nevchewy Posted May 5, 2005 Report Share Posted May 5, 2005 I want your opinion good or bad! Right now i have my 90 gallon tank with these fish in it: 5 Pseudotropheus socolofi 3 Labidochromis caeruleus 1 Pseudotropheus demasoni 2 Iodotropheus sprengerae 1 Pseudotropheus sp. "Acei" 2 Red Zebras. 3 Yellow Labs on the way which will be added to this tank will be: 2 F1 Ps Saulosi's 8-9 F1 Melanochromis cyaneorhabdos (these will be added as soon as Kyle and i can get a plan into place to get them from calgary to edm) As some of you know i'm getting married in November and hopefully will be moving out to our own place soon (getting out of the parents basement). This is my idea. I want to breed the saulosi's and the cyan's. (not breeding them together - NO hybrids) do this i know i will need to get another tank. plan is to get a 33 or a 55 gallon tank for breeding purposes and a few 10gal tanks for fry and holding purposes. Question 1: would it be in my best interest to go big and get the 55 gallon tank or the smaller 33? Question 2: Would i have to be worried about hybrids if i kept those two species in the same tank? or should i be safe as they are different scientific names. Question 3: To breed the saulosi's will i have any luck with just having the male and the female... or will i have to add more females (find new stock to add)? or would by chance hope to get lucky and grow out the first set of fry and add them to the gene pool...? Those are probably the first questions i have, before getting started. The fish i'm getting from Kyle will be in my 90gallon setup until i get the new tanks. I have a spare 33 right now that i'm not using but I may have to set it up based on everyone suggestions/opinions. Please feel free to comment, suggest, and share your experiences. If i'm going to do this i want to do it right, that way if i was to sell or give away the fry/fish i can be confident that they will be of quality. If you have any questions for me, ask away! nevchewy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
African_Fever Posted May 5, 2005 Report Share Posted May 5, 2005 The Ps. saulosi is not going to last with the Ps. demasoni you already have in the same tank. Only one of them will live in your current setup (most likely the demasoni), even if it is temporary. A 33 is too small for the Mel. cyan's. You're much better off with the 55, and the should do fine with the saulosi. The cyan's are much too small to go with the saulosi right now, so you'll definitely need something to grow them out in. You may get lucky with just the pair of saulosi, but who knows. They haven't bred for me at all yet, even though everything else in the tank is breeding like rabbits (I thought they may be two males, but after venting I'm 95% the 'female' is in fact a female - though they are fighting occasionally through the mesh breeder I have the male in). 10 gallons are great for new fry, but you'll need something larger for grow-out purposes (your extra 33 would be great for this). HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nevchewy Posted May 5, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 5, 2005 My 90 has been setup for a month now and all of the fish are still small (they are small to me i think) the biggest is the Red zebras at 2.5 inches... next the socofoli's are about 2". the rustys are bout 2" the yellow labs are about 1" and the demasoni is about 1.5"... mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm i'm almost sure the cyan's should do fine with these fish as they are probably bigger that the labs, and they seem to do fine with out any problems... and the labs are growing lots too. so with the male saulosi, and the demasoni... war you say... there is lots of rock work now and plenty of hiding spots... could it work? being the demasoni is half the size will he lose to the saulosi or vice versa. I cannot get rid of the demasoni as its my father in law's fish that he picked out for the tank... mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm does anyone have a creative solution... would it matter if the demasonis is a male or female? (i'm not sure but i may have to vent) now i'm concerned... not about the cyans... but the saulosi's. do you have a pic of the male saulosi? thanks for your suggestion! nevchewy i may go shopping soon for that 55 gallon tank! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vallisneria Posted May 5, 2005 Report Share Posted May 5, 2005 Why don't you set up the 33g for the saulosi? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nevchewy Posted May 5, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 5, 2005 I'm getting heck for setting up another tank. I'm living at my inlaws place and they have given me a room that i can use (we are using it for storing all of out stuff for when we get married and move out). I asked yesterday and i was told probably not... I will work on that answer though. if i set up the 33... would the saulosi's do okay? the male right now is quite mean kyle tells me... would the 33 be enough room to curb his aggression? would i be able to keep the cyans in there as well or would it be suggested to keep them in the 90? the hamsters are turning in my head... (i really want to go buy a 55 gal tank... it would solve all of my issues... if i could only set it up) anyone have any other idea's? Kyle - do you think the saulosi's will co-exist in the 33? nevchewy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vallisneria Posted May 5, 2005 Report Share Posted May 5, 2005 if i set up the 33... would the saulosi's do okay? the male right now is quite mean kyle tells me... would the 33 be enough room to curb his aggression?would i be able to keep the cyans in there as well or would it be suggested to keep them in the 90? If you want to breed the saulosi and they are too aggresive to live together a small tank you might want to try a divider. Have a divider in the tank and condition the male and female untill they look ready to breed. Then remove the divider and watch them carefully. Hopefully they won't beat on eachother too much and will breed. Once they have bred return the divider. That should work untill you find(or breed) more females to help spread out the males aggression. I wouldn't add the cyans in there too, a 33g is way too small. If you want to breed them i would put them in their own(or with the saulosi) 55g and leave your 90g. ' Your 90g has lots of singular fish or small groups. IME keeping fish as singular fish or little groups increases your chances of cross breeding. The single fish, since it doesn't have anyone of its own species to breed with will breed with anything that is available(i'm had a P. electra and a lab perlmutt breed so anything is possible if they dont' have their own species). So if you want to breed i'd suggest not mixing a bunch of fish together. Stick with 1-2 species per tank and get enough of each group that they won't need to go looking for companions. Also stick with fish that look different from each other( demasoni and saulosi dont' mix well). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nevchewy Posted May 5, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 5, 2005 Thanks valerie! The reason i want to put the cyan's in my 90 is so they can grow out, and then once they can be sexed (and i have my own house) i can move a breeding group together in a seperate tank... like the 50 gallon i want to buy. i have already told my self that if there is a holding female in my 90gallon tank, the fry would not be saved unless i saw the 2 species that spawned... if it would end up with a hybrid... it would not be saved... i thought that was a good rule because you are right... you never know. I like the divider idea for the saulosi in the 33... that may have to work. Depending on when i can get that tank setup and cycled... it may work out... as Kyle and i are still working to find a way to get these fish to edm. Majestic_Aquariums has made an offer to help... now i'm just waiting for kyle and rob to discuss their options. \ \ \ \ Okay... just to confirm all of this. I'll add the cyan's to the 90 gallon tank for now. i will beg and plead to setup at least one more tank for now... for the saulosi's with a divider. letting them go to see if they would tolerate each other and keeping an eye on them. once i move in about a year... I'll setup a breeding tank of 55 gal for the cyans' and the saulosi' with a breeding group of each. should this be good? what do you all think? (i want the best for the fish) nevchewy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
African_Fever Posted May 5, 2005 Report Share Posted May 5, 2005 In all honesty, if you're looking for about a year wait to have a 55 set up, I'd wait on the Mel. cyan's. My WC group breeds like rabbits (I think 3m~8f), so having fry of them around isn't ever going to be an issue (and from the sounds of things, chloeclose could probably have fry from her group from me by that time). The saulosi may do ok in the 33; if you added some more fish (ie. the red zebras you have, or some barbs) as dithers, it would give the male saulosi something else to chase other than the female. Otherwise you're kind of trying to just 'jam fish together' for the 'meantime', which is looking like it'll be a year (not just a short while). Just an option to think about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nevchewy Posted May 5, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 5, 2005 And i thank you kyle for your honesty! Your are a good person not to just try to make a sale... your helping me out! that is why i also nominated your for the MOTM, and why i'll vote for you as well. the M. cyans are small right. what i'm thinking is that they won't be breeding for at least a year or more. By then i hope to have the setup to give them the oppertunity to to so. growing them out in the 90gallon from what i have read shouldn't be too much of a concern. so i would still like to buy them off of you. chloeclose is too awesome!!! i know she will have fry... it would be very surprising if she didn't, and i know she would offer me some to purchase, but... they won't be breeding for a while yet. from what i have read not on CF... you are right... it doesn't look like the demasoni and the male saulosi will get along... i believe you when it comes to that! and now i'm thinking about just setting up a 10 gallon tank for the demasoni for a while (untill i move and get the breeding setup i want). then just putting the saulosi in the 90gal. this may work as then i could setup the 10 gal for my father in law in his car room for him. he just may go for that. let me know if this sounds better to you. thanks again! nevchewy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chloeclose Posted May 6, 2005 Report Share Posted May 6, 2005 OK you can take my advice or leave it... I am a newbie too after all... but IMO you should hold off on the mel. cyans simply because you are new to this whole thing and the worst thing a newbie can do is get in over their heads... Why the big rush? I know, I know... it's soooo hard not to get everything you like at first... there's soooo many cool fish to choose from!! But I am personally really glad I stuck to just 3 different species, for simplicity's sake, and until I have a better handle on things... and more tanks!! :smokey: Isn't it better to have less fish with more room until you have a better idea of what you are doing? Or until you are settled in your new place? I would hate to see you get all these cool fish and then start losing them due to stress or overcrowding or whatever or have to cull all the fry because you don't know what they are... and yes when the time comes you can always get some mels. from me!! Just my 2 cents... please don't be offended! Just wanted to give you some food for thought! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nevchewy Posted May 6, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 6, 2005 new to cichlids yes but not to fish... ever since i can remember my dad has always had fish and i always helped and picked out the ones i liked. my brother was allergic to everything so that is what we got as pets as kids. I wish i would have only kept to a couple of species but now its too late... When i first got my big tank and looked into the fish i wanted... i couln't find Soulosi's anywhere... so i settled. I thought that i would just get a coulple of each to see (all of them were considered good fish for beginners) which ones i liked. I like the ones i have and i wouldn't change anything if i didn't have too (in that tank) to now get the fish i want. it sucks that i'm limited to what i can do for how many tanks i have, and how many i want... that just keeps fueling my need to move out, and that is what i'm saving for! so i guess the cyans... will have to wait. :cry: but now what do i do with the saulosi's? ever since i first started those were the fish i wanted... and because one little demasoni... what do i do? no offence taken through all of this... and it does suck... but... oh well... such is life. chloeclose - no offence taken! - maybe i'll one day be your first customer! Kyle... i still want the saulosi's, i hope you'll still sell them to me. i'll just have to figure something out. nevchewy :cry: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rahim101 Posted May 6, 2005 Report Share Posted May 6, 2005 Right now i have my 90 gallon tank with these fish in it:5 Pseudotropheus socolofi 3 Labidochromis caeruleus 1 Pseudotropheus demasoni 2 Iodotropheus sprengerae 1 Pseudotropheus sp. "Acei" 2 Red Zebras. 3 Yellow Labs You can put them in the 90 for now, just don't keep any fry that come from that tank there is a chance that all of the pseudotropheus can hybridize!!!! Just see how it works for now then, if the demasoni get out ouf hand, get rid of it!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nevchewy Posted May 6, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 6, 2005 That looks like what i'm going to have to do... do you approve kyle? if so... we'll keep trying to make arrangements to get them to edm... thanks everyone! nevchewy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
African_Fever Posted May 6, 2005 Report Share Posted May 6, 2005 Sounds like it could work. But the saulosi are a solid 3"...I personally wouldn't trust the male in with 1" labs at all (especially if they're used to being out in the open). We'll keep working on getting them up to Edmonton for you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nevchewy Posted May 6, 2005 Author Report Share Posted May 6, 2005 The labs are wierd... they have a different personality all together compaired to my other fish. When its feeding time they do not come up, they hang at the bottom and wait for some food to fall. When i'm not feeding they are alway on the lave rock looking for food. There is lots of hiding spots for them as well. if the demasoni or the labs become a problem or if there is any issues that may cause stress, i will set up a 10 gallon for them. I have a 10 gallon tank in storage with my 33. I wish i could set up the 33, but the answer looks to still be "no". Thanks for your help! Pm sent about payment. nevchewy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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