And COTA has $100 minimum plus $60 shipping. I know for certain loganh11 didn't pay $160 for that fish and there is nobody (except the one that breed it and the Creator of all that exists) that knows its true lineage. Those certain it's flowerhorn I ask what are your telltale signs? There is zero spangling in olive body and no different shaped head and typical length/shape of trimac. It's not unusual for 3" trimac to have some color in fins or around black spots or eyes. I have breed thousands of trimacs from many location points sold by rapps, COTA, anger management cichlids, max cichlids, etc and many many look like that fish when juveniles. Now I also believe that fish to be suspect due to all the hybriding, line breeding, cross breeding, inbreeding, you name it... but none of us can say this is or isn't a trimac. Post a true Midas or true red devil and countless people will jump in saying certain midevil, or post true texas and countless will jump in saying low grade red tex and so on. In their defense many people are contaminating the hobby with careless and sloppy breeding but who are we to rain on each other's parade when we are just as ignorant as the one asking.
And people make mistakes. A year ago I sold umbee pair that looked amazing and told the buyer that the male was wild from umbeeking and the female was f2 home bred. Recently when I saw my old pair on craigslist it clearly stated both male and female were wild caught. NOT TRUE. I know the guy. He's a pretty good guy. I assume he made a mistake. I didn't bust his chops. I contacted the buyer that I also know and clarified their actual collection point and showed pics of their offspring and reassured the guy he was getting top quality cichlids. It was handled with kindness and wisdom.
I have a trimac that I am 100% certain of but if anyone else showed me I swear up and down its flowerhorn. I had Midas pair, male creamsicle and female dark orange. I sold thousands of babies. Literally thousands. I'd only charge couple bucks or 3 for $5 and throw in extras but that's not why the people bought them. They went crazy over their amazing shape and pure bloodline. Then one guy I been knowing for years sent me a picture of a group I sold him and one was blue. Come one man, blue!!! Which of us is a biologist specializing in genetics, dna, recessive genes, chromosomes, etc.....a decade ago if someone posted a red dovii the lynch mob would jump all over him saying anything that popped into their uneducated minds. But that's my opinion and if you took my opinion and $5 to starbucks they might give you a cup of coffee. And that's what my opinion is worth
