[JessiLou]

I have 4 yellow labs in my tank. Two are male and very large. I have never seen any aggression involving my labs. For the past week or so, the largest has spent most of his time under a rock formation. His face looks dirtier and dirtier every day. It was just above his mouth, now it is below also. He is also starting to show dirty looking bars. He eats and swims just fine. He still comes out to see me when I am in front of the tank, but always goes back under the rock. He no longer swims with the other fish. Actually, none of the labs have been very active lately. The two females hang out near the heater on one side of the tank and the other male stays near the heater on the other side of the tank. Other than the dirty look to the largest one, they all look great and eat normally. Is there something wrong or is this normal?

I spend so much time watching these fish after the scare with bloat. Finding out that I have two male auratus has made me more nervous. I also lost a female kenyi to bloat and another just got its male colors so I have two males and only one female. I think the tank is healthy now so I can make some adjustments. I didn't want to rehome fish that could be ill. I just need to know if the lab situation is something that could mean I need to wait before taking fish back.

 

[DJRansome]

They are stressed, I would go ahead with the adjustments as soon as possible. How long since the last case of bloat? Did you treat the main tank?

You could always remove the aggressors to the hospital tank and hold them there until all danger of bloat reoccurring is past.

 

[JessiLou]

As of June 11th all fish were eating fine. Yes, I treated the whole tank with Jungle Parasite Clear, food with penicillin and epsom salts. I would move the aggessive fish to my 10 gallon, but I have not seen any aggression at all. I don't know what fish to move. I plan on taking all 4 auratus back to the lfs. Even though there has been no aggression yet, I want to prevent it in the future. I need to fix the kenyi situation also. Just not sure if I want to return one male and get 3 females or return all three. I also need to get more demasoni.

I watch this tank for hours each day. My female saulosi's and female red zebras are all best friends. They swim in a group and follow the male everywhere he goes. I think he is very cute, they must think so too lol. They are by far the most active group in the tank. The albino socolofi stay together and no one bothers them. My male kenyis stay on opposite sides of the tank from each other. The rest spend all day trying to convice me they really are hungry. From what I see, it is a pretty peaceful tank.

 

[cichlidaholic]

JessiLou, what size tank is this again?

Your yellow labs sound highly stressed...The two hanging out by the heater are trying to stay out of someone's way. The dirty male may have lost a battle with the other male, or may be stressed by the presence of the other species.

The thing with stress from aggression is that you can't watch the tank 24/7. I had a huge male Cobalt for awhile that could send the whole tank into hiding just by swimming from one end to the other - I never once witnessed him attack or intimidate another fish. It was just his "presence".

As the fish mature, the stress in the tank becomes more intense. I think this is what you are witnessing.

 

[Dewdrop]

JessiLou, what size is your tank & what is the complete stock list ? It sounds like you have alot of the same species that I do in my 55g.. I know I'm way overstocked with way to many different species.

I started out with 3 yellow labs that are about a year old now and I think they are all male. They started acting and looking like yours are doing. One got dark and hung out in a cave the biggest part of the time. Finally the other 2 started picking on him so bad that I had to remove him. Now one of the others is doing the same thing hanging out in the same cave. I bought another 2" lab hoping it would be female and that might perk them up but I'm beginning to think it's male too . I bought another tiny little lab and have it in a 10g. tank hoping it's female too but it's to soon to tell.

Are you sure you have 2 males and 2 females? Have you had any breeding? I dunno what is up with these labs really. I was thinking my problem with them was no females for them but it might be their tank mates and we just don't recognise it.

If you post the tank size and stock list maybe someone can help. :thumb:

 

[Dewdrop]

LOL Kim and I were posting at the same time :lol:

 

[JessiLou]

my tank is 75 gallon

3 albino socolofi (1 male, 1 female, 1 unknown)
3 kenyi (2 male, 1 female)
4 auratus (2 male, 2 Unknown)
4 yellow lab (2 male, 2 female)
4 red zebra (1male, 3 female) + 2 1/2 inch fry
4 saulosi (1 male, 3 female)
4 demasoni (1 male, 1 female, 2 unknown)

auratus and probably kenyi going back asap. I know I need more demasoni. Will move dems and labs to their own tank. Hoping if I take back 7 large cichlids, I can get a deal on 10 tiny demasoni. I may replace the albino that died, but no sure. My albinos just seem so fragile.

 

[cichlidaholic]

Getting rid of the auratus and kenyi should make the tank breath a huge sigh of relief!

I'm not big on albino fish, but I did have a group of the albino socolofi at one time. I found mine to be very aggressive.

 

[JessiLou]

mine seem very very timid and fragile. They dont really impress me. My kenyi used to be my favorites because they were so active, but now it is the saulosi. I just love them and hope they breed soon lol. I would like to find a blue version of the red zebra. Right now, most of my tank is yellow and orangish yellow. Once the dems get moved and the kenyi goes back I will only have one blue fish. I really wanted a blue tank. Someone on Craig's list is selling a 120 gallon long tank complete for $200. Maybe I could put the couch in the back yard lol