My yellow labs do not have any black on them

[keane]

I only have 4 of these in a 55 gallon and nothing else. They have never shown aggresion towards each other.

I would suggest getting another 15 - 20 fish in your tank .

There may not be much fighting now but as they grow so will their aggression and with such a small number of fish, the least dominant is going to get seriously picked on and, probable, end up dead.

Malawi's should always be kept overstocked (to a sensible degree). This way, the less dominant ones in the tank can "escape into the crowd" and avoid, as best as possible, being constantly picked upon.

Also, make sure you have plenty of rock work to provide caves, tunnels, hidey places etc to reflect their natural environment.

steve

 

[colen]

Hey Steve,

Thanks for the input. I have very few fish at the moment because I plan on getting a bigger tank shortly, I am looking for a used one, minimum of 75, but would like one around 135 gallons.

As for the rocks, I have bought 80kg of slate and have made many hiding places throughout the tank. But you are right, I do need more fish. I have just been holidng off in hopes I will come across a tank in my price range in the next few months.

 

[mbhw]

I have plenty of experience with Malawis, and your fish are hybrids. They appear to be yellow lab mixed with Maylandia estherae. There is nothing wrong with them as long as you aren't trying to breed them and pass them off to other folks as yellow labs. Enjoy your fish. Oh, and another grouping of 1 male per 3 females of another mbuna african would round out your tank nicely. Cichlid forum has some great info, but you have a lot of know-it-alls there who are "purists" and would tell you to destroy your fish. Best of luck

 

[ccg]

mbhw, thanks for the info. After looking at 100's of photo's of various similar cichlids I would have to agree that they might just be a hybrid of some sort. Which is fine in my books as I bought these fish because of how they looked and not based on if they were pure or not. I can't believe anyone who would consider killing fish because they are not pure or they are cross bred. What does it matter? A fish is a fish. I supose they do this because they don't want them to coninue to breed, creating more offspring, or even cross breedig yet again.???

I am not certain, buit I hope to get a tank around 135 within the next two months. I would rather not invest in to many fish before then as my stocking options would change with a much larger tank.

Another question I have, which may be better off in another thread, but I'm sure you guys all face these problems as well. Since starting an african cichlid tank I have bought a large amount of slate rock, (green and purple, looks excellent). My question is, do you find in your tanks that there are spots where fish waste builds up? This is not a problem yet, but as I stock my tank further I can see it becoming a problem. I have excellent filtering on this tank, along with good aerition, but with making so many caves and hiding places it is going to be pretty much impossible to stop this from happening. Any ideas? Or should I just move rocks around every so often as I am cleaning to make sure I get everything?

Thanks for all the help, appreciate it everyone.
Thanks,
Colen.

 

[mbhw]

Hey Colen,

Once again, try cichlid forum dot com. They have an article on "undergravel jets" which do a decent job. I used to have to pull out my lace rock every few months and do some major work to get rid of deposits, at times it did get heavy in there. I didn't mind re arranging my tank as the fish never cared and just dug new territories.

All the best - Craig

 

[AllusiveLife]

There's nothing wrong with hybrids, I was actually thinking that it was a hybrid. But people kept telling me that Africans won't breed with other types of Africans besides their own. I actually like the idea you have hybrids, and I hope they breed creating more. And Then I hope you give some to your LFS,a nd I hope he sells them, which causes them to breed again, creating it to be a fish now being sold in the petshops, so I can then buy some and put them in my tank. And the process will continue forever, and then we'll get new types of African's...

 

[colen]

AllusiveLife, I was thinking that myself. I would love if they breed and produced fry for me, or even if they breed with another cichlid, creating another type.

So far there has been no fighitng at all in the tank, they seem very peaceful, and really enjoy the company of each other. I would like to get some proper picture of them as well, as you can see I have no idea how to use our digital camera and neither does my girlfriend. When they grow bigger and mature i'll post pictures as well if you are interested.

 

[AllusiveLife]

I would ask you to take a picture of your camera, but you don't know how to work it.

Get your camera to work, and then play with it. In about an hour you'll catch on, that's how I'd do it, I couldn't stand reading the instructions or having someone else show me

 

[gixer]

please dont go giving hybrids to you lfs. some idiot lfs will actually take them but i strongly believe this is bad for the hobby.

there is enough junk sold as malawis already without people thinking is cool. fine in your own aquarium but please dont sell them.

 

[julibob]

I would suggest getting another 15 - 20 fish in your tank .

There may not be much fighting now but as they grow so will their aggression and with such a small number of fish, the least dominant is going to get seriously picked on and, probable, end up dead.

Malawi's should always be kept overstocked (to a sensible degree). This way, the less dominant ones in the tank can "escape into the crowd" and avoid, as best as possible, being constantly picked upon.

This is just what I was told by my LFS, but not an extra 15 - 20 fish as I have a 29 Gallon. Why has no-one said that to me, rather than, I have too many fish and my tank is too small I have 11 2" Malawis and dont intend adding any more.

Sorry to detract from the original thread, but felt a bit picked on

Despite that, I agree that the photos you posted are not yellow labs. I have 6 and none of them look like yours.

Julia

 

[colen]

I have no plan on ever giving any to a lfs store and I don't believe I have ever mentioned doing so.