yellow labs.....

[keane]

Hi folks,

Have got 4 juvie yellow labs (sex unknown) in my tank growing extremely rapidly ...3 of which quite often display black "stress" bars!!

They really seem to be as "happy" and active in my tank as all the others .

Any reason for the stress bars???

Is this simply a "who's dominant? thing" between them or should I be more concerned??

BTW All water parameters are great . Amm 0, Nitrite, 0, Nitrate 25, pH 7.3(ish)

cheers

steve 8)

 

[Ferris]

I have noticed this before on yellow labs that are kept with more aggressive Mbuna (which is very common, i'm not criticising when i say that). It is part of the dominance/submissive culture and should not be anything to worry about.

 

[vantgE]

Thats a likely cause another thing to remember is that it has something to do with their original coloring becasue many low quaility (its a sad truth mine would be considered horrible quality) labs display the bars. But mbuna change color due to mood and dominance within the tanks, I wouldn't be too concerend though it is best to relieve stress in anyway you could

 

[bodasafa]

from time to time my labs show stress bars i have had them for close to 2 years and they are fine i would get that ph up a little more though i keep mine in the 8.0 to 8.3 eventhey are a very hard water fish that love the higher alikalintys

 

[Ferris]

I think we've covered the ph issue a few times now but here goes. Most fish including Mbuna are bred in captivity which means a ph of 7.3 is absolutely fine. Yes in their natural habitat the ph is around 8 but the fish you buy in the vast majority of LFS have never seen lake Malawi and will have been born and raised in a ph around 7 or certainly a varied ph.

Mbuna and most fish for that matter will do fine in ph's ranging from 6-8.

 

[bodasafa]

thats right they will do fine but if you are going to keep fish keep them the way they should be kept in a imviroment the mimic there natural settings and as far as a lfs keeping there cichlids at 7.3 that is not the case were i am from (columbus ohio) all the fish stores around here that i go to keep there cichlids in seperate tanks that are 7.5 to 8.5 depending on the cichlid Were it is from and other things but that is a long story the lfs that dont i dont buy cichlids from its all on the old subject of going to a lfs that is good and care about what they do there are people out there that dont. i dont know if you have the stores in your area but here the places to go is aquarium adventeres or jacks aquarium in fish keeping i think that all of us or at least some of us are striveing to create a ecosytem for are fish that closely mimics there natural settings as much as possable for us and for the fish

 

[Ferris]

Hey if the fish are happy, i'm happy. If that's the way they do it in Columbus, that's great and I think its good to try and imitate the lake Malawi environment. Sounds like your LFS must buy wild caught fish, enjoy its a rare thing.

 

[freddyk]

they should be kept in a imviroment the mimic there natural settings

That's the point - the natural environment of these fish is where they happened to be bred!

Barring on labs is perfectly normal and natural, many strains of wild caught specimens have them.