Lake Malawi Species • Cichlid swimming up and down the tank

[Toby3001]

Hey!

I have a 37 gallon grow out tank. I did a APEI master test kit and all water levels were fine. However all my young cichlids are swimming up and down the tank.. I have a deboisi, a yellow fin and a yellow lab.

I also have the Aqua clear 70 filter and sponge filter running.

[Old Newbie]

They do that; nothing to be alarmed about.

[DJRansome]

Welcome to Cichlid-forum!

What Old Newbie said is true about the pacing.

Meanwhile...how did you cycle your tank?

What is a yellow fin?

The yellow lab and the duboisi may not do well together, are they destined for separate tanks?

When you add new fish to an existing tank, it is better to add a group rather than a single fish. One duboisi to the tropheus tank and one lab to the mbuna tank could result in the single newcomer being attacked.

[Toby3001]

The yellowfin I was referring to is the Yellow Tail Acei (Pseudotropheus elegans) from lake Malawi.. my bad!

I quickly cycled my tank from an active filter from Angel Plus. I did not do fishless cycling.


Thank you for the advice. I'll keep this in mind for the future when buying fish.

[Toby3001]

When I did research it said mixing different cichlids is possible. Is it not recommended?

In my 55 gallons, I have mbunas, peacocks, and two younger fronosas (3 inches each).

Mbunas and peackoks are doing great together but one frontosa turned dark and seemed unhappy. I moved it to a 37 gallon where it is showing its colors again and is much happier. That frontosa was being bullied by the other frontosa in the tank and one peacock.

I plan on getting a 75-gallon tank to place both frontosa as a grow-out tank until they are big enough to go in the 75 gallons.

[DJRansome]

Some can be mixed and some may not be good tank mates. The simplest approach is to stick to one lake in a tank and even mbuna or haps and peacocks.

Some mbuna are OK with some peacocks...example is yellow lab and OB peacock. Others not so much.

Your lab and acei are both mbuna and fine together.

I have had zero luck mixing Tanganyikans and other lakes.

Ideal for frontosa is a 72" species tank, so you have a short-term plan for those in the 75G.

The duboisi is a tropheus from Lake Tanganyika. Ideal for them is a 75G (or larger) species tank.

[Haplochromine guy]

They do that; nothing to be alarmed about.

Me likes what me reads. You are correct Old Newbie. It just looks funny. Small tank, no space, nothing to do, might as well swim up and down. as Dory would say: Just keep swimming just keep swimming... - Finding Nemo. LoL.

[Haplochromine guy]

I wouldn't care much about mixing Mbunas and Peacocks. Keep Mbuna species peaceful, Yellow Labs, Rusties, Aceis, etc.