The rainbow of rainbow cichlids

[Hybridfish7]

So with herotilapia multispinosa, the fan favorite rainbow cichlid, I have seen a wide variety of colors, ranging from red-oranges, to just pale oranges, to what I can only describe as the dandelion color from the crayon boxes I had as a kid, to lemon yellows. Not to mention the variety in the density of their striping, or lack thereof, and the blue or sometimes green blotch on their abdomen. The cherry on top of all of this being the red and white eyes. Oh and not to mention the female I won in an auction, who I affectionally call the sh*t log cichlid, because she is the furthest from any color on the rainbow- she is brown.
Anyway, what is with all the variety? I have heard things thrown around like the more landlocked the population is, the more orange it is, and how wild populations naturally have red eyes, so if yours have red eyes they're closer to wild populations. The latter has been debunked for the most part, but then that begs the question, does anyone know where all these specific varieties come from? The orange ones with blue bellies I've seen as "costa rica" or something like that, but the ones Maxim Savchuk collected from Rio San Juan were Almost the opposites, having red eyes and dandelion colored bodies with pale lateral striping.
(main thing I want to know is where to get orange ones)

 

[duanes]

In many cases location plays a large part in cichlid coloration (not only multispinossa).
Whatever the habitat that helps it survive will be chosen by the laws of survival of the fittest.
If an area is sandy and devoid of plants, and certain coloration with select for that area.
If the area is rocky, and the banks overgrown, certain colors will be more protective, and select colors that work for those individuals. If a fish stands out, it is usually eaten, if it blend, it may survive to breed
If the water is turbid, the cichlid may need reflective scales to help attract a mate. there are many different factors.
Here are some examples, the species directly below comes from sandy, relatively shallow areas,.

There are 3 individual in the shot above, and the coloration helps protect from bird predation, from above.
Here they are in a tank, seen from the side.

Now take these two individuals of the same species, but from different rivers


Now closer to your question


Above a tank situation, below, in a pool (pond situation.

In nature during the rainy season, multispinossa spread out to the flooded grasslands to spawn.

 

[C. Breeze]

Max’s are the only ones I know with provenance attached. Orange ones are where you find them I guess. This male gets orange. Gold , red eyed with a lot of color in the fins too.

 

[duanes]

An ichthyologist friend of mine was working for a opthamologist, working on color perceptions was using cichlids as experimental subjects, because they see color in much the same way as humans.
It is interesting the colors red and orange underwater, are perceived as brown or black, but from short distance under the right light, stand out, so in a turbid habitat is a great way to attract a mate.

 

[C. Breeze]

Which gymno is that ?yerbalito?

 

[newworld]

A friend in Chicago raises the bright orange rainbow for years and still does, that fish’s origins are questionable, the rainbows I’ve collected (Xiloa)have been tannish in coloration coming from shallow weedy waters...

 

[dogofwar]

Jeff Rapps brought in some wild ones a few years ago. They were sort of greenish. The availability of super-orange ones seem to come and go, most surely line bred for that. When I used to keep them, you'd get really nicely colored ones out of batches of fry.

 

[duanes]

Which gymno is that ?yerbalito?

Yes that is a male "Rio Yerbalito"

 

[C. Breeze]

Yes that is a male "Rio Yerbalito"
View attachment 1456622

yeah that ones on my short list. But, I don’t know whose keeping it at the moment. Hopefully fingers crossed I can get some mykinos later this year.

 

[duanes]

yeah that ones on my short list. But, I don’t know whose keeping it at the moment. Hopefully fingers crossed I can get some mykinos later this year.

One thing I found interesting about Gymnogeophaus, and somewhat in Australoheros, that the individuals I kept in ponds outside seasonally, always had more intense colors when brought in, than those kept in tanks all year.
And especially those left out into the fall, where temps dipped into the 50s.


I even found it to be true with Mayaheros beanii, that come from a less than tropical area, where winters get cool in northern Mexico