There seems to be alot of confusion in many "unidentified" folders in the forums between the blue male estherae and the Cobalt zebra.

From some of the pics I'm seeing, I'm relatively sure that they are being confused by some breeders, and there are Cobalt zebras (M. callainos) being crossed with red zebras all over the place. I've seen alot of supposed callainos with barring, and a lot of very questionable male estheraes with that powdery blue look, so I thought this topic was worth discussing.

Here is my male estherae:




My former male callainos: (Yes, he went to his new home Saturday!)



Both are exquisite fish, but IMO, they should never be housed in the same tank. I think some zebra variants can be housed together, but not these two in particular.

But I hear of newcomers to the hobby doing it all the time.

What do you think about this?

Kim

I've never kept Callainos, but have had Estherae for a couple of years. The Blue male can take on a powder blue when getting in fights/breeding as well and probably cause even more confusions!

I agree that these two species should never be housed together in the same tank. Just too easy from them to cross breed. Besides, I love the combination of the male/female colours!!

It can also make a big difference in the settings you use when taking pics of the male estherae!

I like the contrast of the blue/red variant, as well.

Any pics of your females?

What are you feeding them? I'm trying to bring the red in a bit deeper with different foods. They are a nice deep orange now, but not too cooperative in the photo department! My females are still very small, nowhere near as large as my male.

I've noticed alot of newcomers to the hobby getting confused over all of this, and just thought it would make a good thread, especially showing the colour differences that are normally noticeable. I think the fact that there are two different variants (red/red and blue/red) of the same species just adds to the confusion. Then people see "Cobalt zebras" in the LFS right next to the red M. estherae, and it's a problem waiting to happen!

Kim

These are older pics but you getthe idea

Female


Male



I feed NLS.

I believe he Red/Red are line breed males as Red males do occur in the wild but not common.

Casey

Very nice, Casey! My females are about the colour of yours, so I guess I should be satisfied! I hope they look as nice when they get a few inches on them.

I can still see the Faint barring in your dominant male there, but you're right, the colour is very "cobalt-ish"!

My girls aren't old enough to get my boy that excited, and I only have the one male.

You can easily see how your one male could be confused with a Cobalt, though! I've never seen a callainos with that many eggspots on the dorsal, but I can tell that my little guy is going to have alot. I think that looks great on a solid colour fish.

Kim

Hey Kim, as you know I have both. I've kept them in the same tank during moves and such and never ketp the fry...they can and will crossbreed. I can tell them apart, but it's really hard when the estherae male gets coloured up. If I have multiple males...there is always a very powdery coloured one, but they are a significantly smaller fish at fullsize, so that does help. Anyways...I'm sick and jibberish is coming outta my mouth, so hope that makes sense! Steph