Yellow labs

A

AVenom

Medium Fish
#1
Sep 15, 2005
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#1
Hey all, I've been posting in the gourami section but have gotten rid of them.
We now have 2 yellow lab cichlids, just babies(under2in) I do plan to add 2 more cichlids at a time once a week till I reach 6 total.
My situation is this....the 4 Gourami we had produced about 100-200 fry. After they were taken out of the tank I thought all the fry were gone. I was wrong. I got home yesterday, and there are still alot of fry in the tank.
I do not want these to grow...
I assumed the cichlids would eat the fry, but they don't seem to be. All they do is hide, is that normal?
When I put them in the tank there was already a orange finned loach, who decided he wanted to try to kill the cichlids. So I had to remove the loach from the tank for a while to let the yellow labs adjust. I put the loach in a fish bowl, and he jumped out and died.
So now, I need suggestions for a new bottom feeder that will be ok with cichlids. Also any suggestions on how to get rid of the fry still left in the tank.
Almost forgot...I have a 55gal tank with the 2 yellow labs, and a pleco.

Thanks
Oh and I've been trying to get pictures of the new labs, but they've all come out crappy..lol

Dave


Also I noticed one of the cichlids swims kind of sideways....this is the one who's colors aren't as bright.
 

Last edited:
phOOey

phOOey

Superstar Fish
#2
Oct 31, 2003
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Nottingham, UK
#2
right, you've only just added these guys, so there gonna be pretty skitish untill they've settled down, and once they have settled down your probably see that they are pretty aggressive, i think people have kept clown loaches with them before and they'd cetainly eat they fry, but thats all i can think of.

someone else whos a little better at africans could probably help you with stocking and such, and i'm not sure about the sideways swimming either.
 

C

Cichlid-Man

MFT Staff
#3
Jul 9, 2003
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#3
Well you have room, thats for sure. Since they are new they are going to hid a little bit. With a 55gal, you could probably go more than 6. Of course thats if you decide to and if you want to spend that money, its not definently needed.

You're fry will be gone once the cichlids settle in. As for bottem feeders, Clown loaches could work or 1-2 Synodontis catfish.

Sideways isn't very good....any signs of disease?
 

A

AVenom

Medium Fish
#4
Sep 15, 2005
94
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#4
Cichlid-Man said:
Well you have room, thats for sure. Since they are new they are going to hid a little bit. With a 55gal, you could probably go more than 6. Of course thats if you decide to and if you want to spend that money, its not definently needed.

You're fry will be gone once the cichlids settle in. As for bottem feeders, Clown loaches could work or 1-2 Synodontis catfish.

Sideways isn't very good....any signs of disease?
Click to expand...

I'm not sure I would know what to look for. Here's what I can tell you, this one is smaller than the other one, and the black in it's fins aren't as dark as the other one.
 

phOOey

phOOey

Superstar Fish
#5
Oct 31, 2003
1,741
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#5
it may just be that hes still settling in, fish will tend to lose there colour a bit during transportation so i'd leave another a day or two and see if it improves.
 

A

AVenom

Medium Fish
#6
Sep 15, 2005
94
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#6
Thanks guys...they seem to be doing fine now.
We are adding 2 more to the tank tonight, 2 pseudotropheus zebras....they are light blue and black.
I'll let you know how that goes...
 

W

wayne

Elite Fish
#7
Oct 22, 2002
4,077
3
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#7
You need to start adding quite small mbuna in quite large numbers. These fish do better when there's so many they can't setup proper territories.
 

A

AVenom

Medium Fish
#8
Sep 15, 2005
94
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#8
Well the 2 new cichlids turned out to be kenyi, not zebras...but either way they are great.

in responce to the above post....

We don't plan to have more than 6 cichlids in the tank. we are up to 4 in 4 days, and plan to add either a clown loach or a catfish. The 4 that are in there now are doing great. They are still a little stressed(hiding, not eating a whole lot) but they are not aggressive towards each other at all. I'm quite surprised actually.
 

phOOey

phOOey

Superstar Fish
#9
Oct 31, 2003
1,741
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#9
well, once they're settled you'll probably start seeing some lip locking, i expect your yellow labs will get little beat up by the kenyi at the start, but nothing to bad. also if you went for clown loaches id say get atleast four, because one on its own would not be very happy.
 

Orion

Orion

Ultimate Fish
Moderator
#10
Feb 10, 2003
5,803
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#10
As a general rule, the more fish in a tank the more you are going to see them. This is because most fish are going to feel more comfortable comming out in the open when they see that other fish are doing the same because this signals to them that there are no dangers around.

As for the cichlids, mbuna and peacocks are often seen with many in a tank. This is like Wayne said to keep any of them from setting up a real teritories. These fish are aggressive, and with so many in a tank, it's difficult for the aggressor to focus on a single fish, but instead it gets spread around to many fish. This helps keep the entire population healthy and active.
 

A

AVenom

Medium Fish
#11
Sep 15, 2005
94
0
0
#11
phOOey said:
well, once they're settled you'll probably start seeing some lip locking, i expect your yellow labs will get little beat up by the kenyi at the start, but nothing to bad. also if you went for clown loaches id say get atleast four, because one on its own would not be very happy.
Click to expand...

Well now I'm not sure what the new 2 are...lol
The pet store says zebra's, and my buddy that's really into fish says kenyi. He also said it's redicoulus how often stores mislabel their fish.
Either way they are Blue with vertical black stripes.
 

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