Former Newbie's African Cichlid Experience

I just came back from vacation yesterday and all the fish are still alive Also moved two holding peacock/yellow lab females into a ten gallon and they should release their fry in a couple days. Going without food for a week seems to of had no effect on the cichlids, they are all healthy and active. 
 
While on vacation, I collected some flat sand stone rocks and plan on putting them in some of the tanks. 

So the two females spit their fry about a week ago and there's more than I expected. The first (and slightly larger) female had some where around 20 fry. The second female must of had around 30. So it looks like there's 40-60 fry between the two. I have no idea how I'm going to give them all new homes when the time comes. I think I might have to put something up online to sell them off...
 
I switched out the male hybrid in the 20 gallon with his brother, who is all a few shades darker. Not sure if his fry will end up looking a whole lot different but I figured I should try it anyways. One of the females is holding as of yesterday. I didn't see anything happening so who know's if they are fertilized or not. 
 
The 16 older fry are doing great and growing well in the 20 gallon. So far the 3 main color variations are yellow, silvery white, and then there's a few grey ones which look like normal peacock fry. With all these fry I've had to think of a new game plan. When I get a heater and new large sponge filter, I plan on moving the 50ish younger fry to the 29. When they reach an inch or so I will throw in the 16 older fry. 

Did a water change yesterday and ended up putting all those new flat sand stone rocks in the 55. Also took the little male rock kribensis out of the 20 and put him in the main tank. So far no one has paid him any attention. He's probably too small to look like a threat. 
As a side note, I know that the rock kribensis is a Victorian cichlid and it seems to be frowned upon to mix species of different lakes, but I've done it   We'll see how it turns out in the long run though. 

Yesterday I stripped 16 wigglers from the holding female hybrid and I have them in my DIY tumbler. I made sure that the 50 or so 2 week old fry can't get to them through the mesh this time I'm itching to get the 29 gallon up and running but I need a heater and sponge filter first. The heater that I planned to use is malfuctioning and doesn't turn off. Good thing I decided to test it out before using it, it was nearly 80 degrees before I turned it off (supposed to stop around 74). I really want to move the younger fry into the 20 long but I'm worried that the 3 month olds will eat them up. I've noticed that one of the younger fry has a defect with its tail fin. It looks like the top of the fin doesn't open up all the way, almost like the top point is missing. I don't think this will effect its health but I will be keeping a close eye on it. As a side note, I'm still feeding them micro worms 3-4 times a day.
 
 
Here's some blurry pics of the 3 month olds, one of the smaller ones is really yellow, almost orange.
      
 
This guy is one of the bullies...                             
 
 
This one is also a bully but looks a lot more like a peacock than the other one.
 

Just bought a young Electric Blue Ahli from the new tropical pet store in town I am pretty certain that it's a male. He's a tiny bit over 2 inches long, too small to go in the show tank so he's stuck with the hybrids in the breeder tank until he grows a bit more. I might have to move the male hybrid out if he decides to beat him up but so far all is well. A few picture will be posted once he settles down and get his color back. 
 
It sounds like the new pet shop will be happy to buy off some of my fry and adult fish. I haven't been able to get in touch with the fish guy but the man that takes care of the reptiles says he's great with fish and is even turning the basement of the shop into a breeding room for fish. The variety of aquatic critters is amazing and there were zero dead/nearly dead fish in the tanks. I was hoping to find some khuli loaches for my betta tank but it seemed they had every loach BUT the khuli. I am really looking forward to talking to the fish guy. Now I can FINALLY rehome my male yellow labs and any other fish that may become problematic. (I'm looking at you, Livingstonii...) 

As promised I got some pictures of the Ahli. In the second pic you can also see a holding hybrid. 
     
 
Another bout of musical tanks resulted in the 16 1inch fry going in the 20gal tall with the Ahli and the holding hybrid female. The 4 other hybrids were put back in the 55 and the roughly 60 younger fry were put in the 20 long. A few of those fry were left in the 10 gallon because they are the ones that just came out of the egg tumbler.
 
About half of the older fry look very much like normal peacocks. The other half look like the parents when they were fry (yellow). When they reach 2 inches are so I will probably be selling off most of the yellow. 

Why purposely create hybrids when pure species are already harder to get in stores? Passing them off to someone else just enlarges the problem. If they end up being passed off a legit species, the uneducated hobbiest may think he's getting say yellow lab females to bred with his pure lab male. Then this person spreads his fry around as "yellow labs" not knowing he's messing up the gene pool even more.

I'm sorry to say, but I really don't want to argue the topic of hybrids on a post I created to simply share my experience and keep track of my fish. I understand your opinion but I find it a little insulting to me as well as the person in charge of the fish at my local pet store. Please don't hyjack my post and bash something that I feel passionate about.

Fry update: the younger fry are about a month old now and the older fry are 4ish months? They're all doing great and growning well
 
 
I got a few decent pictures of the dominant hybrid male. The first pic is when he's not in breeding mode. 
     
 
I have the 29gal all set up but still no heater. The filter has been running for a few days now so we'll see how a fishless cycle goes.
 

So I've been pretty busy with my new job and all that but I finally have decent funds to buy fish supplies. I traded off the two male yellow labs and the female livingstonii for an awesome OB peaock, which isn't very orange but that's ok because I prefer blue. The pictures turned out really well this time too
     
 
I also moved the 47 fry that are now 2ish months old into the 29 gallon (also bought a heater). The Electric blue Ahli was moved to the 55 now that I don't have to worry about him getting eaten. Once again, the DB peacock laid eggs by herself and didn't bother to hold them. Here's to hoping that the new OB peacock (who is probably a male) will be able to spawn with her and the other female when he matures. Now that the king of the tank is gone (the bigger yellow lab) I'm guessing the bumble bee will take over but I don't think he's going to be as agressive as the yellow lab was. 
The blue ahli is a little freaked out so he's not very "electic" blue. 
     
 
As a side note, I feel pretty bad about selling the livingstonii but the fish guy at the pet store seems to planning on giving it to someone who was looking for a female so he can breed them. That actually makes me feel a lot better about it. Also got to see him strip a blue dolphin that was holding 50+ fry  

It was such a good idea to sell those three fish. The tank is really peaceful now and it looks like the female blue zebra has taken over. Even the bumblebee gets out of the way. The electric blue ahli seems freaked out by all the bigger fish and he hides most of the time. But his nice blue color came back so he should be fine. The OB peacock looks less blue now and I almost think it might be a female. Time will tell though.

The 16 fry are nearly 2 inches now, and I've already got my favorites picked out. Soon I plan on selling most of the yellow fry and a few of the grey ones. The grey on in the second pic is one of the favorites, along with the grey in the first pic.



The 47 fry are all seem healthy and active. There's one all white fry that's bigger than all the others, so I will prob keep him. The one with the goofy tail is doing fine too. I'll try to get a decent pic of him next time.


Nearly forgot to mention that one of the hybrid females is holding as of the 26th. She spawned with the darker/dominant male hybrid

Growth update time

The older fry are growing well, but they seem to be slowing down now. I finally was able to get some decent pictures after adjusting the lighting a bit. In the third pic the yellow fish in the middle on the right is their aunt, so they're getting pretty big Also, the yellow guy in the first pic in the dominant fish, probably a male. I'll try and keep them all a bit longer until the males start showing color.


The younger fry are reaching one inch now, and I put the 4 corydoras in with them so they don't have to be stuck in a little ten gallon. I was doing a water change, hence the siphon. You can compare size difference between the older fry and younger fry in the third pic.

I'm expecting the hybrid female to spit any day now. She's in the 20 long with some other runts from an earlier batch.

About 5 days ago I put 4 of the larger/older fry in the 55 and they are doing just fine. No one seems interested in eating them but their dad chases them when they get close. The carrying hybrid spit her fry and she is back with the others, and a different female laid eggs 2 days ago. The normal peacock laid eggs as well, I'm assuming she did it alone, as always. Both the new OB peacock and Ahli are doing well enough. They argue with each other but that's ok. The Ahli probably has internal parasites, judging from the thin white poo he has from time to time. I'm confident that over time, with water changes and a bit of garlic soaked food he will be cured. I'm seriously considering selling the rest of the mbunas and one of the hybrid males, just because I don't want the 4 females to get too stressed. I haven't decided which male I want to sell yet.

The Dominant male seems to of gotten his but kicked by the female blue zebra so his color was really dark the day after. Note that his top lip is scraped from the fight.

Here's a pic of his brother just because

Both were fighting a bit when the female was ready to lay eggs.

And here's some baby pics of the fry in the 55. I have high hopes for the first fry.

So, lots of fish things happening. I've decided to take the dominant male hybrid and the blue zebra, maybe the bumblebee too, the next time I go the the pet store. I'm also taking 9 of the older fry in and hopefully getting some khuli loaches (not for the cichlid tank).
Sorry for no photos, looks like I have to find a different way to upload pictures. I picked out six fry and have them in the 55. I don't think they are going to get beaten up/eaten, their colors are showing even better in the larger tank. I'm almost certain that one of the 2 yellow ones is male. When it has a mouth full of mini pellets it's gill plate and throat look slightly blue. None have egg spots yet, but they might not get them since their dad doesn't have any.

Edit: forgot to mention, I noticed that one of the more recent fry has a tail defect, just like one of the 47 fry has. It's possible that one of the females is carrying the gene, and I have an idea as to who it is. It can't be the dad that's causing it, because the two defective ones are from different fathers. Next time the suspected female spawns I will be keeping the fry separate and see if it really is her.

Update: Not much to say, one hybrid female spit fry, another is holding, and then a third one will be in the next day or so. The new fry are in a breeder net in the 29gal. One of the yellow fry I had in the 55 was killed, presumably by the lace catfish or blue zebra. It may sound heartless but I'm okay with it's death, probably because I have dozens more... Anyways, the bubble bee as a chill as ever, he just swims around and eats. The new OB peacock is almost as big as the hybrid females, and the 5 fry that are still swimming are growing really fast. I think the largest one and the last yellow one are males. The blue ahli is getting more aggressive (and pretty), but is still the same size as the OB peacock.