Labidochromis caeruleus Question

[gwand]

How many Labidochromis caeruleus should be maintained in a 50 gallon tank with no other kinds of fish? Thanks.

 

[Magnum Man]

more info here...

Labidochromis caeruleus (Caeruleus)

This species is one of the most popular Rift Lake cichlids in the hobby, due to its striking colouration and somewhat peaceful (for a mbuna) nature. It exists in many different colour forms in nature, and the ubiquitous "electric yellow" morph, so popular in the hobby, is actually one of the...

www.seriouslyfish.com

 

[gwand]

more info here...

Labidochromis caeruleus (Caeruleus)

This species is one of the most popular Rift Lake cichlids in the hobby, due to its striking colouration and somewhat peaceful (for a mbuna) nature. It exists in many different colour forms in nature, and the ubiquitous "electric yellow" morph, so popular in the hobby, is actually one of the...

www.seriouslyfish.com

MM, The site says,”If it is kept in a mbuna community, the tank should be overcrowded to reduce aggression and territory formation.” in a 50 gallon tank, what does intentional overcrowding mean in terms of total number of fish? Thanks.

 

[Magnum Man]

I'll let someone more qualified answer... I haven't kept rift lake cichlids, since I had tanks 20 years ago...back then, I had a 55 gallon tank that had 8 - 10 fish in it, but I had the whole tank line of sight broken up, with slabs of Limestone, that sat in the tank vertically... I had a buddy that had a large assortment of species, like 25-30 in a 120 gallon tank, but he also had a lot of caves made out of limestone slabs, & it was his routine to completely clean & disassemble the whole tank every 2 weeks, & change around the territories, to keep aggressions down... but we didn't know as much about things, back before the internet

 

[GaryE]

Yellow labs are an anomaly among mbuna. For the group, they are the least aggressive member, along with Iodotropheus sprengerae, that I kept. I actually liked them!

If I had a 50, and if I had hard water, and if I wanted to go that route again, I would buy six. I would scape the tank with lots of rocks and caves, and sit back. Within the year, they'll have filled it for you.

And their babies are very cute.

 

[gwand]

Yellow labs are an anomaly among mbuna. For the group, they are the least aggressive member, along with Iodotropheus sprengerae, that I kept. I actually liked them!

If I had a 50, and if I had hard water, and if I wanted to go that route again, I would buy six. I would scape the tank with lots of rocks and caves, and sit back. Within the year, they'll have filled it for you.

And their babies are very cute.

Thanks for the info. If I did want to add another hard water fish to a tank of Yellow Labs, what would work best?

 

[GaryE]

Mbuna. They are nice for their group, but the entire group has rough ways. I. sprengerae, the rusty Cichhlid was good here. Beyond that, the fish fought endlessly. The Labidochromis held their own, but personally, the fish UFC was not to my liking.
When caeruleus and and spengerae were together, it was smooth.
I have heard, but not seen, that they can get along with Aulonacara peacocks from Lake Malawi. Some of the peacocks get big though. A lot of people keep them with other mbuna, avoiding the real psycho species, but they aren't the best group to mix with fish from other habitats.

Beautiful fish, but not community fish in the usual way. They are as close as mbuna get, but...