Red Zebra Cichlid

(Maylandia estherae)

(also Pseudotropheus estherae; previously Pseudotropheus zebra)

Here is a picture of my two red zebras, Peach and Tangerine. There really are only two of them: one is reflected in the aquarium glass. Looks neat, huh?

I'm actually only pretty sure they are Maylandia estherae. They were sold to me as "young African cichlids" (helpful, eh? I bought them because they were healthy.) They look a lot like cobalt blue zebras in body shape.

This is Peach, the less brightly colored of my two zebras. Some female red zebras appear almost bright orange-red. Males are pale blue. Mine are significantly more pastel, as you can see in the photo below. Peach is female and has had two batches of eggs.

This is Tangerine. She's actually a bit more orange than in these pictures.

Here is a picture of the two of them in what was probably a display of aggression. Basically they alternated nipping each other next to the anal fin. Then they grabbed each other by the mouth (looks like kissing!) and swam around like that for 30 seconds. They repeated this for about 2 or 3 minutes, but unfortunately I didn't get a picture of the kissing because my camera's flash card was full.