>Quite frequently I have been noticing what the Oahu petshops are calling
>"red bosmani". They don't look anything like M. bosmani more often than
>not they look like a M. trifasciata X Glossolepis sp. hybrid. Any ideas as
>to a possible id for these fishes. Also I have run into a few M. bosmani
>that do appear to exhibit a bit more red pigmentation. Are these "strains"
>or again the result of hybridization?
I don't think the red Boesemani is a hybrid neither it should be diet depending
(although you can have red boesemanis with a special diet, too). You must know,
all boesemani we started breeding with came from the few specimens Heiko B.
brought with him in 1982. Soon after millions were bred. Most of all in the GDR,
where they had excellent breeders, some breeders specialised in this species.
They found, that they could select the offspring for colour. There were several
in the original colour like we know from the photos Heiko Bleher made directly
at Lake Ajamaru (IRG members will know it, we distributed it several years ago).
However, several were more yellowish, some more reddish. Thus they developed
a red strain of boesemani (not a yellow one as this made the fish look fade).
This may happened also in other parts of the world.
Boesemanis seem to have a naturally occuring variety of colours, at least they
have the possibility to show different varieties of orange. Personally I think that
everybody interested may breed with these red Boesemanis which should be
original Boesemanis, however, I wouldn't select furtheron for colour, with the
result, that a few generations later the red colour will be reduced.
What is much more important in Boesemanis IMO is the deep blue of the anterior
part of the body which vanished in many aquarium strains. Breeders should bring
more attention to this point.
Harro