jewel cichlids

[cichlidchic]

i have a question about hybridization in Jewel cichlids.

my question is, if a male red jewel, and a female turquoise jewel mate, are the babies hybrids? as in, are these 2 breeds or just color variants?

I ask, because when placed in a tank, my red male picked a turquoise female, and my turquoise male picked a red female. Odd to be certain, but who can say who to love right? lol.

any opinions on this? I was told at one point that 2 reds can have turq. babies and vise versa, but didn't know the general consensus on this.

[Paleoguy]

They are seperate species until or when the 'Ichy-ologist' split or group them. The fry will be hybrids and that probably accounts for a lot of the problems in pet stores - hybrids are often more vigorous than regular fry. A rule of thumb is never have two conspecifics in the same tank.