Blues, Greens, and Reds
The name Red Texas cichlid is chiefly used for an aquarium hybrid between a Texas cichlid and some other cichlid. The ancestry of the Red Texas cichlid is therefore obscure and variable. The quality of fry sold under the name Red Texas cichlid or Red flowerhorn varies a lot, and the number of specimens that develop into vibrantly red show cichlids will be really low even in a good batch. You can generally expect a significant portion of each batch to never become red at all, and black spotting is prevalent among those that do turn red. It is not uncommon for a “Red” Texas cichlid to be more black than red.
The Red Texas Cichlid is a hybrid fish that was developed by the cross breeding of Flowerhorn Cichlid (Cichlasoma sp.) and Texas Cichlid (Herichthys cyanoguttatus), thus does not exist in the wild. In a sense the Red Texas Cichlid is a second generation hybrid, as the Flowerhorn Cichlid with which it is cross bred is already a hybrid produced by cross breeding the Trimac Cichlid with other various Central American Cichlids. As Flowerhorn cross breeding began in the mid 80s, they have since been bred with multiple other species and line bred for coloration and pattern, which has made them almost undistinguishable from their wild origins.
In the aquarium trade you can often find fishes sold under the names Blue Texas cichlid, Green Texas cichlid, and Red Texas cichlid. These common names can cause quite a lot of confusion because they are used for color variants of Herichthys cyanoguttatus as well as for hybrids and entirely different species. Take the name Blue Texas cichlid for instance—many pet shops use this name for a number of blue cichlids from North and Central America, including H. carpintis, H. cyanoguttatus, H. labridens, and others. The name Blue Texas cichlid is also frequently applied to species that have not yet been scientifically described and given a proper scientific name, such as Herichthys sp. "Rio Cazones," Herichthys sp. "turquoise," and Herichthys sp. "Poza Rica."