Abstract: Dynamic changes in habitat background color and body color are essential to fish behavior and physiological function. This study focused on Sciaenochromis fryeri, which has a blue body color, to investigate individual and group preferences for background colors (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, black) and the body colors of fish shoals Labidochromis caeruleus (yellow body color), Metriaclima (Maylandia) estherae (orange body color), Hindongo socolofi (white body color), and conspecifics. The results were compared with those of L. caeruleus, which has a high niche overlap but a yellow body color. The results show that individual of S. fryeri prefer most backgrounds colors (except orange and green) over white, with a notable preference for black backgrounds. However, when measured in groups, S. fryeri showed no significant differences between the white and yellow backgrounds. The body color preference for the stimulus shoals was consistent between individuals and groups, with both preferring to associate with conspecifics or Hindongo socolofi, which has a white body color. This is the first documentation of such phenomena in fish species. The study indicates that while the background color preferences of blue S. fryeri and yellow L. caeruleus are similar, body color does play a role in shoal selection, indicating that cichlids from the same habitat do not differ in background color preference due to body color.