L. caeruleus vs N. leleupi

[Cap'n]

I would like some opinions regarding the huge popularity of labs over loopies.

They are both bright flashes of yellow in an african cichlid tank, similarly sized and exhibit interesting behaviour. Why are labs preferred the majority of times?

Is it because they are Malawi cichlids which in turn are more popular than Tanganyikan?

Is it because the popularity has been there so long than the demand is self replicating?

What is it?

Thanks,

Cpt Curious

[malawi_luver]

For first of all labs are found in almost every pet store that i know of and second.. some LFS have lelupi and sell them at an amazingly high price

My .02

Garrett

[Cap'n]

OK, cost and availabilty. Valid points.

However, I bought my full grown leleupi for $6 each and have never seen yellow labs cheaper.

[malawi_luver]

I know people here that give away labs for free... sometimes 1$ a fish... all over the place... there way more cheaper than lelupis

And theres alot more of labs then leleupis :ph43r:

Garrett

[RD.]

Hard to beat the intense color of a yellow lab. I don't think youll find any leleupi that have color like this.

Not to mention the fact that labs are much easier to keep in large numbers, than leleupi. (due to their aggression level)

It has nothng to do with price, most labs that I see for sale are very poor quality.

[rahim101]

I have seen some VERY nice colors on both fish, however, tamgs in general are harder to breed and harder to keep in a community tank. A lot harder then lads or malawi's in general!!!!

[Vallisneria]

RD- that first pic of your yellow labs looks plastic :P Incredible color

I think more people have yellow labs then leleupi becuase more people seem to have malawi tanks then tang tanks. Also leleupi are harder to keep in groups becuase they are more aggresive. I have to agree with everything said so far . Aggression, types of tanks(more people seem to have malawis), looks(nothing beats a nicely colored yellow lab) are all good points. Plus yellow labs breed like rabbits so you are bound to see more of them around

[African_Fever]

Leleupi are also more of an orange than yellow colour. I personally won't mix lakes, so part of it is that it depends on whatever other fish you're getting as well. You can never have a huge, bright 'species tank' with leleupi swimming everywhere b/c they're not nearly as social as yellow labs.

[RD.]

Kyle - I believe that Leleupi can be found in two various color morphs. I htink some people are also line breeding them.

But the fact remains, yellow labs will 'fit' into most African tanks, where Leleupi won't always work due to their aggression.

[Cap'n]

So it's not really fair for me to pit one fish against another, it is more like personal preference of lakes and how each fish fits into a person's tanks.

Kyle and RD, you're both right. Leleupi have more of an orange tone to them and they do come in yellow and orange morphs.

Kyle, I notice you have some loopies, you didn't happen to bring those back from Africa, did you?

Thanks for the input everyone. I have only kept leleupi and was wondering what I was missing out on. Sounds like a good idea for a tank in the furure.

[African_Fever]

Nope, only brought back Malawians. Thinking about going to Tanganyika in the near future though, maybe do the same thing there that I did with Stuart in Malawi.

[RD.]

Oh how I wish I was young & single again.

Edited February 19, 2005 by RD.

[dunl]

Thinking about going to Tanganyika in the near future though

Nice. Smuggle me back a front colony, will ya? :thumbs:

[Beermaster]

can i come? can i can i PLEASE LOL