Top picture is of a two year old adult male Metriaclima estherae (aka red zebra).

Another of my mbuna from Lake Malawi (with Minos Reef being the most common location referenced) with the common name "red zebra". I've had the female for about six years now and the male for about two years. Most of the females I've seen have one to three egg spots, and the males tend to have five or more. The males sometimes have a whiteish cast to the body with maybe even a blueish tint in the dorsal fins. The first male red zebra I owned had this whiteish look but this one does not. The female bred with a male zebra years ago but the male passed away quite some time ago before I owned a digital camera. Then she cross-bred with a rusty (I. sprengerae) twice so I purchased the above male to try to put a stop to that. In the wild most of the males are blue but the red/orange males have been bred almost exclusively in the USA aquarium trade. This cichlid is no longer in the Pseudotropheus genus but it seems that no one can decide for sure if the new genus name should be Metriaclima or Maylandia. Recently some of the local fish stores have had what they call "cherry red zebras" which are much more red than orange. Of course, that doesn't mean that any red zebra is ever actually red at all.

The above picture is of a six year old female. Notice the smaller rounded fins. The red zebras are often one of the more aggressive mbuna.

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