KimW

Have a couple of questions for anyone who breeds these...... I have had a pair of these stuck in my malawi tank for months and months, never knowing they were a breeding pair....until last night. I now have both parents being quite defensive of their "corner" of the tank, and a whole bunch of itty bitty little fry swimming just at the edge of the driftwood & rocks in that corner. Is there anything special I have to do to make sure these lil guys survive? or will the parents take care of that, and if so at what point do they stop looking after the young? Also should I be concerned about getting them out of that tank at a certain point, and move them into a grow out tank? ( they are currently in a 90G tank) I ask mainly because all my malawi's I haven't really been concerned about breeding so if they do I just let the babies fend for themselves, but these guys I like and my sister would like some of them so I kinda want to grow them out to an appropriate size.

I know most people don't put plants in a Malawi tank but.....I needed something as a visual break to stop all the darned bickering! This is the two that didn't hide when I brought out the camera ( I'd swear they're all camera shy!) The Jewel ( which I am trying to trade for a Tang at the moment)

Love the dinosaur! I've seen that many many times. My 3 year old seems to think that's where his dino's belong.......swimmin with the fishes! LOL

Well VERY glad i decided to keep the hybrids. Found out exactly that the father was a Bumblebee and the mother an Ice Blue, and well long story short the males have started coloring up and this is what I have gotten and a closeup Very nice looking fishies I am quite happy!

Well I know I have 4 and so far, I don't feel odd. Although i'd bet my husbands opinion would differ severely LOL

Well either way i think i will be keeping them. I never feel good about culling fishies....feel like i'm being mean, and always feel bad. My last batch of guppies i had to cull 3 due to major deformities and felt horrible afterwards LOL.

Ok well, prior to me actually stocking my 60G with my own selection of fish. I was given a female African Cichlid. I was told she was an "Ice Blue" but everyone whom i've said that to says no way. Now I have since had to get rid of her (brought her to Big Als) as she became a "Maneater" in my tank and was way too overly aggressive and killed anything and everything that went into the tank. Now here's my dilema, she bred prior to me having her and dropped her lil baby fishies in my tank once i did have her. I do know for fact that she mated with a Hornet(bumblebee) Cichlid, but now because i am not absolutely sure of what she was i have no idea what to call the babies LOL. The babies do however look very much like the Hornet (Bumblebee) Cichlid. She was completely brown from tip to tail, with darker brown vertical stripes on her body, and VERY aggressive, and about 2-3" in length. (is it possible that she was a female bumblebee?) I am so unsure LOL Any ideas as to what she was? I have been looking for pictures that look similar to her and have found absolutely nothing so far.

I have a 60G Malawi tank, and am wondering if it is worth my while to add a powerhead to it for some additional water movement. I currently have a hob filter (am looking into a cannister filter) and am running two air stones. My sister had mentioned i should look into getting a jet/powerhead just to move the water around a little more and I figured I would ask the opinion of the folks here. So? What do ya think? ( and if i should be using one what's a fairly inexpensive one to use for the size of tank i have)

I have to say the tank looks fantastic. I really like the black on black with the stone, makes the fishes colors really pop! "jealous" LOL Welcome

Her belly isn't swollen, and she doesn't seem to be gasping for air but she is quite listless, i've looked for spots in case it is ick and haven't seen any. I checked with a flashlight to see if it's velvet and don't see any, the only other thing i could think is maybe an internal parasite or by chance, possibly she is holding. Although I honestly had not seen any "breeding" behaviour, from the male or her(I only have the 2 Kennyi's) I do have a question about the protein...how much crude protein is too much? basically a percentage breakdown? and that way if i am feeding too high a protein food i can change it up. This is my first cichlid tank so i am still studying and learning about the best possible care for them. If it does wind up i am feeding too much, what is the best food product line for cichlids that is readily available at Big Al's, I live in Beaumont and South Edmonton is about as far as I am willing to travel so Big Als is where i get all my fishy needs Right now I feed a variation of veggie flakes one day and pellets the next(because i read on quite a few websites that malawi cichlids require a varied diet of both), and i only feed once per day in the morning. Should I feed them more frequently or am I ok with the once a day habit? Also i will note i do about a 30-40% water change weekly (every saturday) Is there anything else i should be doing? I want as much advice as i can get, i wanna make sure my fishies have the best possible environment i can give them.

Hi, I have a female Kennyi that is acting odd. I haven't had her long enough for her to be holding from what i believe nor does she look like she is holding. She is staying up at the surface of the water, and her swimming has slowed from what it usually is. Occaisonally she comes down to mid tank and swims with the male but for the last two days even that has become limited. I figured maybe she was getting picked on by the male or others in the tank so i put her in her own tank to chill out for awhile, this morning, but she still seems to be doing the same thing. No one from the tank i pulled her from is showing any signs, no flashing, plenty of airation etc in the tank. Just wondering if anyone has any ideas. I'm still quite new to cichlids so i'm not sure if this is normal behaviour or not. And yes the tank has been properly cycled, in case anyone was wondering. It's a 60G and has been up and running for about 6 months. Please any advice?

I will try to get a better picture of him actually out in the open. The tank is in my living room and when the kids are awake the fishies tend to be scarce. LOL not that i blame them i think sometimes i'd like to be able to hide in a cave too

As for my guppies, I had a bout of some sort of sickness run thru the tank about 3 months ago and it almost wiped out my entire guppy populus. It's funny because it only affected the guppies and they showed 0 signs of sickness. Just started dieing off. I was so sad, so I'm down to 2 adults now. The male I have who survived the turmoil is a Green Cobra. I love him, he's so pretty, and the female I mate him with I believe is just a mixed variety. She's silvery green with a bright blue tail. The adolecent baby guppies have turned out quite nice,( I will note these ones came from a different mother than i currently have but her coloration was the same as the female i have that survived) I think I have about 4-5 females, maybe more. And I definitely know i have at least 4 males, the others won't stay put long enough for me to tell LOL. It looks like a few are gonna look exactly like their father. Out of the 3 males i am sure of, one has similar colorings to the female i have only stronger, darker and way more defined with a considerable amount of black as well, and a much larger, fuller tail. It's so hard to explain LOL. He's one of my favorites as far as coloration. I wish I could get them to stay still long enough to get a decent picture. Every time i try it turns out blurry. Gonna see if I can keep trying to get some pics so they can be seen because i definitely plan on selling them. I'm going to keep one male who's coloration i like and one female so I can fine tune the breeding process and eventually get exactly what i want while hopefully avoiding inbreeding ( personal opinion is that inbreeding makes for a weaker fish)

Oopsie, still tryin to get used to the way these forums work LOL. I don't have a 10 Gallon tank or sponge filter, but i do have a 5gallon tank and heater etc just waiting to be set up. Is a sponge filter necessary for breeding them? or would another filter suffice. Hubby gets a little tempermental when i have to purchase new items for fish tanks that he can't stand LOL

I am trying to figure out what kinda cichlid this guy is....he came with my tank and a friend has said he's a "Texan" but all the pictures i've found he looks nothing like them. Help?

I am a "newbie" to the world of breeding, I have fancy guppies and they mate like crazy. I probably have more babies than i know what to do with. As an animal lover though i refuse to cull any of them unless they are absolutely in need of it and even then i feel bad LOL. I do however, have a question in regards to my Honey Gourami, 1) How is it possible to sex them. I beleive i have a male and female just by the looks of their coloring. One's fins are quite a bright orange color, and he? has a black stripe running the length of his lower body. This came out about 2 months after i purchased the two. The other is alot paler in color, and does not have the black stripe at all. Still quite beautiful but just paler. Now I know that gourami's are in the same family as betta's so i expect that they will come up to the surface for air and i do know that they build bubble nests like betta's do. I think i am seeing this behaviour in the brighter of the two of them. He spends an awful lot of time around the surface in one corner furthest from my filter. And it seems there are always bubbles in that corner. It's hard to tell as i do have a bubbler going in the tank. Now if he is building a bubble nest is that signs that they want to mate? or is that just something they do? If it is just something they do, is there anything i can do to promote mating, would it be a good idea to purchase another 2 so i have a group of 4? Just some questions i have been mulling over for awhile. I plan to revamp the tank that they are in and i know i am definitely keeping the gourami because i absolutely adore them.

Hello from Beaumont. I am a 30 yr old married mom of soon to be 3. Unfortunately hubby does not share my joy of fishkeeping. I however have loved fish keeping since I was small and always remember the 100 Gallon community tank my father had in the house. I currently have a 35 Gallon community tank containing a mixture of fishies. I plan to revamp this tank completely soon. A little unsure of which direction I wish to go with it though. I also have a 5 Gallon fry tank that has an even smaller 1 gallon? fry tank for the little bitty babies that just hangs on the interior of the 5 gallon. The main 5 Gallon is full of 15 baby Fancy Guppies, that are basically ready to go ( got some really pretty ones this time around too) and the 1 Gallon has about 35 brand new guppy fry. Then there is my pride and joy tank, a 60 Gallon Tank right now it contains 4 different Cichlids 3 of which are African 1 of which is American (whom I'm trying to sell/give away) he is a terror in the tank. I purchased this tank about 2 weeks ago from a neighbour just up the road from me and i'll be honest it has been a labour of love to get the tank conditions back to where they should be. It came with 3 cichlids, one being the American and due to the poorness of maintenance on the tank I lost the Yellow Lab that also came with it. I think poor water conditions and the shock of the move finally did him in. Poor lil guy. Anyhow, the tank, after many many hours of cleaning and some proper water changes over this 2 week period is up to tip top shape again and the fish in it are quite happy. A fellow fish lover actually brought my attention to this site and he actually gave me two of his fish to help get me started in the world of cichlids. Look forward to learning more from all of you