[JimSparks]

Hi there

These little fish have been giving me fits. It seems the tank finally settled in. At least they all seem to be having fun, out and about and eating. I haven't lost any fish for a couple of weeks so that is a good sign. Everyone seems to be cohabitating well finally. No one hiding or sulking.

I have 3 rusties, 4 yellow labs, and 2 socolofi left in there. I plan to rehome the socolofi. My thought was to add more rusties and more yellow labs. I was also considering adding in 1:7 mainganos. I love the rusties, I love the labs. I want to get some more blue in there. I just don't love the socolofi.

What are your thoughts?

This is a 75-gallon tank with 3 canister filters running so I am not overly concerned about filtration.

Thank you
Jim

 

[djlynn03]

I have some cobalt blue zebras that go very well with my yellow labs and my rusties, and i have some albino auratus as well. The zebras have a nice blue color and do not grow too large compared to the others.

 

[DJRansome]

I like your idea of adding females for rusties and labs and swapping out the socolofi for maingano.

Hopefully it has been at least three weeks since any fish deaths and the current inhabitants all look/act healthy.

 

[Trademark]

Is Maingano not too aggressive for yellow labs and Rusty's?

 

[DJRansome]

No not a problem. You don't have to have fish with the same level of aggression, you just need them all to be housed in the right sized tank with sufficient females.

I have not found this with maingano/labs, but sometimes a more peaceful species will not spawn QUITE as much in the presence of a more dominant species, but all can be healthy, happy and productive.

 

[Trademark]

Thanks, DJ

 

[JimSparks]

Thanks everyone. I plan to wait at least one more week before ordering any new fish. I will work on rehoming the socolofi this week. And maybe the stupid synos. I almost never see them. My goal was for them to be out and draw the cichlids out of the rocks. Epic fail and not worth the bioload.

I love these fish though. Such character. Especially the rusties. If they would just stay out a little more. Sheesh.

I'm thinking getting 4 more rusties, 3 more labs, and 8 mainganos. That would be a total of 7 rusties, 7 labs, and 8 mainganos in a typical 75 gallon. Does that make sense to try?

Anyway, thanks for the input.

 

[DJRansome]

That could work. How many Synodontis do you have? If you have 5 they should be out as much or more than the cichlids. If you don't have enough, they will hide. Whether they will draw out the cichlids not sure.

 

[JimSparks]

I have a group of 6 in there.

 

[DJRansome]

And they are all lucipinnis or multipunctatus?

 

[JimSparks]

Supposedly petricola. At least that is how they were sold to me. Other than that, and the liquid death trap this tank has been recently, I am actually pretty happy with the way everyone is settling in. The labs and rusties are getting big. Beautiful too. I have one lab with a really prominent black stripe. And the rusties are just fun to watch.

 

[DJRansome]

Synos sold as petricola are usually lucipinnis. I have never heard of anyone having that problem with 6 lucipinnis, sorry they are not working out for you.

 

[kevinaii]

hey, glad to hear things are getting better. just trying to learn about african cichlids. When you mention who's in your tank you don't mention gender. Doesn't gender play in to the amount of color? Or is that more a peacock thing?

 

[JimSparks]

I am by no means an expert. But I think I have 1:2 rusties, 1:3 yellow lads, and 1:1 socolofi. Based on actions only.

From my experience, the peacocks show the biggest difference in colors but there are some mbuna that are different. I believe the johanni and the saulosi females are colored differently than the males, yet still colorful. Whereas the peacock females are typically a drab greyish, brownish color.