what are these?

[aardvarkfromspace]

The one on the right in this picture and the pink one in the second picture have been flaring and going nutso on each other since I added the pink one. I'm guessing they're both males and are fighting for terriroty. I had to remove the pink one as its tail was getting a little worse for wear. The yellow one is fine with the other fish in the tank, it was just this pink one he wasn't happy to see come into his tank.

 

[mr.dark-saint]

If I had to guess it's a Kenyi.

 

[Ferris]

Yep i would say 1 male and 1 female Maylandia Lombardoi, aka kenyi.

 

[freddyk]

Now that you know, make sure you hop on the interned and do some research so you can keep them properly. When you keep two of these fish, you end up with one. They need big and crowded tanks.

 

[Ferris]

Yep great fish but very aggressive, definately do your research.

 

[aardvarkfromspace]

I did some reading, and it said you should have one male to 2-3 females.. Could that be the reason he was attacking her? I had to take her out as he ripped her tail up .. Should I get a few more females?

The tank they are in now is 40g, but They will go into a 55g when it is finished cycling. Read that they get to be about 5 inches, and require a tank of 75g or more. If I decide not to get any more females, and keep this one guy with the 6 yellow labs, will 55gs be enough? I don't know if I should get any more females just to be safe, as he hasn't shown any aggression towards any of the labs or the 2 haplochromis venustus I have in the tank as well.

 

[freddyk]

The 55 is fine, it's the length of the tank that's most important anyway and this one is the same as the 75 in that respect. If you want to keep the female you have now you need toget more females, otherwise he'll probably be fine alone. Just don't impulsively buy any fish that look like him.

 

[aardvarkfromspace]

Yea I haven't bought any new africans in awhile. A lot of the ones I bought originally were sick, and 1/2 of them ended up dying. I'm now sure that the tank is fine, so I'm sorta looking around for a new fish or 2. 1 good thing is that I don't have a lot of money to spend, so impulse buying has been put on a total stand still. I haven't even gone to a pet store in a week or 2, which is odd for me. I don't really want to have to find somewhere else to put this pink girl, but I don't know if I really want to buy any more females just in case the male beats them up too.

Another question I had was how do you sex yellow labs? From watching their behavior, and looking at their bodies and colors, I think I have 2 males, 3 females, and one that could go either way. With the haplochromis venustus I believe I have a male and a female, again just observing them and their colors/body shape.

 

[fishytyke]

do you have the venustus in the same tank as the labs? are the labs juvies?

 

[aardvarkfromspace]

The venustus are in the same tank as the labs. The labs and venustus are all about 1.5-2 inches in length. Should I be worried about them fighting or anything like that?