# maylandia estherae??



## Skinnersgirl (Jan 28, 2014)

So we took a picture today of one of our fish so maybe someone could help us to identify it...but continued to research so now I'm looking more for a confirmation of our research...this is what we came up with..

Female maylandia estherae...red something or other..been a long day ..school canceled due to the frozen tundra here in Upper Michigan ...so we studied fish:animated_fish_swimm she is about 31/2 to 4 inches long and bears only two spots on her anal fin.

I have successfully raised convicts , betta, Angelfish, and of course Molly guppy and the live bearing but never a mouth brooding cichlid. So...first order of business to make sure I have identified this fish correctly and then I'll get setup to find her a Prince Charming.

*c/p* our kids are looking forward to this as much as I am...Thanks


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## dalfed (Apr 8, 2012)

Metriaclima estherae just a different name for the same fish but might help you find a lil more info online. If you didn't get this from a breeder then there is a good chance it could be a mutt because these will cross breed with anything


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## Skinnersgirl (Jan 28, 2014)

Interesting .. I originally just picked up four small AC from Walmart ...I know *r2 here in the UP we dont have much choice plus never had any before and just was gonna try an aggressive tank and the pretty pumpkin one and the electric blue zebra disappeared while I was gone on vacation and this girl we call Goldie and an auartus are all that remain...so she could be a mutt...will the auartus also breed with anything? If in fact it is an auartus?? This picture is not the actual fish but they look alike...except sometime mine turns real dark in the face.

This is more or less gonna be just a project to get the kids into the hobby so I can just pickup any ole adult male and they will take care of the rest? I read that the females have 0-3 spots so count 2 making Goldie a female right? 

Thanks


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## dalfed (Apr 8, 2012)

Auratus are some mean fish The Mbuna Community Tank I have not heard of these two cross breeding but maybe. You may be better off with yellow labs they are usually easy to find and they won't kill each other. Really need to do some reading on Mbunas, they are not hard to keep if you start right but can be a disaster if not correct setup.


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## Skinnersgirl (Jan 28, 2014)

Well "Goldie" rules that roost.....I would like to start over and really do it right ...I may if our kids really get into this ...tomorrow I will get picture of them both and y'all can let us know if what we have is an auratus because the ester type fish which is Goldie is by far more aggressive ...after the fair went thru we had to have somewhere to put the ping pong goldfish won by the kids so we threw em in the tank explaining they were entertainment for the cichlids and could end up lunch but they faired better than expected...I finally removed them and gave em to friend with a pond.

Thanks to everyone


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## dalfed (Apr 8, 2012)

Your red zebra will stand up to the auratus but I would guess he was the culprit of your disappearances lol.


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## graybot (Apr 24, 2011)

Probably some metriaclima variant. I recommend starting from scratch and not considering African cichlids unless you have at least a 55g tank. Read up on how to take care of them and keep no more than 2-3 species wth sex ratios of 1m to 3-4f.


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## Skinnersgirl (Jan 28, 2014)

After much discussion with the young one we have decided not to start over...we must be doing something right as our fish have lived for over a year ...what we will do is start another tank and put the auratus into the new tank with a few others of his own kind and then get a new red zebra or two if we can find another couple females and a male. 

Thankyou to all that have been following this feed...our son who is a special needs ADHD with learning disabilities has decided that he wants to read everything he can find about cichlids! He has asked the librarian at his school to find him some books that will get him AR points ..hurray!:fish-in-a-bag:


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## graybot (Apr 24, 2011)

This is a fantastic book, more or less a Malawi cichlid bible.

Back to Nature: Malawi Cichlids (Revised & Expanded Edition): Ad Konings: 9780966825596: Amazon.com: Books


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