EowynJane Posted February 18, 2009 Report Share Posted February 18, 2009 I've recently aquired a 50g and I'm thinking of keeping cichlids. I was hoping to keep fish that were yellow and blue (just my favorite colours). For yellow I've picked out Yellow Labs, they are well suited to my water and easy to come by. For blue I was thinking of demasoni, I was told I should have 12-15 of them to help disperse agression. I don't think any of the stores I was in carried demasoni though, so I was wondering how common they are in Alberta? Does anyone on the forum keep them? Also, what store in Edmonton and area usually has the biggest selection of cichlids? I would like to buy from someone on the forum when the time comes but would like to have a back up plan in case this falls through. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gnaw Posted February 19, 2009 Report Share Posted February 19, 2009 If you decide to go ahead with it and you are sourcing out stock. You might want to give PM sgordon for some yellow labs. He has an ad here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishful Thinking Posted February 19, 2009 Report Share Posted February 19, 2009 I agree that going through members is the best option for you, but if that doesn't pan out and you are looking for africans, I would say you are better off waiting until there is a spencer jack group order rather than going for local stores. I have ordered twice from him and have been very impressed with prices and quality. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boom Posted February 19, 2009 Report Share Posted February 19, 2009 Why not do something less slightly less common than Yellow labs. They are nice fish but they're a dime a dozen, everyone has 'em and half the people are getting rid of them all the time. Have you though of a group of salousi's? The males are blue similar to demasoni's, and the females are a very nice yellow. Just a thought. Harold (Fairdeal) has demasoni's if you do want those, but make sure you get either only 1 or 12 or more. In small groups the dominant male apparently kills everyone else off till he's alone. A larger group will prevent that. (So I've read, never kept them myself). Boom :boom: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RD. Posted February 19, 2009 Report Share Posted February 19, 2009 IMO good quality yellow labs are far from being a dime a dozen, it wasn't but a few short years ago that they were next to impossible to find. IMO they also happen to be one of the nicest looking mbuna to ever come out of Malawi. Having said that, if your tank is a standard 36x18" 50 gallon, IMO you would be better off with a group P. saulosi, vs attempting to keep yellow labs & demasoni in such a small tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc_Polit Posted February 19, 2009 Report Share Posted February 19, 2009 (edited) Yellow Labs and Afra "Blue Reef" (aka White Top Hara) make a nice combo in a 50. That's exactly what I have at present. Really nice color contrast. Be very picky when selecting your Labs or you will be disappointed when they mature. Edited February 19, 2009 by Doc_Polit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lana Bollers Posted February 19, 2009 Report Share Posted February 19, 2009 I agree the saulosi's are a very nice choice, although I think the females appear orange rather then yellow. Good quality electric yellows are hard to find, often times you will find the ones with barring or appear to be sooty (look dirty). You wont know for sure until they mature what they will look like. I have found the demsoni to be very agressive in my tank, so I got rid of them. Another reason why it is nice to have a single species tank, is that there will be no hybridization. Which right now I have fry which are hybrid, electric yellow/saulosi... they are only good for food and nothing else. If you try to sell hybrids you will end up with a bad rep and people will not want to purchase fish from you. So it is something to always keep in mind. I am like you I love the blue and yellow contrast...it looks great together! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EowynJane Posted February 19, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 19, 2009 (edited) Thanks for the tips on the Demasoni, I guess I won't get them after all I've already contacted Fairdeal about getting some of his labs (Hopefully! If I can get my tank cycled by then!) I've always loved yellow labs. I'm also disappointed to learn that saulosi and labs will mate, saulosi were my second choice but I'm not interested in having a bunch of hybrid fry. I'll look into the afra... are they hard to get? The tank is 40" long, so just over 3 feet. It's smaller then I wanted, but I couldn't pass up the deal :thumbs: Thanks for everyones help, I am willing to wait for good quality fish. Back to the drawing board! Edited February 19, 2009 by EowynJane Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lana Bollers Posted February 19, 2009 Report Share Posted February 19, 2009 LOL, yup they do cross breed, so far my fry are all orange, and are starting to obtain that black stripe on their dorsal fin (some are). some have barring too that is now coming in... I guess when they want to dance they don't care who their partner is...LOL... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EowynJane Posted February 19, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 19, 2009 I like those Afra and they seem well suited to my tank and water. How hard are they to come by? Will they cross breed? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leon71 Posted February 19, 2009 Report Share Posted February 19, 2009 My F2's have black in the dorsal right from time of spitting. I agree with RD that good quality Labs are beautiful. If you are getting Labs from Harold, you won't be disappointed. Leon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firestorm Posted February 20, 2009 Report Share Posted February 20, 2009 If you have enough females to your males, fish don't tend to cross breed as readily. My salousi females are more yellow than orange, or I guess you can say they are an orangy yellow. I too would have gone for a species only tank in a 50 with the salousi, but that's just me I have some afras, just not having them breed yet. Not sure who else might have them spawning. I know spencer has some good cyno's on his list almost every time, so you might want to check there. Personally I would try for a group of 7-8 of each species you go with. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc_Polit Posted February 20, 2009 Report Share Posted February 20, 2009 (edited) I like those Afra and they seem well suited to my tank and water. How hard are they to come by? Firestorm and I got our Afras from a breeder in the Kamloops, BC area. I plan to raise fry but I have only had 1 female holding and she lost the clutch just recently. I will keep my eyes open for more OR I can put you in touch with the breeder. He will ship to you via Greyhound for a very reasonable rate. I have received fish from him via Greyhound before with no problems whatsoever. Edited February 20, 2009 by Doc_Polit Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dredd0606 Posted February 20, 2009 Report Share Posted February 20, 2009 EowynJane, I personally would go with your first choice, the demasonis and yellow labs. So what if the labs are popular, the got their popularity by being great looking, hardy fish that breed easily. I just got this exact mix from Fairdeal today, 12 demasonis and 8 yellow labs. The demasonis are an aggressive fish, but keeping them in numbers 12 or greater is supposed to help spread this aggression out greatly. As far as Salousis go, in a 50G tank I would put 12-16 of them, and at the ratio of 3f to 1m, that means only 4 males max. Also, the sub-dominant males have the yellow coloring, which means you will have 1-2 blue fish and 10-14 yellows (depends what you want, but I would go for more of a mix). Just my $0.02 - Dredd Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krazy_Karma Posted February 20, 2009 Report Share Posted February 20, 2009 I have some of the Afra "Blue Reef" as well, I got them from a gal off kijiji, she had several for sale then, I just bought three from her, and they are still just over an inch, so I wont be having anything for some time yet. I have a 47 gal corner tank, and a 80 gal tank both with Cichlids, for yellows I have electric yellows, all were gorgeous bright yellow, but now two are getting very dirty looking, I wanted lots of color, so I also got Aceis, red zebras, frontosas, dolphins, polits, demonsonis (polits are way more agressive) and some hybrid obs, as I dont care for breeding, I just was after color, I also have some eye bitters, red tops, ruby reds Lisa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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