roypark05

Thanks guys...my Jewels are nice and red because I have a breeding pair. Their colours are amazing (except for when they're fighting...occasional marriage troubles lol). For anyone wondering the blue/black fish is a msobo. It's an entertaining mix in there. I also have a mpimbwe frontosa and an OB fuelleborni in there.

Maybe they formed a new pair for some reason. You could probably leave the fry in there...I see your tank is all Jewels and Labs I'll bet the Jewel parents will be able to fend off threats in that tank...Jewels make great parents (the father is actively involved). If you want to move them out regardless of that, you can do it after a week or two but I'd recommend leaving a few fry in the tank so the parents won't get stressed out. I removed all the fry the first time my Jewels bred and the female lost all her colour for about a month and she wouldn't eat.

ttt

pretty sweet!

Here's some rocks I have stacked in my 75:

All those water changes were adding to the problem. If your test kit is telling you that you have elevated levels of ammonia and nitrite, then you probably do. You know what is another sign of high ammonia? Fish gasping at the top for air. Cycling a tank is a major pain in the @$$, especially when the cycle seemed to be complete but then for whatever reason ammonia builds up in your tank again. I learned this the hard way since moving to Edmonton, but Chloramine is a lot harder to deal with than standard chlorine. Here's some tips for ya. And so you know, I work at the E. L. Smith Water Treatment Plant here in Edmonton. Water chemistry is what I deal with for a living. 1. Chlorine and chloramine will kill your bacteria colonies responsible for converting ammonia/nitrite to less harmful by-products. 2. Chlorine is easy to get rid of (add light lol) while those damn chloramines seem to last forever. You can only add a little bit of water containing chloramine (tap water) to a tank or else the level will be way to high and even dosing the hell out of it with prime isn't going to bind everything up right away. 3. Chloramine is chlorine + ammonia. When you add prime, your ammonia levels actually go up temporarily as the chlorine/ammonia bonds break up leaving free ammonia is your tank. 4. Once your bacteria colonies are dead (yours are DEAD, killed by chloramines in tap water) you must cycle the tank all over again (sucks, I know). I think those are the main points. I feel bad for you losing your yellow lab, I know you tried hard to prevent that from happening, but ironically your hard work was just getting you deeper and deeper in trouble. So anyway, I'm sure you're wondering what to do now... Watch ammonia levels closely and trust your test kit. If elevated levels of ammonia last a long time (a couple hours) then your tank needs to be recycled. You don't need to fly off the handle here, cichlids are tough and can withstand even very high levels of NH3 some times. Just add a couple plants and reduce feeding. If they're looking okay then there's no need to change anything. Don't do water changes above 25% any more either.

I was going to pretty much say the same thing as everyone else. Boom's fish look really nice, and if you got some of those you could add a couple Red Zebras from Wal Mart in the South Edmonton Common...I was there the other day and they had some really nice ones for sale ($5/fish) which I thought was a good deal. They're in good shape, and don't look like hybrids.

I agree with Boom! I have a 75 gallon and I had a few pieces of driftwood in there and one by one I took the pieces out and traded them all off. Now I have nothing but a bunch of rocks in there. I'd recommend making some piles in the tank for the mbuna to swim through and hide within. Your background is so nice it's a lot to work off of for making those caves...I'd stack other rocks against it, you could have a lot of caves and passages for them. When I'm back home tomorrow I will take a picture of what I have going on right now and post it on this thread.

Well one thing for sure is that they're not bumblebees. They may be yellow labs or some hybrid of yellow lab...I know that fish passed off as yellow labs often don't have any black. I guess maybe that's because they're not purebred, but unless something is F1 or F2, how can you trust something to be purebred if it's bred in some unknown aquarium? It's like the Jewel Cichlid...who the hell can tell what's guttatus or bimaculatus any more? It's all a big jumble. I still think they kinda look like pseudotropheus. Jvision also said they look like red zebras. Hard to tell from the blurry picture, but if there is any real amount of discoloured spotting on them as described in the original post, I'm thinking OB Zebra mix. MY OLD OB ZEBRA: ANOTHER OB ZEBRA: OB ZEBRA MIX:

Yeah what RD said above. I'd also throw in that not all yellow labs have black on their dorsal fins. Females and subdominant males will often have no black at all, especially when they're younger. The picture looks to me very yellow lab-esque but also sorta pseudotropheus-like. Could be a cross of some sort for sure. My experience is that barbs don't do too well with cichlids, but I have definitely seen exceptions and if you haven't had any problems yet who's to say you will ever have any problems. I've seen corydoras geta long with African cichlids in some people's tanks (then again I have also seen corydora dinners for cichlids lol) If you really wanna unload em let me know

Maybe they're spawning or getting ready to spawn. Some times cichlids get pretty aggressive with each other come spawning time. Or maybe they're two males or two females battling for supremacy.

As with any mbuna, they range from somewhat peaceful to territorial and aggressive. Yellow labs are another fish that are commonly sold as "friendly and peaceful" but depending on what's int he aquarium with them, they can be little terrors! Could be a bumblebee cichlid that you have there, although the description sounds like it could possibly be something like an OB Zebra. Let's not rule out the possibility of it being a hybrid (bumblebee mixed with something else like maybe a zebra of some sort). Also, colouration in cichlids is one of the most interesting things about them. Their colours change based on any number of factors. Some of these factors include water quality, water chemistry, diet, stress, dominant/subdominant, male/female, aggression, compatability issues, showing off for a mate, and whatever is in your aquarium (the gravel/sand, plants, rocks, wood, decor, etc) can make them happy or stressed and can affect their colour. I guess what I'm trying to say is that there are too many possibilities from your generalized description to say what the case is for sure. A picture would help. More information would help.

Good to hear everything worked out. The slightest change some times can fix things (or make it worse lol). I have a few baby jewels just starting to get some colour, and one of them can be yours if you want (won't be ready for another month or so). Red Zebras are typically easy to find and are awesome fish. There are actually really nice ones at the wal mart in the south edmonton common for like 4 bucks.

Thanks a lot for the replies everybody! I'm going there for a water treatment seminar in about a month. I promise to do my best to capture some good footage of the exotic species, with my main target being the jewel cichlids. I have kept jewel cichlids for years, and I find them a very interesting species to house in aquariums. I'm intrigued to see them in the wild like that. If I get anything good I'll contact the Aquarium Club of Edmonton (which I'd like to join anyway). I don't need any funding or anything, as I'm fully funded already, to go to that seminar. EDIT: I see there is supposed to be convict cichlids in there as well! I hope I get to see both them and the jewels!!!

Yeah my money's on snail eggs, but if they hatch and testras pop out then I retract all bets. Seriously though, I'm pretty sure they're snail eggs.

I have a mpimbwe frontosa between 6 and 7 inches. He's the biggest guy in the tank, and the aggression from my mbuna and jewels rubs off on him. For awhile my 5 inch jewel was picking on him pretty bad. If you get 3 to 4 inch fronts they might get picked on by the jewels or mbuna you have. I had a 1.5 inch burundi frontosa that got bullied by a same sized yellow lab. Small frontosas tend to be a bit weak. But then again some times things don't happen the same despite the circumstances being the same. So long as your fish are similarly sized, nothing should go too wrong. Having said that, there are a lot of exceptions, and I find experimenting very interesting and rewarding. Some fish will surprise you. Like I said before, I allow a little bit of fighting in the tanks I keep. It's just about unavoidable with cichlids anyway. So long as none of them are completely outmatched. I've had to remove fish before (peacocks are bad for this, but the wife keeps buying them anyway lol) but some times one fish will become the tank b*tch pretty much and everyone takes their frustrations out on that one fish.

I've seen snail eggs that looked like that before. But this is so obviously the wrong forum...or are you selling those eggs? Forum rules dictate that you need to post a price. I'll give you a nickel for them.

The divider was a mistake IMO due to the fact that your blue guy is alone with the Salvinis. I'd take the divider out for sure, and I think that honestly you could leave things the way they are. The toughest fish you have in there (eventhough you may not realize) is probably the Jewel. After things are mixed up in the tank, everyone needs to find their own "niche" and that can include some bullying and maybe even some scrapping but usually things will even themselves out. I allow a little scrapping in my tanks unless it looks like one fish is totally out-matched. I never let anyone gey hurt but if it's just some chasing, fish rarely get hurt from that. A lot of people say not to mix cichlids but I've been very successful with that in the past. I was going for a Malawi tank in my 75 gallon, but I ended up putting a breeding pair of Jewels, a Frontosa and even now a Convict in there. I also have a 10" pleco. Everything is great in my tank.

I am intensely intrigued by the idea of Jewel Cichlids (one of my fav cichlids) having actually been integrated into a wild habitat here in Canada! This is something I would have originally thought impossible. In March I will be going to Banff to write an examination for water treatment, and if I have time I want to check them out, but I was hoping I could find a little bit of info on their exact location and whatnot first. Google searches have told me nothing. Anyone know exactly where I could go to see the Banff Jewels?

thanks...they seem happy again!

All 3 lakes produce great cichlids for aquariums. I voted Malawi because mbuna are my favorite cichlids and peacocks are my wife's favorite. Malawi cichlids are way more popular so the majority of people voting are probably biased due to that fact. I'm VERY unfamiliar with Victoria cichlids. Patrick's inventory always looks extremely nice, but I haven't seen many of the species he carries other than just pictures. Tanganyika cichlids seem to have more diversity, but I haven't seen as much of them either. I have a mpibwe frontosa in with my jewels and mbuna. He's great, but I'm still a mbuna guy.

thanks

She had a friend and now she ignores him. If she were to get lovey-lovey with someone else I'm positive the big guy would kill it.

I noticed some of the other cichlids in my 75 gallon occasionally nabbing the odd jewel fry, so I removed all the fry. Since then the mother jewel has been depressed. Very little colour, won't stand up for herself any more, and she ignores papa jewel despite his best efforts. I hope she will get over this...