Sorting It Out This Weekend, The African Adventure Begins...

[kubora666]

ive decided the Geo's are going, which leaves me with just the group of small yellow labs i have,
they enjoy all the nice caves ive made for them, theres 6 of them, all about 1" if not smaller,
they never seemed to get hassled by the huge geo's

but yeah to the point,

i wanne stock it up with some africans, wanne make a rift lake cichlid tank, i have some experience with africans,
and im going to add a few more rocks and such to the set up,
ive been reading up on malawi's all week, and from what ive read, yellow labs can be combined with
Mbuna haps and peacocks.
not all together obviously, because of their gentle nature,
so i have a good selection as my tank is 99.99 something us gallons, XD
a few vallius in there but if they have to go then they shall,

i do quiete like peacocks, but i love Mbuna and the fact that i can slightly overstock the tank with them, as my uncle had a 6ft mbuna tank and it weas magnificent.

ive got a really powerful eheim II filter system that my dad told me is good for a tank of around 150 gal.

so yeah im just looking for some good ideas =D

regards kubora666

 

[kubora666]

after looking on the cookie cutter for 75 gal tank,

so far these are the only ones i can see that i like...

• Aulonocara Sp.- 3-4
• Pseudotropheus sp. "Acei" - 4
• Labidochromis caeruleus - 6

obviously i need to add more, but what else could i have?

ive already got the 6 yellow labs, so i need to keep them in the mix =D

Could i keep juvenile Malawi Eye-Biters with them? and grow them up together? as i do very much like eye biters ???

 

[dthoffsett]

Not too sure the eye biters would be a good idea, as they may predate the labs when fully grown.

I'd suggest going to your LFS and write down the names of the cichlids you like, then research them, and post on here.

It's difficult to just give general suggestions since there are hundreds of species to choose from.

 

[kubora666]

yeah i see what u mean

there are 3 places localy that supply malawi's.

i can get Afra, Acei, Perlmut's and female A. Stuartgranti from one place
no clue about the other two though... il have to have a look then,

id just rather know what sorta fish im after, before going. coz it helps as i can't drive and need to be taken there.
and its a shame about the eyebiters they're lovely fish, but yeah they are predatory...

 

[Ferris]

You will probably be dissapointed with female Aulonocara - unfortunately it's the males that display the bright colouration.

This link for Stuartgranti demonstrates the point very well: http/www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=671

Acei, Afra and Perlmutt are all great fish but a little similar in colouration so i would definitely check out the other 2 LFS.

 

[kubora666]

i will this weekend hopefully, any chance i could have some names of fish to avoid at all costs?
to avoid me making a stupid purchase with my limeted knowledge of africans =P

 

[dthoffsett]

i will this weekend hopefully, any chance i could have some names of fish to avoid at all costs?
to avoid me making a stupid purchase with my limeted knowledge of africans =P

Since you're a beginner to mbuna, I'd avoid the highly aggressive species such as metriaclima lombardoi (kennyi) and any of the melanochromis species.
http/www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/results.php?genus=122

Other than that, just try to avoid getting fish that all look similar, not only is it a little boring, but dominant males can get a little confused when all the females in the tank look the same, and may fight off males of other species that look like them.

 

[kubora666]

hopefully tomorow morning i will be catching and boxing the geo's, and i'l get some malawi's with the store credit, and then get some more with my own money later on in the week or soemthing, but i will avoid the melanochromis species =)

will update the thread with photo's of what i get


edit* i just remembered, i have a Frontosa on display in my friends shop, its only 4" or so and is nice and peacefull, but can fight back,

would i be able to bring him home? i know its not advised to mix the lakes, but the frontosa is one of the more "malawi like" of all tangynikans =)??

 

[kubora666]

i took back the Geo's today and i got the exact same amount i paid for them back. which was great!
so these are the following fish i bought...

1.Aulonacara "red" 3" male starting to colour up
1. OB peacock of unknown sex
1. Acei??? it looks like a yello lab hybrid... pinky purple and yellow. might just be a coloureful male
2. what the guy reckoned were female acei, but from what ive seen look like OB Fuelbournei(?) with the fleshy snout.
3 what look like regular zebra's, only orange and starting to get a few blotches here and there.

along with my 6 yellow labs

im hoping to get more fish so the aggression spreads out as the tank still looks quiete empty.

il upload some pics when i take them =)

 

[dthoffsett]

Acei males and females are pretty much identical, young or stressed acei can have a bluish/purple body, but I don't think I've ever seen pink/purple, my adults are all a dark purple with bright yellow fins.

Looking forward to seeing the pics.

 

[kubora666]

Here are some pics,

the 2 fish sld to me as "female Acei" are most likely OB Fuelebourni, one of which i think is male as hes starting to turn blue...
they are too quick couldnt get any pics...

but heres the tankshot

here is the Aulonacara "Red" an idea what type? will his body go red? or blue?

group of small yellow labs with the "red" peacock

These guys i think are red zebra's 2 are whitish and one is orange with black dots (got them from "any malawi £3.00 tank")

My OB peacock, loves to hang out in the vallis

Now for the unknown... suposedly an Acei, i really think its a yellow lab hybrid... but still hes a lovely colour!

thats the lot so far =)