Metriaclima Estherae

[Matt Gleadow]

I just want to check that its ok to keep the different colours of Metriaclima Estherae together?

I only have 2 at the moment but I am going to be adding to these very shortly. One of them is orange and the other is yellow. I would like to get a blue male and a few more orange and yellows or maybe orange blotch.

Different colours don't cause problems with one another do they? And will different colours breed with each other?

Also I am led to believe a good mix is 1 male to 5 females?

Thanks for your time.

 

[Ferris]

Hi,

Different colours of Estherae still have the potential to breed as they are the same species - something to bear in mind.

Also you are unlikely to find true blue Estherae in the hobby nowadays and will probably end up with Callainos. I occasionally see adult Estherae males with some blue to their finnage but even that is very rare now. That said, if you do get Callainos, they should be OK with your Estherae but tend to be slightly less aggressive.

1 male to 3 females is the basic ratio usually quoted for stocking but 1 to 5 is even safer so no problems there.

 

[Matt Gleadow]

I have just looked at the profiles to compare the estherae and callainos and they are very similar. I dont mind if I end up with callainos. Thanks for pointing that out and for answering my question.

Matt

 

[Matt Gleadow]

I've got a few pics of the yellow one for you to look at.
When I first got it the body and fins were all yellow.
After 2 weeks it now seems to have a blue tinge to it. Any chance of that meaning that the yellow one is a male? Or is this normal colourings for them? Also noticed it has alot larger lips/mouth area than the orange one? It seems to have a slightly 'butch' look to it when compared with the orange one. Is a bit of a bully with the other one aswell.
Pics taken when it was eating as thats the only time it stops still long enough! They dont show up the blue on the fin on top of its back very well. Apologies for quality, need to learn how to get better shots of them!

One of the orange one for comparison.

 

[Ferris]

The Yellow is certainly a male but difficult to say on the Orange, probably a female but can't be certain.

 

[patrick_devereux]

that yellow one is a beauty mate!!!!

 

[Druchii]

isn't that yellow one a bit of a mix thou, certainly looks like its got more than a bit of Caeruleus in it - or is it just me that the colour is throwing me there??

 

[Matt Gleadow]

The yellow one looked identical in shape to the orange one when I first got them (apart from the colour). Its only the past 3-4 days I have noticed the blue starting to come out in it and the shape of it has changed a little aswell.

Its probably about 2.5 inches long at the moment so still has some growing to do.

 

[Ferris]

There is a true yellow morph Estherae in the wild, you hardly ever see them though and are more likely to find a hybrid. That looks like the genuine article though.