Help With Labs

[zoolander]

I just stocked a 29 gallon with 4 yellow labs. One is a little over an inch, the others are about 1.5-2". I have another yellow lab that's a little over 2.5". I don't want to get rid of him because I've had him for a few months and he's survived a lot of encounters with fish I've had him with. Would it be advisable to put him in with the others given his size comparatively?

I also have a brichardi and a demasoni that are about 2.5". The LFS is good about buying back healthy fish, so I was going to sell the demasoni next week for store credit to get another brichardi. If it's not advisable to put the other lab into the 29, I'm going to sell him as well.

Thanks for any help.

 

[zoolander]

Update: I took the two smallest labs out of the tank and introduced the demasoni and larger lab to the tank. There were some signs of aggression on the part of almost all the fish really. I threw a sheet over the tank to black it out to hopefully reduce stress in the tank while the fish adjust.

Any advice? I plan to grow the other two labs for a few weeks in a 10gal until they are a good enough size to put them in the 30gal. I only want to keep the 5 labs in the tank long term.

 

[joaniwilson]

Hello...I,m new to this forum...I have recently...a year ago...taken up cychlids as a hobby. I have one huge convict and three yellow labs....I. Have found them to be very intelligent and very aggressive...I would love to put some other kinds of fish in the tank as well and understand that they will only tolerate catfish....I was wondering...what about red tipped sharks?...I had seen some in a tank with cychlids in the store but was told it wasn,t recommended by a cychlids owner...I have a ten gallon tank and a 30 gallon tank...the convict pretty much has the whole tank to himself as he does not play well with others...he has eaten four of my other cychlids...he shares his tank with a large algae eater....my yellow labs share their tank with two small algae eaters...could I introduce the red tipped sharks to either of these communities???

 

[dh058977]

Hello...I,m new to this forum...I have recently...a year ago...taken up cychlids as a hobby. I have one huge convict and three yellow labs....I. Have found them to be very intelligent and very aggressive...I would love to put some other kinds of fish in the tank as well and understand that they will only tolerate catfish....I was wondering...what about red tipped sharks?...I had seen some in a tank with cychlids in the store but was told it wasn,t recommended by a cychlids owner...I have a ten gallon tank and a 30 gallon tank...the convict pretty much has the whole tank to himself as he does not play well with others...he has eaten four of my other cychlids...he shares his tank with a large algae eater....my yellow labs share their tank with two small algae eaters...could I introduce the red tipped sharks to either of these communities???

Firstly welcome to the forum,

Im afraid to say that you dont have enough tank space for the fish you already have let alone adding anymore. The convict is an American cichlid and your Labs are African meaning that they both have different setup requirements so you couldnt / shouldnt put them together but neither would be suited to the 10 gallon tank as it would be far too small.

Red tailed sharks can get rather large and also need a bigger tank than you currently have.

 

[zoolander]

I'd stay away from the convict if you plan to keep Africans. I made the mistake of trying to introduce a green terror to an African tank and it didn't end well. I know someone who has successfully kept a pair of terrors in his mixed African tank for a couple years now, but they were always bigger than the Africans. Plus it's a much larger tank. I've learned that its best to stick to a species tank if you have less than 55 gallons. Even then, full grow. Cichlids need a larger environment. I have a 30 gallon tank. It's the largest I can have where I am, and I have 6 labs and a brichardi. As far as a shark, the same guy mentioned above has had a rainbow shark as long as his terrors and it is thriving, 6 inches! But you need hiding spots, lots of room, and it helps that the shark is bigger than the cichlids when introduced, IMO.