It seems like more and more people are trying to produce Red Texas Cichlids around here. Red Texas are hybrids that have red bodies with iridescent blue speckles (called blue “pearls” by collectors). The initial step involves crossing a male Herichthys carpinte with a female Red Parrot Cichlid. The progeny from this cross are “first” generation Red Texas Cichlids, however, most breeders consider themselves lucky if they get one or two high grade fish out of the several hundred fry they may raise. Most of the fry will stay brown/gray with some blue pearls (low grade).
I happened to be in the LFS the other day and noticed a forlorn group of hybrid cichlids in a bottom tank. Looking closer, you could tell they were definitely first generation Red Texas, probably traded in by a local breeder who was tired of growing them out.
One of them was tiny and had already faded (changed from brown/gray to white, and hopefully orange or red in future), and another had bright orange lips and looked like it was starting to fade.
Here are some pix:
Little fader. About 2" long.
Hopefully this little guy gets more orange/red as he matures. Already has a lot of pearls.
This is the orange lips guy. Was hard not to notice those lips!
More orange starting to appear behind the gills on his right side...
And in various spots on his left side.
Getting orange under the throat too...
He's only been in the tank a day, but Mr. Lips has some personality!
Little Fader pix taken with a Panasonic FZ-50 with external flash, shutter priority. Mr. Lips pix taken with Panasonic FZ-50 in natural daylight, “sports” scene mode.
Fishopolis 