# Demasoni & Yellow Lab



## PitBully (Apr 14, 2009)

Would these 2 make for good tank mates? Is there any possible of hybridization between the two?

Thank you


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## BoostedX (Mar 1, 2009)

they will be fine. Just make sure you have a good amout of dems because they are aggressive.. If you dont have a good bit of them they will start to pick on the labs..


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## Dewdrop (Nov 20, 2007)

Alot of people keep those two together. Like BoostedX said, you need alot of dems though (at least 12 is preferred) or only keep one dem because anything less than 12 will end up being just one dem eventually. I'm not speaking from experience just what I've read many many times about them. What size tank were you going to keep them in?


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## PitBully (Apr 14, 2009)

I have a 90 gallon tank. I have about 25 small Yellow Labs right now. I'll be taking that number to about 10 once I'm able to sex them.

I really want to add blue cichilids to my tank. I'm thinking Dems might work. I just dont want to chance of having hybrid **** between the Dems and Labs.


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## Poisonelf (Jul 14, 2008)

I would suggest also throwing in about 6 yellow-tail acei, since you have a 90 gal. I would think you would be pleased with them, I know I have been.


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## slowlips (Apr 17, 2009)

Can I keep 15 yellow labs and 12 demasonis in a 75g tank??


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## Maddog (Nov 7, 2008)

15 labs? holy ****!


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## slowlips (Apr 17, 2009)

So whats the Max I can keep?


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## Sulfurhead (Jul 18, 2005)

if it were me, id do 20 Dems and 8 yellows in that tank. i think that would be a site to see


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## slowlips (Apr 17, 2009)

Actually I got 15 yellow labs in a auction for $20.All are about 1inch.So I will take out the extra labs after determining the male/female ratio(may be 2 male and 6 female).But I don;t know how to find males and females and when can I find them.
So for now can I keep all of them in the 75g OR put some of them in a 30g spare tank I have.


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## gmaschke (Aug 23, 2008)

there are indicators of male/female labs but venting is the only sure method. My brother has 8 labs and 12 demasoni in a 55 and they compliment each other very well!


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## jhunbj (May 16, 2005)

gmaschke said:


> there are indicators of male/female labs but venting is the only sure method. My brother has 8 labs and 12 demasoni in a 55 and they compliment each other very well!


Another good indicator (sure method) is when they have eggs in their mouth(female). :lol:

slowlips u can put all of ur YL in the 75G.


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## MbunasandMapleleafs (Mar 23, 2004)

Must be the growing trend, I just setup my 75G with 10 yellow labs, planning to add 12 demasoni when i can find some. i also have 5 mel. joanjohnsonnii and want to throw in 5-6 red zebras. I'm running 2 AC 300's just wondering if that will be adequate filtration ?


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## bossfish (Jun 1, 2005)

I've got a 75 gallon that is currently housing 5 yellow labs, 17 demasoni, and 4 white tail acei. all is going welll and all species are breeding. I had the denasoni in a six foot 125 but the were fighting and there were a lot of torn fins. Now that they are in the smaller tank they are still fighting but the intensity of the fights is much lower than it was and breeding has increased. All the fish ignore the other species that they share the tank with. I would think that in a 90 gallon you should be able to keep 25 demasoni and 10-15 labs. you can remove extra males as the fish mature if you want but that number shouldn't be a problem if your filtration and waterchange schedule is sufficient.


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## anafranil (Feb 8, 2009)

I know that overstocking an aquarium eliminates any aggression.I am new to mbunas and I thought at the beginning that overstocking was the most common practice to reduce aggression.When I first told this on this forum everyone said that picking right species together and proper sex ratios is the proper way but what I am reading here is definately overstocking..??What's the deal?With the little I know for these fishes any species combination would work out with these numbers..


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## Super Turtleman (May 21, 2007)

Pitbully, as other have said, labs and dems work and look great together. The recommendation for Acei is a good one IMO since they can school along the upper half of your tank, which may not be used much by the labs and dems. You could probably add a fourth species as well, but that would be up to you.

anafranil, picking the right species always helps (for example, dems and male saulosis would most likely fight each other and possibly hybridize as well while dems and yellow labs tend to work well), but certain fish (such as dems) do best when overstocked in an aquarium. They are conspecific aggressors which basically means they will try to dominate fish that look similar to them. By having them in a large "overstocked" group, it helps to prevent one fish from being singled out and picked on constantly. So the best way to have a successful tank is to use proper species mixing and/or overstocking depending on what fish you want to keep.


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## anafranil (Feb 8, 2009)

Ok,I get it,proper species selection is the way to go but overstocking can be used in certain situations as a second measure.Why yellow labs with demasonis though?Any other reason except nice color combination?


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## Watari (Mar 9, 2009)

These people are choosing proper species, lab and acei are two of the most lad back Mbuna there are. Demasoni are are aggressive mostly only with themselves so they are kept in large groups to spread out aggression. (this is where overstocking can help). This type of tank would not work with just any Mbuna. If you put any other black and blue vertical striped fish in here it would not work so well.

*edit* D'oH, I type too slow....


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