Cobalt Blue Zebra

[rickythomson]

Hey i currently have a 48 gallon tank or 182 liter and i wanted get get some cobalt blue zebra cichlids. I prob want about 4-6 and im not realy interested in getting them to breed but if i could with that many i would be great. and i dont have any rocks or stuff but i have driftwood that they can go in. so yer i was just wondering if this would work. THNX. and sory if i posted this twice im a noob lol

 

[Colin_T]

are there any other fish in the tank?
6 cobalt zebras should be fine in that size tank as long as the water quality is suitable for them. Driftwood might drop the pH so you will have to monitor it.
If you get a male and some females they would breed.

 

[cowbla1]

You could get 6 of them but you might want to consider something else to go with them I would look at maybe some kennyis possibly. They will breed if you have a male in there, so if you don't want them to breed you should get all females. The driftwood does supply some good caves but will drop pH and hardness (both need to be high). But you can stock them like that.
EDIT: What kind of substrate do you have?

 

[rickythomson]

I wasnt planning on having anyother fish in there. is there any way to tell if they are male or female when thay are only 4cm
And what is a substrate lol. Also would i have to isolate the eggs when they breed or could i just leave them in the big tank>

THANKS

 

[cowbla1]

Substrate is the rocks, sand, or whatever at the bottom. The egg problem is no problem because they are mouthbrooders and so the eggs hatch in their mouth.

 

[rickythomson]

is there any way to tell if they are male or female when thay are only 4cm

 

[Colin_T]

is there any way to tell if they are male or female when thay are only 4cm

not really

 

[rickythomson]

Yer i have small rocks as my substrate. and if i was to get lyk 6 of them when they are only 4 cm and lyk 4 or so tunred out to be males what would happen.

 

[Colin_T]

Males will often fight among themselves but if there are lots of males the aggression is spread out over all the individuals and less problems occur. If you only get 2 males the dominant male will often harass the weaker one and might eventually kill it.

 

[kj23502]

I'd listen to dthoffsett in your other post

Kenyi's are notorious for causing problems by fighting. I wouldn't put them in there.

 

[SharonCC]

I wouldn't add Kenyis either...you will need lots of rock work, as these fish need to establish territories.

 

[dthoffsett]

IME multiple male m.callainos will only cause stress and death in your tank, especially in a smaller one. Just make sure you can return or rehome and extra males.

And kenyis (m.lombardoi) shouldn't be kept in anything smaller than 75gal, and even that sometimes doesn't work.

In your size tank you are going to be limited to one species.

 

[rickythomson]

how big do they have to be before you can tell if they are male or female and if anyone knows any good sites about the cobalt blue cichlid can u put the URL in thnx