The fish in question is NOT a yellow lab OR a red zebra. The general shape of the fish excludes it from being either, and the color excludes it from being a yellow lab.
This fish is most likely a yellow lab X red zebra hybrid:
- color is very similar to that of the red zebra but the head and mouth shape is way off.
-The fish does appear to have the muted presence or vestiges of the black fin markings of a yellow lab, as well as the general head and mouth shape of a yellow lab. It also has a 'metriaclima'-ish physique.
If you have red zebras and yellow labs in your tank with plans to breed them, it is highly recommended to remove this fish from that tank. That fish will only produce other hybrids and will be prone to breed with either species. Any "yellow lab" or "red zebra" born in that tank would have to be assumed as being suspect.
For general reference:
Red Zebra
Color, which can vary from white-pink to carrot orange to even blue if considering the 'wild types'), should be the last factor considered when identifying this species, especially when attempting to distinquish it from l. caeruleus. Body form is typically most revealing: stocky body and broad head with a broad mouth designed for algae grazing.
Yellow lab
Body shape more stream-lined, not as stocky as the zebra types. Smaller mouth adapted for the consumption of micro-crustaceans and water born insects. The general shape of the head is 'smooth' and near identical in slope (lower snout to bottom gill plate conforms in shape with the form of the upper snout to the start of the dorsal, sort of like a 'lesser than' symbol ("<"), and significantly different from the zebra-type head. Yellow labs, are of course, yellow (except for the blue-white color morph originating from Nkhata Bay).
The fish in question has characteristics of both species.
This fish is most likely a yellow lab X red zebra hybrid:
- color is very similar to that of the red zebra but the head and mouth shape is way off.
-The fish does appear to have the muted presence or vestiges of the black fin markings of a yellow lab, as well as the general head and mouth shape of a yellow lab. It also has a 'metriaclima'-ish physique.
If you have red zebras and yellow labs in your tank with plans to breed them, it is highly recommended to remove this fish from that tank. That fish will only produce other hybrids and will be prone to breed with either species. Any "yellow lab" or "red zebra" born in that tank would have to be assumed as being suspect.
For general reference:
Red Zebra
Color, which can vary from white-pink to carrot orange to even blue if considering the 'wild types'), should be the last factor considered when identifying this species, especially when attempting to distinquish it from l. caeruleus. Body form is typically most revealing: stocky body and broad head with a broad mouth designed for algae grazing.
Yellow lab
Body shape more stream-lined, not as stocky as the zebra types. Smaller mouth adapted for the consumption of micro-crustaceans and water born insects. The general shape of the head is 'smooth' and near identical in slope (lower snout to bottom gill plate conforms in shape with the form of the upper snout to the start of the dorsal, sort of like a 'lesser than' symbol ("<"), and significantly different from the zebra-type head. Yellow labs, are of course, yellow (except for the blue-white color morph originating from Nkhata Bay).
The fish in question has characteristics of both species.
