Talking about those strange Electric Blue Acaras again…

[Magnum Man]

So I have 3… I’m not seeing obvious sexual differences, but guessing I have 2 Males, and 1 female, but, no fighting… this morning, the biggest one, is spreading his fins, and tail out, and waves of various electric blues hues are rippling through his fins, which looks amazing ( I almost feel guilty having them, as they are of dubious origin ), but someone “built” the perfect aquarium fish… in this model…

They are in a pretty crowded community tank, with several Cichlids, and a big gang of Cory’s… I think the Cory’s are the peace keepers… no one can claim a turf to spawn, so between the crowd, and the cats, even though 2 species, I suspect I have both sexes, there has been no fighting... ( so far ), I know I have to add that caveat with Cichlids…

But, the Electric Blues, are a larger fish, tolerant of each other, and all the other fish, ( even those much smaller, like my Zebra Oto's and my trio of Apistos ) and they are extremely beautiful… I’d sure like to know more about them… I didn’t take any “displaying” pictures this morning, the glass needs cleaning, but here is one from a few weeks ago, not displaying

 

[GaryE]

If they do decide to spawn, no Cory will be a peacemaker. They'll get run off. Substrate spawning Cichlids don't always tolerate Corys in the tank, let alone in their corner of the tank.

It seems a weird fish. I had blue acaras before they were modified, and while they were not the roughest SA Cichlids, but they were rough at times. Otos and Corys wouldn't have fared well with them. I don't know if they are the result of genetic engineering or line breeding, or linebreeding with GMO ancestors.
The illegality of selling GMO fish in some lucrative jurisdictions makes it worthwhile to hide the story of a lot of these electric blue fish. Circumstantial evidence makes it seem sketchy. But the official Party line is they are a selectively bred fish.

I don't know. Electric blue dempsies are reported to be less aggressive than real colour ones. Electric blue acaras - same thing. You have to wonder. But we're supposed to wonder in this hobby, so here's hoping they stay easy going for you!

I doubt we'll ever know for sure.