Electric yellow, Demasoni

[Elisabeth83]

I'm contemplating moving my platies and swordtails out of my 55 gallon and starting for the first time a malawi tank. I've been trying to research myself (feeling very overwhelmed) all the different types of malawi cichlids. So far I've picked out two that I really like which are the Electric yellow (Labidochromic caeruleus) and Demasoni ( Pseudotropheus demasoni). I read that the Demasonis are very aggressive whereas the Electric yellows are less aggressive. Can they live together??

If they can live together what other malawi cichlids go good with both of those? I read it's best to get a few females to each male and to avoid getting species that look similar to eachother to avoid fighting? I've also read on some sites it's best to overstock to spread out aggressive yet on other sites it says to understock to avoid aggression and fights??

How many species should I get for a 55 gallon? How many of each species?

I need some HELP badly

 

[freshcichlid]

hey, i am not sure how much this helps, but i am actually planning a demasoni, yellow lab tank and i know the demasonis are very aggressive toward there own kind, a mix of 1/4 is what i am planning, as well as a 1/3 yellow lab. i have heard a lot of people having this common mix and say that they have no problems, i say go for it !
there are many many other cichlids that will mix with these two, yellow labs can mix with almost anything due to their non-aggression and demasoni's i am not sure about but hear that they are mainly aggressive toward themselves and not others that do not look like them, like johanni might not be a good mix..
hope that helped some !

 

[Ferris]

Yellow labs tend to mix well with other Mbuna, even the more aggressive ones provided they are in a group of at least 4. Demasoni are wonderful fish and could certainly work with yellow labs but there is always some risk because of their aggression. They are actually more aggressive towards each other and similar looking fish so the labs should be fine, you would just need to avoid getting too many males. In fact just 1 male and 4-5 females would probably be perfect but it certainly can work.

Hope this helps.

 

[freddyk]

Demasoni are downright mean - stock as many as you can. Some say 1:10 is a good ratio of male to female because of how evil they are toward each other. What could work is a tank made of just Yellow labs and Demasoni, that way you can stock enough Demasoni to ease aggression and Yellow labs to feel comfortable Yellow labs are unique cichlids because they are grouping fish - you don't need to wory about m/f ratios. Yellow labs are also great because they're not outwardly aggressive but they're quite tough, and most mbuna tend to ignore them.

 

[gixer]

Yellow labs are also great because they're not outwardly aggressive but they're quite tough, and most mbuna tend to ignore them.

fancy telling that to my male estarea
for some reason he has a major problem with 2 of my labs. he's relentless with them. was actually getting quite concerned to be honest

 

[freddyk]

Heh, don't you just hate exceptions to the rule when they work against you

 

[Elisabeth83]

Ok so what if I skipped the demasoni and went with something a little less agressive? What are some more "peaceful" cichlids to go with the labs?? I'd like to get a better mix than just say the demansoni and labs. Is there a similar cichlid color wise to the demasoni but less aggressive??

I'd like to maybe get a mix of say 5 different cichlids but maybe that wont be possible in a 55 gallon? If I could get species that are less aggressive then I'd keep say 3-4 females per male? That would be like 25 cichlids in a 55 gallon...does that work? Sounds a bit much..but then again what do they mean when they say overstock the tank???

If you could maybe throw out some names of cichlids that work well together including the labs because I really like these guys

 

[vantgE]

Yellow labs are also great because they're not outwardly aggressive but they're quite tough, and most mbuna tend to ignore them.

fancy telling that to my male estarea
for some reason he has a major problem with 2 of my labs. he's relentless with them. was actually getting quite concerned to be honest

Pseudotropheus Saulosi males are similar to the demasoni and also stay smaller like demasoni,

In a 55 25 would be maximum, but I think 20 fish are much better

without demasoni

Pseudotropheus Saulosi

Iodotropheus Sprengerae

Labidochromis Caeruleus

Pseudotropheus Acie

Are best I think

 

[Elisabeth83]

Yellow labs are also great because they're not outwardly aggressive but they're quite tough, and most mbuna tend to ignore them.

fancy telling that to my male estarea
for some reason he has a major problem with 2 of my labs. he's relentless with them. was actually getting quite concerned to be honest

Pseudotropheus Saulosi males are similar to the demasoni and also stay smaller like demasoni,

In a 55 25 would be maximum, but I think 20 fish are much better

without demasoni

Pseudotropheus Saulosi

Iodotropheus Sprengerae

Labidochromis Caeruleus

Pseudotropheus Acie

Are best I think

That's a nice selection What if I just got singles of each fish instead? Say 20 different cichlids? How would that be?

 

[Elisabeth83]

I just got back from my lfs with a list of what fish are avaliable there and prices.

Ps.saulosi $10 each
M.auratus $10 each
L.Hungi $11 each (couldn't find this one listed) Labled wrong too?
Ps.Demasoni $20 each
C.edwardi $11 each
Ps.Mari $10 each (couldn't find this listed) Maybe labled wrong ??
L.caeruleus $16 each

I'm sure some of these can't mix together though? What can?

This is just my lfs which doesn't have much stock in so I can always go to the big fish store which stocks basically everything and if not they will order it in for you. I'd prefer to go here though as it's closer so if say 4-5 of these fish can go together that would be great. There were also a couple others there but without names. One was purplish and the other was bright orange. Not sure if that helps though )

 

[Ferris]

L.Hungi $11 each (couldn't find this one listed) Labled wrong too?

Labidochromis sp. Hongi

Ps.Mari $10 each (couldn't find this listed) Maybe labled wrong ??

Pseudotropheus Acei

And yes, bad labeling

The only really aggressive fish in that list are the Auratus and the Demasoni. All the others should mix quite well. The Auratus and the Demasoni may work but they are far more agressive than the other fish you have listed and therefore would be a risk.

 

[Elisabeth83]

Oh boy...yeah thats some pretty bad labeling Do I have to add the fish all at the same time or can I add say just a couple at a time? I know I read its best to add all at one time but theres no way I can afford to get all these fish at the same time. I think I read something about if you add a little at a time to change the tank around so it's like new to everyone??? Will that work?

So how does this sound?

4 of each:

L.hongi
ps.acei
c.edwardi (afra cobue?)
ps. saulosi
l.caeruleus

 

[Ferris]

You can have problem adding fish to an existing Mbuna tank as the existing tankmates will re-stake their territory claim to the new fish. This heightened aggression and the stress of the move can very quickly kill new fish in extreme cases.

The best remedy is to add your new fish as juveniles (the smaller, the better) and in groups of at least 3 to spread the aggression around. The idea is that provided the new fish are smaller than the current inhabitants, they will not be seen as a threat.

 

[freddyk]

I'd lonly keep one type of labidochromis due to aggression and crossbreeding issues. Why not to 4 each of the rest of them, and it will leave you a little bit of room down the road, should the LFS get something new that you like.

Also remember that you need to start off with more so that you get enough females - so essentially you'd be getting 6 or so of each with the intention of ending up with 4 and removing excess males.

 

[Elisabeth83]

I'd lonly keep one type of labidochromis due to aggression and crossbreeding issues. Why not to 4 each of the rest of them, and it will leave you a little bit of room down the road, should the LFS get something new that you like.

Also remember that you need to start off with more so that you get enough females - so essentially you'd be getting 6 or so of each with the intention of ending up with 4 and removing excess males.

Ok so out with L. hongi and then 6 of each of the others? At my lfs they are all at least 3 inches already...is that too small to sex them?