Need to ID and sex this fish

[hslobo]

Hi folks,

Just acquired this new fish today and Im not sure what the species of sex is. I'm kind of new to cichlids although not new at all to the hobby as I've run salt and fresh for many years. I'm posting a pic of this fish and I can tell you that the anal fin does have egg spots on it even though the pic does not show this. I have another of the same species and was hoping to get an opposite sex for mating however both have egg spots on the tail. I cant seem to get the pic of the pre-existing fish to up load.


Thanks for your help

Howard

[jonv]

Well from the size of that I'd think that is a male however, what the species is I am unsure. It has classic markings of Metriclimea Esterae however, the body does not quite match with it. It almost looks like a hybrid Red Zebra (Met. Esth.) and crossed with some sort of Peacock. This is not uncommon either. The now popular "Firefish" are usually that. A peacock crossing with a Red Zebra to heighten the red color lines. That back end of the body is telling me not a red zebra though the front looks like one. I'll scan around. My first inclination is hybrid but I have only seen maybe 1% of all the species of Africans anyways. Let me take a look around. Impossible to say with certainty either on gender. Would need to see the vent, especially if this is a hybrid. Do not rely on egg spots alone. I have many female Protomelas Steveni's Albino that have color markings very close to a male as well as some spots on the anal fin.