Cichlid Woes

[KonaCoast]

Hello,
I am new to forums, but I need some help. I have had a yellow lab cichlid for almost a year, he lives in a ten gallon tank by himself. I asked the lady at pet smart if it would be okay to get another. She told me they would get along fine (my fault for not reading up on cichlids)As you can guess they didn't get along well, my bumblebee almost lost a couple fins. I put him in a hospital tank where he has been living for a couple months, but its only a two gallon tank, he is a baby, but I feel he should be living in a bigger tank. I have been reading that if you get a bigger tank you can add many and it causes less agression. I've been thinking of selling my ten gallon tank and getting a 30-40 gallon tank and putting both fish in along with others. Is this a better idea? I am tired of mulitple fish tanks with one fish inside. Please help.

 

[kiriyama]

Hello,
I am new to forums, but I need some help. I have had a yellow lab cichlid for almost a year, he lives in a ten gallon tank by himself. I asked the lady at pet smart if it would be okay to get another. She told me they would get along fine (my fault for not reading up on cichlids)As you can guess they didn't get along well, my bumblebee almost lost a couple fins. I put him in a hospital tank where he has been living for a couple months, but its only a two gallon tank, he is a baby, but I feel he should be living in a bigger tank. I have been reading that if you get a bigger tank you can add many and it causes less agression. I've been thinking of selling my ten gallon tank and getting a 30-40 gallon tank and putting both fish in along with others. Is this a better idea? I am tired of mulitple fish tanks with one fish inside. Please help.

Bigger tank = happier fish + the chance to add some tankmates

 

[JMatthew]

Bigger tank = happier fish + the chance to add some tankmates

What Kiri is basically saying is, yes. Moving up to a larger size tank would allow you to keep more african cichlids and likely all together in one tank. Frankly, a 10 gallon for a yellow lab is actually pretty sad. As a beginner to owning multiple african cichlids I would go no less than a 55 gallon aquarium, though - the long (4 foot, I believe) kind. This allows for a good deal of distance between the fish in case one is to aggressive for the others. The usual "rule" of the amount of fish you can keep can be pretty much thrown out the window. You will want to crowd them to keep the aggression down, as you have red. For instance I am currently keeping 12 yellow labs, 7 tanzanian black aceis, 5 sp. 44s, 2 synodontis and a common pleco in a 40 gallon breeder - not something I would recommend until you have learned and observed the behaviors of these fish for sometime first.

Anyway - with more fish in one aquarium, more filteration becomes needed. How much? Frankly, the more the better. On the aquarium mentioned above I run two Marineland Emporer 400s - rated for 90 gallons each. Fish stay happy, though and I have regular breeding going on. Just striped an acei yesterday and have another holding plus a yellow lab holding.