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I am not familiar with how closely related each species is to one another, but are there instances where different species of African Cichlid's will breed?

I have recently added a Red Kadanga (Copadichromis borleyi) to my tank - and right away it calmed my overly aggressive Hap Ahli down, and they have been exchanging the odd courtship dance?

I recognize that the behaviour is FAR from a sign that they will actually mate, but I am curious to know if it is a scientific possibility?

I would not attempt cross-breeding myself, as I would not want to dull-down the gene pool of such beautiful fish.

Anyone have any experience with this?

72G Bowfront. 1 Sunshine Peacock, 2 Yellow Labs, 1 Ps. Elongatus, 1 Blue Ahli, 1 Red Kadanga, 1 Mel. Exasperatus, 1 metriaclima emmiltos, 1 Ancistrus.

14.5G 4 Neon Tetras.

yeah im pretty sure thats possible,i have a friend who has a 3 foot african tank,and heaps of the fish in there have x bred,he once came back from holidays ,and we found a cobolt blue x mapanga,it was a nice fish,it was also the only one left all the rest must have been eaten,but yes they are quite capable of x breeding,but alot of fish keepers frown on this practice,theres a number of reasons,as you said keeping the bloodlines correct,and also getting sold to lfs as the wrong fish,therefore getting sold to the public as the wrong fish and then it goes on and on down the line destroying bloodlines of fish that it mite spawn with,its a shame too,because when my blue acara and green terror x breed,there fry are beautifull..ive seen alot of x breeds that are quite stunning to look at,but its not a very good practice,well hope this helped ya