Yellow Labs

[StarOrbs]

I have a 55 gallon tank which is currently cycling and I'm wondering if yellow labs are alright with bolivian or blue rams and also clow loaches. My current plan is 3 clown loaches, 2 rams, and 2 labs. I'm leaving some room open at first.

 

[LoachLover]

Not sure about the rams, but they did fine with my clown loaches.

 

[parker313]

I would not recommend that combination. Temperament wise, they'd probably be fine, but their water needs are pretty different. Rams prefer very soft water and labs (all african cichlids) thrive in much harder water. It can be done, but the fish health may suffer from not being in the right kind of water.

 

[LoachLover]

Fish are better off being happy.

 

[sylvia]

Bolivian rams do well in slightly alkaline water but clown loaches do better in slightly acidic water (blue rams do best in slightly acidic water too). My main concern would be aggression towards the rams - by the yellow labs (hard water ). Particularly with blue rams which are rather shy.

 

[StarOrbs]

Alright, just thought I would ask because I saw them in the LFS today. Anyone have any other ideas on fish besides gouramis and tetras? I'm trying to remember what they had.. I know they had jack dempseys, convicts, severums, texas cichlid, green terror, some other ones too I don't have the whole store memorized heh.

 

[jflowers]

Not yellow labs, maybe Keyholes or Kribensis they all get on in my tank. Convicts dempseys, severums and taxas all too aggresive IMO.

Jon

 

[sylvia]

What about rams, khulie loaches and your choice of mid-dwelling and upper layer shoaling fish like danios, rasboras or possibly non-nippy barbs, rainbow fish, tetras etc? Swordtails are nice too. Then there's angelfish, corydoras catfish, smaller plecos (bristlenose, bulldog etc), keyhole cichlids, various sharks...

Are you looking to do a community or what?

Is there something you'd particularly want? For example, out of the rams and yellow labs (I wouldn't get clown loaches - I don't like getting fish that'll out-grow their tank soon) which do you preffer?

Would you like a malawi cichlid set-up for example?

Why don't you want gouramies? Besides gouramies, hatchetfish are the only common species of fish that'll stay near the top layers almost all the time.

 

[StarOrbs]

Well I know what gouramis and tetras I would want if I get them thats why I said that. I am going to get some rams for sure.. Also what sharks are you talking about?
So far I know I'm going to get 8 Rasboras, 4 Rams (Depending on what they have) the rest I'm still working on. I wanted at least a couple bigger fish around 6in maybe adult size. I would like entertaining fish if there is such a thing.

 

[sylvia]

Well most 'sharks' are not an option if you have rams as they are territorial and rams don't do well with bottom-dwelling territorial fish. I was reffering to red-tail black sharks, red-finned, rainbow, ruby etc. All those grow to about 6" but would not be good with each other or very peaceful cichlids like rams. Flying foxes are an option though. They have the same sort of body shape as the 'sharks' do and are quite a bit more peaceful. It'll eat algae, is active, is fine with others of its own kind (quite social IME actualy) and dare I say it 'playful'. The same applies to siamese flying foxes/ siamese algae eaters and false siamese algae eaters. All grow from 4" to 6.5". They are what I would consider 'entertaining' because they will play tag and swim around together constantly in motion and always seem in a good mood.

 

[StarOrbs]

Cool, thanks.. I'll have to check and see if the LFS has any of them. I don't need a lot of fish in my tank I would even like just a few cool looking and enertaining ones.

 

[Sorrell]

Clown loaches diet needs to be high in protein, something that will kill the malawi species such as labs

 

[sylvia]

Well actualy labs are insectivores so they do eat high-protein foods. Anyway, it's the fat that causes problems - not the protein. But it's still true that labs would need more vegetable-based food than a clown loach would .

 

[Sorrell]

If you were feeding clowns the food they need (bloodworms) you would kill the labs

 

[freshmike]

I don't think having the labs and rams is such a bad idea....both species are fairly good at adapting to many types of water situations....hardness tempurature and pH and such...also, their temperments should not be too much to worry about....labs only really ever fight each other when they HAVE to fight....and will only chase other fish when they are spawning....they don't try to kill things....IME rams can be just as aggro as a lab any day...however, I do think it a bad idea to have the clowns in at the same time....unless you have more clowns than yellows, so that they take MOST of the protein high food for themselves....one way of doing it would be to feed shrimp pellets...although even then the yellows still sift at the bottom....very piggy fish and ALWAYS over-eat....I say this, because I have lost a few mbuna this exact way.....demasoni being the worst...eat until they kill themselves....

You will need to rotate diets very frequently for this to work out....like using veggie flakes and sinking algae wafers.....clowns also LOVE them...and are surprisingly high in protein, yet have never caused a problem with bloating in my experience. It can be done, but it is tricky....and I wouldn't suggest trying it unless you are giving them your full attention.