Xenomorph said:
Ruby Reds are German selective bred fish ...and that is a Ruby Red, not a hybrid. Recesive genes can sometimes show different little things on one's fish.
When these fish were imported from Germany by Peter Rubin a few years back, the theory was that the Ruby Red (Rubescens or Rubin) was supposedly line bred from the Maleri Island race of
Aulonocara sp. ''Stuartgranti Maleri". The German Red was supposedly line-bred from the Chipoka race of
Aulonocara sp. ''Stuartgranti Maleri". This theory has never actually been proven.
In a perfect world, these two lines would have remained pure, but confusion of the two variants and careless breeding has flooded the market with hybrids, if they weren't hybrids to begin with (many suspect they were).