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 These
hybrids were first spotted by Stavros Tsipas who not only informed
us about their existence but managed to get some of them in his shop so we
could take some shots of them. The two specimens shown above are sized
about 7 cm each and are now kept in my 500 liter tank. In the
meantime we were informed by Stavros that another pair of these hybrids
spawned successfully which proves that, despite their different origins,
those hybrids can produce fertile offspring. I am not sure if this is
reported in the literature or not, but it seems that hybridization has no
"limits". The best way to avoid it is to keep your fishes in pairs which
will ensure that any female can find its mate there and not spawn with any
fish that looks good enough. It should also be noted that, despite the
fact that there are many species in their tank, they choose to breed with
Aulonocara sp. (or between them) rather than anything else. Aulonocara sp.
is well known to hybridize readily in the tank but - usually - this is
done with another Aulonocara species. Now we all know that it can also be
a species from another lake.
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