Troy

One male Lab with 7 or 8 female labs would work well.

Stuartgranti Hansbaenshi

Two of my Aulonocara

Punman : I have both books and I also have the "Malawi cichlids in their natural habitat" 3rd edition. I would suggest you put this on your X-mas list or save your money for this book. It will be worth the wait.

Here is a picture of Two males and a holding female from one of my tanks.

FishManTy : You need to give your yellow labs some where to breed. Away from open territory try a clay pot. Then institute a good diet for your cichlids with some veggies and a little protein. Some nice clean water weekly and you should see results.

I would suggest one pair of Julidochromis either... Dickfeldi, Ornatus or Transcriptus. They are beautiful Tangs and will be fine in a tank this size.

Dickfeldi

http://www.cichlidlovers.com/j_dickfeldi.htm

Ornatus

http://www.cichlidlovers.com/j_ornatus.htm

Transcriptus

http://www.cichlidlovers.com/j_transc_bemba.htm

Hope this helps.

I agree I like groups of 10- 12 of each species (a very large female ratio). Depending on the aggression I try to keep two males. You could also keep an extra male in another small single tank, an all male tank or large community tank alone. This is also with the expectation that he will not be the dominant cichlid of the other tank and so long as he behaves ( low aggression)

My extra males also go back to a LFS for credit.

I never realized how common this seems to be among the current species now in the hobby. A lot of people seem to feel it is genetic (recessive gene). I have had Lab Caeruleus in so many of my tanks on and off for the past 15 years I have never noticed this before. Thanks to all those who posted and pm me and gave me links and current insight about the species... that it is common & nothing to worry about. Thanks for your time,

Cheers

Broods usually number about 15 - 20 fry, with brooding periods lasting typically 28 days.

Hey guys,

I have a question about some Yellow labs I traded for from a friend.

I have had these labs since they were fry they are now juveniles and not yet adult size but it is a very large group of 30- 3-inch males and females.

They are a brilliant yellow with strong black lines in there fins... the thing is some of the males have black & gray in there jaws lines over there mouths, lines between there eyes, I have one that is almost like a peacock in that his face is all gray/black like a beard.

This is on about 8 or 9 males to varying degrees the rest look like normal labs all yellow. They are housed in a 40gal with 10 julidochromis Regani. The tank has an AC500 and an air-stone; I do weekly 50% water changes.

Before you all start to ask no I do not have a camera yet, so I cannot post a picture I am wondering if this is dietary or from the tank... they scrape off algae from the rocks and glass. Are they lacking something? I use about 6 commercial foods along with frozen brine shrimp and romaine lettuce a few times per month.

I do not think this is genetic as I saw the parents and they were normal this colony of 30 labs is from two females that spawned at the same time in the same tank from the same male. They were in a species only tank, (no chance of a hybrid) anyone have an idea were this black face comes from?

rahim101 : Sounds great how long did it take to put together this mix? Cheers..... Troy.

Hi guys & gals : I have 11 tanks mostly Malawi and a few Tang tanks. About 18 species, I have had a lot of different species over the past few years. One of my favorites right now is "Cynotilapia afra Cobue orange back" I purchased them at an auction in Ottawa and they are just now starting to color up. Great looking cichlid. Cheers..... Troy.

Here is a picture

http://www.cichlidlovers.com/c_afra_cobue.htm

Hi, To all, nice forum, rahim turned me on to the new site. I have been a Cichlid addict for the past 15+ years. I hope to have some fun and make a few friends posting here. Cheers..... Troy.