African cichlids

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Hi all, I would advise that you feed your mbuna's spirulina as Malawi bloat will kill your fish. The main cause being too much protein based food. Yes they do love it but given some time you will only experience disaster.
The two fish with the yellow are Ps crabo with the front one possibly a female. Colour stays more yellow whist the males become very dark.
You ph is great and I would suggest you do 20% water changes weekly as they do much better when the water quality is good. I have around 60 cichlids, mainly mbuna and have successfully breed three new fish that have come directly from the lake. If you are able to cultivate your own algae that would be even better. Small tank with a water flow and then allow some shade cloth to hang into this. They absolutely love this and this is extremely healthy. Cheers from South Africa.
 
Hey Scotty, welcome aboard!!! Good imput too, I kind-of thought it was a crabo too, couldn't say for sure though.


About the egg spot thing, I agree that both male and females have them and it's not a reliable way to sex them. About 15 to 20 years ago when I first got into african cichlids, the first fish I got into were mostly pseudotropheus. Back then the quality of the fish was much better than it is now. The female zebras and trophops I first had did not have egg spots on the anal fin. Neither did the johani. THese really stick out in my mind because I was really interested in spawning them and used that as one way to sex them. Was it 100% acurate? probibly not but I don't remember having any females with them. Now day it's a different story completly. Geez..The first red zebras I got were bright orange females and blue males. I could not believe that they were the same specie but when they spawned and grew them out I ended up with orange females and blue males. That was cool. I couldn't belive the johani either with yellow/orange females and black & blue males.

I do believe that on adults that the elongated / more pointed anal fin is a reliable way to identify males. Females do not develope this but I have seen fish that I know were males that did not have this trait. I miss the good old days, those fish were so much cooler than the waterd down junk offered now. Heck, you can buy africans at freeken wall mart now, that's sad......
 
That doesn't mean all africans today are 'watered down junk', thanks. Most of mine have been ordered online from a very good breeder, and I'm perfectly happy with them.
 
Oh yeah, I know. I'm saying by and large these fish are not as nice as they used to be. Mass production and non selective spawning has ruined many of them.

I agree that nice ones are available. THe company I buy alot from do wilds and f-1's. A little more expensive but worth it. THe sad thing is lots of people don't know the differance and are like "I can buy one of those for 1/2 that at (insert your favorite chain store) ". WHat ever...

I think that you hit the nail on the head too getting fish from specialty suppliers. I bet you got some really cool fish, and I also bet you didn't get them at pet-co or what ever.
 
Hi all, The only true way to sex your fish is to vent them. Had an experience with some blue cobalts and what we thought were possible females turned out to be males. Need the fish to be 3+cm long before you can successfully vent them. Males have two small hole whereas the female will have one large and one small. Need good lighting to do this.
 
I've already covered the whole 'venting is the only sure way' thing ;)

Most of my africans have come from online breeders, but I do actually have one very gorgeous albino greshakei that came from Petsmart. And a gorgeous kenyi from Walmart - believe it or not, but where I live, Walmart is the only place (out of 6 stores now, chain and local) that carry nice looking Kenyi.
 
I will look to see if I have a shot of my greshakei and post it for you to look at. Venting, according to my mate Neil, big Malawi importer here in SA, is the only safe way to sex a fish. When you refer to kenyi are you refering to Ps lombardoi? Had a male and female but when my tank cracked lost them together with many more. Female had just started to carry together with two others. Tradgedy!
:naughty: :cry: :D
 
I put the abalone shell in and the larger male immediatly claimed it. if hes not in it hes right over it.If it stops raining today by the time I finish my waterchanges Im going to look for some more rocks for the tank in my yard.My property is loaded with slate so I should be able to find some good cave material.

Ive seen people recommend "slight overcrowding"with these guys to cut down on aggression.How many should I have in that 55gal tank?
 
Yes, I'm referring to Lombardoi.

As for overstocking - how many fish you can comfortably put into a 55gal tank, depends on two things - what kind of and how much filtration you have on the tank, and exactly what species you're talking about :)
 
I too was under the impression that most African Cichlids were herbivorous. I used to work at a pet store that specialized in tropical fish (I know, I know...pet stores aren't usually very popular amongst exotic hobbyists, but this one was pretty decent) and we fed the Africans spirulina flakes and zuchini slices. They greatly enjoy the zuchini from what I saw.
 
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