Metriaclima estherae
KONINGS, 1995

The Red zebra is maby the most classic mbuna cichlid. There has been a civil war in Moqambique for many years, making it impossible to catch or export fish here, but when the war ended a few years ago Stuart Grant got permission catch fish in the previously forbidden waters of Moqambicue. Many new species where (and are still) found in these waters. But Stuart Grants men was primarely looking for the location where the Red Zebra was found. With a little help from the natives they found Minos Reef, this is a reef just south of the town Metangula. The red zebra is scientifically described as Metriaclima estherae after Stuart Grants whife Esther Grant. There are constantly new Red Zebras exported so nowadays it is easy to get the hold of Red Zebras of good quality. In the lake It is found at several reefs along the eastcoast, the brightness of the females color varies at diffrent reefs, the brightest colored females is found at Minos reef. There are no geografical races known, but it shows however polymorphism. Males in nature are blue and females orange, There are also pinkish males, this is probably an orange (O) morph of the male. It prefers the rocky enviroment from the surface waters down to a depth of about 25 meters. And it feeds from the biocover, where it combs the loose algae from rocks. Sometimes it feeds from plankton but it remains close to the substrate doing so. Males are territorial and defend their revir wich is a specific rock or a cave. Males show agressive behavior only towards conspecific males. Females usually gather in groups. In aquarium This was the second malawi cichlid I got, I had just read Ad Konings superb book Malawiciclids in their natural enviroment (the big blue book) and I was amazed by the red zebras that could be found at Minos reef. I imediatley got this fish, the females where small (fry) but really red, I later bought a Wildcaught female (1:st VF fish) and it didnt took long for them to spawn. These fishes are fairly productive and they usuallly spawns after I have made a waterchange. This is a great beginners fish, it is cheap beautiful and not that agressive.