# Adding fish to existing tank



## kwang (Sep 16, 2012)

I want to add couple more of multipunctatus catfish to my existing 100g tank. I have currently 4 adult multipunctatus
Catfishes And wonders if I can add 2 inche long juveniles to the tank? This is a tank of 7 adult mbunas,peacocks and haps.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

I would try to add five individuals at once. You could use more Malawi in a 100G tank in any case...can you find 3 haps/peacocks/yellow labs you would like to add? Or maybe a couple bristlenose?


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## kwang (Sep 16, 2012)

Do you think I can add 3 juvenile cichlids either peacocks,labs or yellow labs if they are 3 inches long? I really don't want to spend too much money on adult cichlids.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

What is your current stocking? If you have all male, adding juveniles might be a problem. Seven fish (not counting catfish) may not be not enough to effectively manage cichlid aggression in a 100G tank.

Probably safe to add three yellow labs even if they are 1.5" long.


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## kwang (Sep 16, 2012)

Aulonocara sp. "Firefish Dragon Blood"
Aulonocara Maylandi Sulfur head
Labidochromis sp. "Hongi"
Metriaclima sp. "elongatus chailosi"
Nimbochromis livingstonii/female
Protomelas Taeniolatus Super Red Empress Cichlid
1 other mbuna I can't Id. It is a female
4 multipunctatus catfish

So I have 5 adult males and two females, plus 4 catfishes.
The chailosi is the boss right now. I would re-home it if I have to.
So what is your recommendation?


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

I can't do anything with that, LOL. If it is working I would not add anything at all.


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## kwang (Sep 16, 2012)

I really like to add more fish as the tank looks "empty" to me. What do you think My options are?


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

What are the dimensions of the tank? Do you want mbuna mixed gender or all male haps and peacocks? My recommendation will involve both adding and removing fish.


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## kwang (Sep 16, 2012)

60"x18"x20" high

I don't want mbunas,with the exception of yellow lab. I want Peacocks and haps.
Mind you all fish are pretty maxed out in size as they are all adults now. The biggest is the super red empress which is 6 in long.


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## kwang (Sep 16, 2012)

Most importantly as mentioned before, I want to add juveniles like 2- 3 inches long. Possible?


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

The problem is you appear to be heading toward an all-male tank and often a juvenile (especially 2") cannot be sexed with certainty.

Nothing wrong with adding small fish...you just don't want to accidentally add a female.

I would remove the mbuna and the Livingstonii female.

I would add male yellow and blue peacocks, one of each color. The maylandi often don't color in an all male tank, but if yours is colored stick to stuartgranti species.

I would add male haps that are not red/blue. Placidochromis electra. Protomelas Taiwan reef. Sciaenochromis fryeri. Mylochromis ericotaenia.

I would add six yellow labs (mixed genders are OK).


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## kwang (Sep 16, 2012)

When you say remove the mbuna, you mean the Chailosi AND Hongi? Or just the female mbuna?

Why can I keep the female livingstonii? Never had an issue with her. She does not have aggression toward any other fish.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Remove all mbuna as they are likely to create issues long term.

A female in an all-male tank tends to create havoc (may not be for a year or two) because all the males can and will mate wither or try to mate with her. Two problems: the males will be more aggressive with a female in the tank (when mature) and the female will be overly harassed and possibly get sick and die. It's the #1 cause of deaths in my tanks, even when there are a sufficient number of females.

Malawi are harem breeders...with mixed genders you want something like 4 females for every male.

Yellow labs are the exception in this tank...the mbuna females, when stocked as recommended, don't seem to cause problems with hap and peacock females.


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## kwang (Sep 16, 2012)

Can a Aulonocara Sunshine Peacock Cichlid or Flavescent Peacock Cichlid coexist with yellow labs, being they have all have yellow coloring?


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## kwang (Sep 16, 2012)

You stated earlier:
"I would add male yellow and blue peacocks, one of each color...I would add six yellow labs (mixed genders are OK)."

Can you just add one yellow lab? So if I choose to add more than one then 6 is the minimum for yellow labs?


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## Fish Jerk (Mar 9, 2016)

Yellow lab will be fine by himself. If he has no other labs in the tank he will probably stake out a territory and never do anything except look pretty and guard his little rock. I had a guy like that and I used him to guard my water sprite. He had no interest in it but whenever any other fish came around he gave them quite a bite!

You should be able to add some juveniles in there, especially catfish which will probably be mostly ignored. But make sure you have some good hiding places.


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## kwang (Sep 16, 2012)

I do have rocks in the tank. You think the 4 mature multipunctatus won't harass the juvenile 2in multipunctatus cats


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## Fish Jerk (Mar 9, 2016)

I am pretty sure they wouldn't, I'd worry more about the africans. But they should be fine regardless.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

You could add one yellow lab, but you want to get your numbers up to maybe 15 individuals in a 60" all-male tank to manage aggression. The yellow mbuna and the yellow peacocks do OK together.


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## kwang (Sep 16, 2012)

15 not including the multipunctatus cats, right?


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Yes.


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## kwang (Sep 16, 2012)

Do you think these fish will be ok in my tank. These would be 3 in males.

Copadichromis Azureus 
Azureus Cichlid
Aulonocara stuartgranti usisya 
Flavescent Peacock Cichlid
Aulonocara sp. stuartgranti "Maleri" 
Aulonocara Sunshine Peacock Cichlid

I would choose either the flavescent or the sunshine peacock.
Plus add a yellow lab.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Are you taking out the mbuna and the female livingstonii.?

First 2 are the same fish, choose one. Second 2 are the same fish, choose one. Last two are the same fish, choose one. Usisya will be OK with the maleri.


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## kwang (Sep 16, 2012)

Yeah, I know they are the same fish. I included their scientific names for clarity.
I will rehome the mbuna. I still want to keep the livingstonii.

Any recommendations with my current parameters?


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Here is an article about keeping Livingstonii.
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/n ... stonii.php

Since you don't have 135G it would not be recommended to add 1m:3f Livingstonii which is normally what I would do.

The goal becomes creating a healthy environment for her which means adding females to your tank. She will be too big for your tank, but maybe she can find some peace and do fairly well.

I'd remove the Maylandi and the mbuna.

I'd add 4 dragonblood females and 4 empress females and 6 yellow labs.

Don't save fry. This will allow her to not be harassed to the point of illness or even death by the males in the tank by giving them a harem like they have in nature.


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## kwang (Sep 16, 2012)

My goal is to keep it all male. I don't want to add any females.

Why remove the Maylandi?


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## Aaron S (Apr 4, 2015)

Your responses are somewhat confusing. It is important to know that if you want an all-male tank then you need to get only male fish. So DJ's first response was when you said - I want an all-male tank- so the recommendation is to remove all the females then. Your response was that you wanted to keep the female livingstonii; so DJ gave you another suggestion for the case where you are no longer going for an all-male tank (because having a female in an all-male tank is kind of not possible). So if you truely do want to keep it all male then see page 1 of this thread, otherwise see page 2. I agree with DJ's suggestions and I personally think you will be happier with the tank including females (the dragonsblood females are quite good looking).

Maylandi tend to be more submissive and do not color up well.

I am going to guess that you will do exactly what I did which is to say "to heck with those suggestions, they are being a stick in the mud" and at some point the tank will break out into a mess of trouble as a fish goes on a murder spree. I hope when that happens that you do not loose your favorite fish - that's what happened to me. Now I am following the suggestions.


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## Fish Jerk (Mar 9, 2016)

If you have them already and things are working don't throw them out or get more.


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## Q75peacock (Jan 8, 2016)

If I were you, go online and order about 7 ob cichlids. If you keep up with water changes, adding more fish to the tank will help with aggression; especially if new guys are gonna be a little smaller. However, You can chose the size and gender you want on a few websites. The only issue is if you are price sensitive, shipping is a lot. For where I live, I can't find great cichlids so this makes sense. Try looking around on a few websites. You may find so cool ones. They have some amazing looking fish. Just be careful, I got a male dragon blood ob mix and it switched gender. I've never heard of this before so asked a super knowledgeable guy at my lfs who has been breeding and selling cichlids for 20 years and he said it happened all the time. If there are too many females in the tank, they can switch gender in under a month. That's the only downside. Other than that, have fun shopping! Hope I helped.


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