Electric Blue And Yellow Question

[detroit_fan]

the johanni will beat the crap out of just about anything else in the tank.....



keep the intake tubes for filters high enough that sand will not get sucked up as it will chew up the impeller on the filters...



if you plan on piling up rocks, go into home depot and in the lighting section look for "egg crate" it's a white sheet of squares, you can clip off sections or measure the piece to fit your tank bottom. it keeps the bottom from busting out from pressure of rocks.



good luck

just ticked off some points I thought you needed to know.


PS, labs are called OMNIVORES not insectivores LOLOL

Thanks for the tips. Is there a more peacefull common species that would better suit the Labs and Acei? I raelly enjoy the blue colors.

 

[sylvia]

Pseudotropheus socolofi - they are lovely. P. saulosi is also relatively peaceful - but more aggressive than socolofi. I don't know how it compares to johannii - I've never kept them - but I assume it's less aggressive as saulosi seems to get along fine with labs, acei etc.

http/www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=1 - saulosi
http/www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=919 - socolofi

 

[detroit_fan]

Pseudotropheus socolofi - they are lovely. P. saulosi is also relatively peaceful - but more aggressive than socolofi. I don't know how it compares to johannii - I've never kept them - but I assume it's less aggressive as saulosi seems to get along fine with labs, acei etc.

http/www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=1 - saulosi
http/www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=919 - socolofi

wow, the socolofi are stunning. If i eliminate the johannii's (2m 6fm) how many socolfi and what ratio would go good with the other 2 species.

 

[sylvia]

That same ratio and number would be fine but you may as well go for just one male and lots of females as both sexes have the same colors anyway. You'll probably have difficulty sexing them at the LFS though so you'll probably have to get a group and wait and see what happens once they're mature

 

[detroit_fan]

That same ratio and number would be fine but you may as well go for just one male and lots of females as both sexes have the same colors anyway. You'll probably have difficulty sexing them at the LFS though so you'll probably have to get a group and wait and see what happens once they're mature

sounds good. thank you very much for all your advice, you have been very helpful. i will put up some pictures as soon as i get things going.

 

[sylvia]

I look forward to seeing them!

 

[denis coghlan]

Of the two species that sylvia suggested (socolofi, saulosi) I would go with the saulosi. The female of the socolofi has very similar colouration to labs and this could lead to hybridisation between the two species. Don't know if this actually happens between the two species because I have no experience with socolofi, but it could be a possibility.

 

[Ferris]

I think you mean the other way round tanks.

Female Saulosi are a yellowy-orange, female Socolofi are blue like the males.

 

[denis coghlan]

I think you mean the other way round tanks.

Thank you Ferris, You are correct and it is what I was trying to say but my brain obviously had a massive fart and I got things muddled up. My apologizes to one and all.

 

[Ferris]

Thank you Ferris, You are correct and it is what I was trying to say but my brain obviously had a massive fart and I got things muddled up. My apologizes to one and all.

 

[mamafish68]

<~~walks in......



GOOD GOD WHATS THAT FOUL SMELL!!!!!!!!



aahh well I see tank has been THINKING again...

 

[detroit_fan]

i was printing out my profiles to take to the pet store in order to better indentify the species i was looking for.
i really love these 2-
pseudotropheus acei (msuli) http/www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=1460
pseudotropheus socolofi http/www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=919

the plan was to also put in some yellow labs, but because this is my first attempt at cichlids should i use another herbivore as my third species to help simplify things? The blue on the top 2 species is great, is there maybe another yellow, or bright colored species that would go better in the tank?

 

[sylvia]

You should be fine with the labs as long as you supplement the diet as I mentioned (I think) earlier. There are many other mbuna with yellow coloring but I think labs are an excellent cichlid to begin a malawi tank with and it's realy worth going for them. Besides, they are unmistakeable and relatively common so they'll be the easiest to aquire in the first place and they're perfect temperament-wise.

 

[detroit_fan]

You should be fine with the labs as long as you supplement the diet as I mentioned (I think) earlier. There are many other mbuna with yellow coloring but I think labs are an excellent cichlid to begin a malawi tank with and it's realy worth going for them. Besides, they are unmistakeable and relatively common so they'll be the easiest to aquire in the first place and they're perfect temperament-wise.

where would i be without you sylvia lol! like i said i am going to look for a very good and knowledgeable store to purchase from, but if i can't find one, is there any sites you buy online from?
also where do you get your rocks, will like home depot or lowes carry them?

 

[sylvia]

Last time I decorated an mbuna tank I actualy didn't use rocks I decided to try something different and pretty much 'sculpted' a series of rocky structures (including caves and such) out of (white) clay. I then got someone I know to put it all into a kiln for me and (I think the term is) fire it. I ended up with a rather surprisingly natural-looking set of 3 clay rock/cave ornament things The main benefit to all this was that it was a cheap thing to do (the clay also came from the friend for free I don't know how much it would cost otherwise), rewarding because I'd made it myself and somewhat more practical than rocks because there's no danger of colapse and you can mould everything to your liking. I actualy got the inspiration from some pictures I saw of someone else's tank (not on this forum). I tried to find them but they appear to have vanished

Having said that, something like that is probably not to everyone's taste... So, I have used (annoyingly expensive) slate from my LFS to decorate my tanks but I've also (often against my better judgement ) used rocks I've found in the countryside or in/around rivers. I haven't ever done this with mbuna so I always used the 'acid test' to check whether they'll raise my pH - but with mbuna this isn't a worry. The main thing is to clean/boil the rocks to ensure they don't contain anything harmful and to make shure you collect rocks from places where they are unlikely to come into contact with any dangerous chemicals. There's an article in our FAQ about rocks: http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=55806 You may want to browse the member's pics section as well and check out any african cichlid tanks that have beenposted - someone inevitably asks what kind of rock the person used

As for buying fish online, I can't be any help there unfortunately... I've always just got my LFSs to order things in for me if I've wanted something particular and I've never needed to order mbuna as the species I've kept and realy like are quite common anyway. In fact, you should be able to find the labs at your LFS and chances are you'll also find acei (though maybe not the variant you're after) and socolofi if you browse around FSs.