Please check compatability

[Tetramad]

This is my shopping list, they have these at my LFS.

Labaedochromis Caeruleus £4.00 each
Haplochromis Ahli/Fryeri? £6.00 each (I will investigate this)
Pseudotropheus Crabro £8.00 each
Haplochromis Obliquidens £6.00 each.

How many of each and what sex ratio? They are going in a four foot tank. Do I stock them all at once?

Thanks in advance, Mark.

 

[freddyk]

The only problem there is the Crabros. They're very aggressive and large mbuna, and the type best avoided if you're keeping the haps. Most mbuna are not a good idea with them, with a couple of exceptions including your labs.

Except for those crabros none of your fish are very aggressive, and they can be kept in harems as small as 2. You won't be able to sex the labs anyway, so just get a bunch of them, they live as colony fish in the wild and males will tolerate each other. A group of 6-10 labs can be a really cool addition to a hap tank, depending on if the tank is a 12" wide or 18".

Of course, you may just want to do an mbuna tank instead, but either way i'd choose one or the other.

The fryer/ahli difference really isn't a big deal, they're pretty much the same fish as far as everything but the slightest difference in looks. Whatever they're sold as or actually are, they're equally nice fish.

 

[Tetramad]

OK thanks, I`ll skip the Crabros. Any idea what else instead? Something different colours to the others.

Mark. PS the tank is 12" wide so how many of each?

 

[freddyk]

Those haps aren't very aggressive and you can do harems of 2 females per male. If you're looking for color, the female haps are very plain and you can always consider skipping them, unless you where planning on raising the young. If you go with just the males then you can fit half a dozen labs and a couple more smaller haps if you wanted to. If you were hoping to outfit the tank with females too then the tank is already full.