Newly Aquired ...

[Crunchy]

Just got these two yesterday. They were completely charcoal gray (just like their dark spots). LFS sold them to me for $5 because they were just too docile to survive too long in their tanks and were really beat up and stressed. They told me they were Rainbow Cichlids, can anyone confirm or should I wait longer for their colors to come around. Also, if by any luck, can we ID male/female?

 

[JML1997]

The yellow one is for sure a rainbow Cichlid, and a nice one at that....as for the other one, I have no idea, but it doesn't look like a rainbow Cichlid to me.

 

[Crunchy]

Thanks for the confirmation on the yellow one. They are both getting along nicely at least. The first night they would lock lips, then one would swim over the other sideways. I was a little worried at first, but no damage so far. I didn't know if this was possibly a spawning dance. (Lol, my imagination went wild with that one). I wonder what the second one might be then. Unless it's still a bit stressed and I need to wait longer for it's colors to come out.

 

[JML1997]

I smell fry!! Good luck

 

[Crunchy]

Should I get some flower pots in there for them? What would they need? Lol, these are actually my first cichlids

 

[ibz_rg]

Flower pots are a good nesting apparatus. I'd get maybe 1 or 2 and put them in there. Good luck!

 

[JML1997]

+1 on a couple flower pots....also a couple flat rocks are a good choice for breeding cichlids.

 

[Crunchy]

Cool, thanks. trip out to home depot tomorrow then. You'll all know if I get any fry out of these two then. Off to do some research.

 

[ryansmith83]

They're definitely both Herotilapia multispinosa. The dominant male in my tank would always keep his yellow while the submissive fish would turn the darker charcoal color. Males will also display and fight the way you described, and rarely leave each other alone, so it could be a dominant male and a submissive male.

 

[Crunchy]

That's what it is starting to look like. I'm adding in some caves and other rocks to see if that helps the submissive/ female one.
Also found that I need to remove my large snails, they're getting attacked.
Thinking about possibly adding two more Herotilapia Multispinosa to possibly get a female. Or is that a bad idea? I don't think they're sexed too easily.
In case I didn't mention before, they're in a 55 gallon with 2 mystery snails, 5 Odessa Barbs and an Orange Blotch Cichlid.