Lake Malawi Species • FINALY Time To stock! will this all work?!

[jsmeesterr]

Do you think that the 2 or 3 new ones will turn out agressive when they get older? How do you sex yellow labs? And how much would you sell a about 4 inch female lab?

[jsmeesterr]

Can anyone Offer me a opinion?

[DanniGirl]

No one can assure you that any fish is going to "behave." Most of the time, the labs are fine but just be prepared to remove an aggressive fish.

You sex them by venting. Remember you're looking for a ratio of 1m:4f

No clue how much you should sell the lab. Have you thought about trading it in to a LFS for store credit?

[jsmeesterr]

Yes I've thought of trading thEm in but I already have someone off craigslist that will by her. She is to agressive! And she's stressing everyone out. I think I'll sell her for 5 dollars!

[jsmeesterr]

Hey guys! I just wanted to no if I could add of these guys!?
Scientific Name: Nimbochromis livingstonii

Common Name(s): Kalingo

Maximum Size: 10.5"

To my stocking of
Like 4 or 5 male peacocks
1 blue dolphin male- how do you tell the sex of these when they are like 3" long?
5 yellow labs- 1 male 4 females- need to figure out how to sex these.
1 albino cherry barbs.
And then deep water gap and sulfur head peacock and 1 other one.
I know he's 10.5 Inches but the tank is wider thatn him. I think he will look really cool!

[DJRansome]

You want a 72" tank for a 10.5" fish, I would not add him.

[13razorbackfan]

You want a 72" tank for a 10.5" fish, I would not add him.

Yeah....that livingstonii as he starts to mature and grow will be a terror on those peacocks in a 4' tank not to mention his overall size when he is fully matured. It is a very bad idea. I tried to tell my brother the same thing but he wouldn't listen. He bought all his peacocks as well as a few haps including a livingstonii. At about 4" he started to mature and change colors and slowly started killing off the fish. My brother assured me it was something else going on. He thought maybe it was the LFS selling bad fish. Anyways...he had a 5" regal peacock plus a yellow lab, empress and a calvus still in the tank. One day a couple weeks ago he was watching the tank and to his horror the livingstonii ripped the mouth off the dominant regal peacock.

He took the livingstonii back to the LFS, gave me the empress and the calvus and all of his beautiful texas holey rock. He went with a community tank instead.

Moral of the story...don't put large haps in a 4' tank.

[jsmeesterr]

Would I be able to add a male red empress!?

[13razorbackfan]

Would I be able to add a male red empress!?

Depends on the temperament. I have done OK in the past with them in a 75g but they can get a little on the big side for a 75g but not as big as the livingstonii. I would not drop a large male in there with smaller fish. If you have a small sexed male then you should be ok but it kind of depends on all the other fish plus their established territories. Most times not a good idea to add a single fish.

[jsmeesterr]

I haven't set up the tank yet so I'll add all the fish at once. Or 5 at a time haven't decided yet but all the filters that are going on it are already cycled.
Does anybody know a trick on how to sex yellow labs?!
And blue dolphin cichlids at about 3" in length!?
Instead of adding the male empress could I add a male and female blue dolphin instead of 1 male?

[jsmeesterr]

How much money would you predict all these fish will cost?
Do you think 200 will cover all the fish?

[DJRansome]

Probably not. Buying sexed males, expect to pay between $30 and $50 each depending on the fish.

[jsmeesterr]

What would you do... 2 blue dolphins- 1m 1f or 1 male blue dolphin and 1 red empress?

[jsmeesterr]

Or maybe even a Compressiceps cichlid?

[13razorbackfan]

Or maybe even a Compressiceps cichlid?

Which comp were you thinking of just out of curiosity? I would probably steer away from the Altolamprologus and you definitely don't want a dimidiochromis comp as they get far too big. The former grows much slower the same as the dolphins and that would give you time to get a larger tank maybe a year or two down the road. I have a Alto comp and a dolphin in my 75g but plan on upgrading sometime in the future but they grow very slowly. The Alto was given to me recently by my brother and I am very lucky that he is working with my haps and peacocks. May not work well for other people.

What you could do is get a list of these fish from your LFS and then try and narrow it down a bit. I would not rush in and start dropping in fish only to find out it is not going to work. It is already hard enough as it is.