Jewel Cichlids

[Auratus]

It was recently brought to my attention that my jewel cichlids could be hybrids. I have "turquoise jewels". The scientific name hemichromis bimaculatus refers to the two black spots on the jewel's body, which my fish lack. They only have one black spot on the gill area. As far as I know there is no scientific name for the type of fish I have and I read on a site that a common hybrid of bimaculatus is the turquoise or blue jewel. But I noticed that majority of the American sites I've seen have the common red looking jewel with two black spots, and all of the German sites that I've found have my type of jewel listed as bimaculatus.

Anwho, here are some pictures. You can see that they are mainly blue and show almost no red coloration except on the male's throat during breeding. I'm wondering if anyone has info on these guys? Do you know if they are line bred, a color morph, or if they really are a hybrid?

If they are a hybrid it would be interesting to find out more information on what different species they are since I have always been under the impression they were just a color morph

 

[freddyk]

Looks real enough to me Auratus. They don't always show that spot.

 

[Ferris]

I agree, they look perfectly normal to me, lovely fish.

 

[AnthonyRobinson666]

you get different types, wild ones are usually greenish...
commercial are more red, with more blue
lafili (spelt wrong) are dark red with more evenly spaced spots

ARobinson