arent red shoulder but they might be some type of ruby because of the eggspots on there fins and the color on the tail, that is what he said


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## sevmeera (Aug 8, 2009)

could very well be some ruby red (rubescens), or german red type, the differences between the two are slight at best, with one tending to be a little more red than orange and one having more blue in the face, forget which is which, but if you google both names you will find pictures of fish that look both red and orange, so most people don't know which is which.


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