[zoie]

I was looking at doing a species tank with saulosi. I like the yellow and blue fish. Now that I can't find any, it seems I am going to have to look into something different.

My tank is 4'long, 13" wide and 12" high.

So I have been looking into fish that are 5" or smaller where I can get the yellow and blue combo.

These are what I have come up with so far, but I'm not sure they will work: 4:1 ratio

Yellow Labs with Labidochromis "Mbamba
OR
Yellow Labs with Cynotilapia sp. "Blue Reef"

Any other suggestions of yellow and blue combos would be great!!

 

[jaymore1]

Theirs always demasoni and labs if ur dead set on blue and yellow.

 

[DanniGirl]

Zoie, I sent you a PM regarding saulosi. :thumb:

 

[zoie]

Theirs always demasoni and labs if ur dead set on blue and yellow.

I think that will work!! They were both actually on my very first stock list. then someone suggested the saulosi and I thought that would be easier.

Now I will go do more research on them!!

thanks :thumb:

 

[zoie]

Zoie, I sent you a PM regarding saulosi. :thumb:

Thanks so much for the PM. I looked at his prices and it was too high. he was 1.25 more per fish than the most expensive one I was looking at.

Thanks again though.

 

[jordanroda]

Theirs always demasoni and labs if ur dead set on blue and yellow.

=D>

 

[zoie]

I have found a problem. I remember the other reason I went with the saulosi. They were easy to tell male from female.

How do I tell labs and demsoni gender? Not so easy to weed out.

And how many of each should I get? And do I want the same 4:1 ratio of female to male?

 

[jaymore1]

Sexing is tuff in both until thery r mature, and even then can b very difficult.With dems u can usually tell by the males being alittle bigger and more colorful.The dominate males will definetly make them selfs known.Labs can b tuff as well but size and the black strip on their fins is usually darker on the males.Once again very hard to tell until they r mature so u might have to do some rearanging as they get older.With the dems u will want to start with between 15 and 20 in my experience,and remove any stressed out males.They will b the ones at the top corners of the tank usually.Ur male to female ratio will be more like 2-3 males to 10 females for the final result on the dems.On the labs i would go for 2 males to 6 females if u can.I know it sounds like a pain in the butt with the dems but trust me when its done u will b very glad u went with them they r a great fish in my opinion,and alot of fun to watch.Hope this helps and good luck!!

 

[zoie]

Sexing is tuff in both until thery r mature, and even then can b very difficult.With dems u can usually tell by the males being alittle bigger and more colorful.The dominate males will definetly make them selfs known.Labs can b tuff as well but size and the black strip on their fins is usually darker on the males.Once again very hard to tell until they r mature so u might have to do some rearanging as they get older.With the dems u will want to start with between 15 and 20 in my experience,and remove any stressed out males.They will b the ones at the top corners of the tank usually.Ur male to female ratio will be more like 2-3 males to 10 females for the final result on the dems.On the labs i would go for 2 males to 6 females if u can.I know it sounds like a pain in the butt with the dems but trust me when its done u will b very glad u went with them they r a great fish in my opinion,and alot of fun to watch.Hope this helps and good luck!!

thanks for all that info. I've been reading the old threads on sexing, but I guess it is tricky. I have ordered 8 of each, but I have been reading and it seems dems do like 1:6 so I might call back tomorrow and get a few more. I hope he will take the extras for store credit, they are 7.00 each.

 

[jaymore1]

U r going to want to start with more than 8 dems if u can.Some lfs will take them back for credit some dont u will have to take ur chances their.Make sure u have good filtration as well or u could have probs down the road with that many fish.$7 is pretty good price for dems though.

 

[zoie]

U r going to want to start with more than 8 dems if u can.Some lfs will take them back for credit some dont u will have to take ur chances their.Make sure u have good filtration as well or u could have probs down the road with that many fish.$7 is pretty good price for dems though.

What do you mean by good filtration? I've been thinking I have good filtration because the tank is about 33 gal and the filtration is for a 55. It's a Whisper and I run 2 of the prefilled filtration pads. I throw out the front one, then bring the 2nd to the front and put the new one behind that one. I also have a purigen bag that treats 100 gal. And I have a power head to help with flow.

Is all that good enough, or am I missing something?

 

[eeztropheus]

U r going to want to start with more than 8 dems if u can.Some lfs will take them back for credit some dont u will have to take ur chances their.Make sure u have good filtration as well or u could have probs down the road with that many fish.$7 is pretty good price for dems though.

What do you mean by good filtration? I've been thinking I have good filtration because the tank is about 33 gal and the filtration is for a 55. It's a Whisper and I run 2 of the prefilled filtration pads. I throw out the front one, then bring the 2nd to the front and put the new one behind that one. I also have a purigen bag that treats 100 gal. And I have a power head to help with flow.

Is all that good enough, or am I missing something?

Add a sponge filter to the powerhead for more biofiltration just to be on the safe side.

 

[jaymore1]

I agree with eeztropheus on the sponge filter.U can never have to much filtration when it comes to cichlids,always go over board

 

[zoie]

I don't think I can add a sponge to the power head. It's just this little round thing, not a great pic:

I could stick one in the Whisper though, I have one I use for my sw tanks. It's abput 1" thick and maybe 3"x5".

Would that work?

 

[xxbenjamminxx]

Yeah that looks to be a water circulator. I dont think he meant a peice of sponge, but rather and actual sponge filter. You could always run a sponge filter with air if you dont mind the bubbles or save up and get another HOB down the road. You will have some time before they mature and it is needed anyhow.

I have Dems and Lab in my tank love the color and activity so far. You wont be disappointed.

Like said before get like 16 if you can right off the bat and then remove the rejected males as they show (ones in corners).

 

[zoie]

Yeah that looks to be a water circulator. I dont think he meant a peice of sponge, but rather and actual sponge filter. You could always run a sponge filter with air if you dont mind the bubbles or save up and get another HOB down the road. You will have some time before they mature and it is needed anyhow.

I have Dems and Lab in my tank love the color and activity so far. You wont be disappointed.

Like said before get like 16 if you can right off the bat and then remove the rejected males as they show (ones in corners).

oh, I see. I actually did buy another hob, but I didn't like it, not to mention it stopped working after about 20 min. I will return the HOB and get a better one.

Thanks

 

[DJRansome]

What is the gallons per hour (gph) of your filter? You want at least 4X hourly turnover, I like 7X and some even like 10X.

 

[zoie]

What is the gallons per hour (gph) of your filter? You want at least 4X hourly turnover, I like 7X and some even like 10X.

I don't think it's much, I just looked up Whisper filters and it looks like 210 gph. If I got another one of those to put on the other end, would that be enough?

 

[zoie]

What is the gallons per hour (gph) of your filter? You want at least 4X hourly turnover, I like 7X and some even like 10X.

I don't think it's much, I just looked up Whisper filters and it looks like 210 gph. If I got another one of those to put on the other end, would that be enough?

I just looked at my Koralia power head and it is 240 gph .

 

[eeztropheus]

I just looked at my Koralia power head and it is 240 gph .

But that is just moving water not filtering it.

You may be able to add a sponge prefilter to your HOB's intake. This will help to keep your HOB's media cleaner longer and add biofiltartion. Or they sell some fairly small sponge filters you can run with an airpump.