new fish

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Originally Posted by Zincubus

I may be wrong here and get shot down from all sides ( again ) but they look kinda like my old Lake Malawi cichlids I used to keep a while back
If so the one thing to remember is that these are 'usually' get very territorial , very quickly and weirdly the best thing to do is to loads of rocky areas giving little territories and hiding places AND also they thrive when there are huge numbers of them as it cuts down on the bullying ( its true !) .

It goes against everything we are told in the fish keeping world but it works with Lake Malawi cichlids .

https://www.flickr.com/photos/dianesdigitals/925776775/

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yup they are lake malawi cichlids which are my favs, i used to have a lake malawi and a kenyi in the same tank and the kenyi was very territorial towards the other and i only had 2 rock hides in with them. i do plan on getting a couple more malawi cichlids in there, especially the snow white scoloffi i saw (they are my fav) and so far they are doing okay, they both have their own places to hide if needed and i have seen them swimming together peacefully, the albino is being the dominant one of the 2 but hasnt been picking at the others fins or bullying. ill be getting more rock structures eventually, especially when i get the 75 running, ill have more room in it to play with decor stuff.

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Originally Posted by Alexiel03

yup they are lake malawi cichlids which are my favs, i used to have a lake malawi and a kenyi in the same tank and the kenyi was very territorial towards the other and i only had 2 rock hides in with them. i do plan on getting a couple more malawi cichlids in there, especially the snow white scoloffi i saw (they are my fav) and so far they are doing okay, they both have their own places to hide if needed and i have seen them swimming together peacefully, the albino is being the dominant one of the 2 but hasnt been picking at the others fins or bullying. ill be getting more rock structures eventually, especially when i get the 75 running, ill have more room in it to play with decor stuff.

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here was the old setup when i had the kenyi and malawi, the kenyi eventually killed the malawi because she was so aggressive, and i dont think i had enough hiding spots, so this time im using more.
http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...34-My-Cichlids

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Originally Posted by Alexiel03

here was the old setup when i had the kenyi and malawi, the kenyi eventually killed the malawi because she was so aggressive, and i dont think i had enough hiding spots, so this time im using more.
http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...34-My-Cichlids

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Nice . As I recall the only way to stop / avoid bullying and even terrorising is to overcrowd the tank with loads if Malawis tbh.

Loads of rocks and hides helps somewhat or delays the inevitable but adding as many fish as you can afford is the way forward.

A good filtration system and regular water changes as well , I had 3 internal filters working in mine but a decent outside filter also works wonders.

I'd add as many Yellow Labs as you can afford :). They are about $4 each around our way . 6 for $20

https://i1.ytimg.com/vi/V953Pv95n-Q/hqdefault.jpg

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Originally Posted by Zincubus

Nice . As I recall the only way to stop / avoid bullying and even terrorising is to overcrowd the tank with loads if Malawis tbh.

Loads of rocks and hides helps somewhat or delays the inevitable but adding as many fish as you can afford is the way forward.

A good filtration system and regular water changes as well , I had 3 internal filters working in mine but a decent outside filter also works wonders.

I'd add as many Yellow Labs as you can afford :). They are about $4 each around our way . 6 for $20

https://i1.ytimg.com/vi/V953Pv95n-Q/hqdefault.jpg

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i wil be getting a couple more with the next paycheck, they are still doing great and gettig along with the rainbow shark i still have in there, no bullying or fin nipping that i can see, they are all swimming around together as i type this too lol

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Originally Posted by Alexiel03

i wil be getting a couple more with the next paycheck, they are still doing great and gettig along with the rainbow shark i still have in there, no bullying or fin nipping that i can see, they are all swimming around together as i type this too lol

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Those Yellow Labs are one of the cheapest and certainly one of the most beautiful , don't get too big and are probably the most friendly of all the Malawis - what's not too like :)

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Originally Posted by Zincubus

Those Yellow Labs are one of the cheapest and certainly one of the most beautiful , don't get too big and are probably the most friendly of all the Malawis - what's not too like :)

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i do want a couple of those, always loved their colors

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Originally Posted by Alexiel03

i do want a couple of those, always loved their colors

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Ideally 3 or more .... as I recall Malawis are all born female and when the need "arises" the dominant female / females change gender to become MALES !!

Crazy stuff :)

i picked up 3 more cichlids yesterday, got a snow white scoloffi, electric blue and an electric yellow. ill try getting pics of them today. they are all getting along great

Sound real nice

The trick with Cichlids is to keep the water hard, warm and alkaline, a lot of fish folk don't like to mix AC species from all 3 different lakes, Malawi and Victoria are close enough to be OK, Tanganyika is a lot more alkaline than the others, so while a few others have had luck mixing all 3, or keeping Africans in neutral PH and soft conditions with unrelated tankmates, I haven't in my tanks or others I've helped with. Fish get stressed, then start to get aggressive, sick and die off eventually, the higher toxicity of Ammonia in high PH ranges also kills a lot faster In new tanks or where the bioload gets increased fast. Zincubus is right on, more fish and more hiding spots cuts down on bullying, so too few fish they get picked on, but too many too quick, and they get sick, AC tanks are pretty much the reason fishless cycling came about. Best advice is to use sand as a substrate, easy to spot clean to keep bioload down, and the fish seem to like it, add a pile of rocks containing limestone to keep the PH up around 8-8.2, and KH up at 10-14, small water changes often with enough buffer added to keep the PH consistent, and they will be happy. You will have to change gradually being you already have fish, and the Shark should probably find a more compatible home. Can't wait to see how they grow