mike dunagan;1069116; said:
Sorry, but I don't see what is so different about the last fish pictured that would make it "not a peacock." There is a chance that the fish pictured is not an O.B. Peacock of the regular, but an O.B. hybrid with another fish, but the other fish is certainly a Peacock as well. Typically, no 2 O.B.'s will look the same. Look at Calico Cats (feline, not Marmalade/Calico Cat cichlids
), it's a completely random pattern that is unique to each. I can tell you that the one he's got isn't along the standards of a regular O.B. Peacock, but we've got multiple O.B. types - and an O.B. is an O.B. ... If it were to have more red markings in the body, it would pretty closely resemble the Ruby Red O.B.'s we've got, but since it's smaller, it just might not be fully colored yet.Either way, O.B.'s are hybrids in the first place, so the fact that an Aulonocara type has the blotch-look typically just classifies it as O.B., and without knowing the lines from which it was bred, you're not going to be able to dub it one thing nor another as to what it is.
Alternatively, a lot (and I mean a majority) of O.B.'s entering the country [anything imported, rather than something bred here] are commonly juiced or hormoned. Juiced specimens will have more red than yellow, as the hormone enhances the yellow colors of fish to become orange or red. This is a regular practice in Asian countries, with all Cichlids, so seeing O.B.'s with crazy red in them after shipping isn't unusual. We've had similar results from our own stock by just breeding O.B. genes into fish that have red in the first place.
Example: http://www.rivercityaquatics.com/images/pricelist/_DSC0384.jpeg
Hope that helps.
