# LFS says Demasoni and Y. Labs shouldn't be kept together



## eagl97 (Dec 26, 2006)

I called the LFS today to find out what they had in stock and asked if they had any Y.Labs or Dermasoni in and the guy on the phone said that Demasoni would be to aggressive to keep with Y. Labs.

I see a lot of people in this forum with Demasoni and Y. Labs together; has any one had any trouble keeping these fish together?


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## Dewdrop (Nov 20, 2007)

I've never had demasoni but I've read many many times here that they go very well with labs and I'd trust it to be true. From what I understand, dems are mostly aggressive to only their own species. I'd say there's another bit of wrong advice from a LFS.


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## secrest (Mar 22, 2004)

Not me, I used to have them together for about 5 years in my old 125 before I moved. Never had a problem.

Every fish and everyones experience with them is different, but I would say you'll be fine.


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## yogurtpooh (Jul 28, 2005)

no problem if the tank is at least 3 feet long and you have enough fish for both groups.


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## bmills (Apr 17, 2008)

LFS is clearly uninformed. Demasoni is very aggressive yes, but in a conspecific way - that is, they are aggressive to their own kind far more than to others.

While I don't have Demasoni, I see similar in my own tank. My colony of Mainganos squabble sometimes among themselves but in doing so they swim past the Labs and Acei - who are often right near where the aggression is - as if those other species weren't there at all.

Anyway bottom line is I'd be far more worried about what your Demasoni may do to each other than what they may do to any Labs you put in there with them.


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## kerbchek (Apr 1, 2008)

I've had my demasoni since last week, but a few things I've been told and had read here that to keep demasoni, it's a good idea to have plenty of rock work / caves for them to hide in & block their veiw from each other and to keep them in groups of 12 or 15 as a minimum - then the aggression is dispursed and nobody gets seriously hurt...

One time I tried to convince a lady working at a pet store it was "ok" for me to buy 6 tiger barbs at one time - she felt buying 6 fish at once would be too many to add at one time... now, I always figured it was common knowledge that tiger barbs needed to be kept in groups of 5 or 6 or they'd bug all your other fish too much - I was suprised, left and went to another pet store that would sell me 6 at once...


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

They are fine together.


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

Ps. demasoni and Labs go together like peas and carrots.


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## copasetic (Nov 26, 2007)

Proof you shouldnt support this LFS


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## Linka (Aug 14, 2007)

Here statments like that is what u usually get from LFS`s. Most of them don`t know what they are talking about. And insted of informing costumers that malawi is not their strongest field they give bad advice.


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## BrianNFlint (Apr 1, 2007)

They say that because Yellow Labs are considered non-agressive and Demasoni are considered very-agressive which is a misconception in my opinion.

My LFS said the same thing and suggested I only house them with ultra-agressive aratus and johani which i completely disagree with. Of course they also had to throw in, "Fish dont read the internet so they dont know how they are suposed to act."

*** had Demasoni with other species for a few years now, and currently have them with only Yellow Labs. They work great together! I have never seen any cross-species agression from Demasoni.. In my experience they arent even "agressive" so to say, they just like to chase each other around.

I currently have 15 Demasoni with 6 Yellow Lab. Make sure you provide TONS of rock work with enough caves for each fish to claim one and still have a few to chase each other through.

Take a look at my tank to see the amount of rock work I feel is necessary. While many will say i took it to an extreme it has been a great help over the years to calm down agression.


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## eagl97 (Dec 26, 2006)

I ended up not buying any fish because the LFS was charging 12.99 per fish for the Demasoni multiply that by 15 and you're looking at a nice chunk of change.


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## BrianNFlint (Apr 1, 2007)

Check out www.aquabid.com . You can get 1"-2" demasoni from there at a reasonable price. I paid about $10 each for mine and you are correct it adds up quickly!


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## kingdave (Mar 9, 2007)

You need to tell the folks at your LFS to join Cichlid Forum so we can "educate" them.


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

BrianNFlint said:


> Of course they also had to throw in, "Fish dont read the internet so they dont know how they are suposed to act."
> .


This is of course true, and for every generalization, you will always find people who have experienced the opposite. However, when it works out for the vast majority of people, it should probably work for a similar percentage of people going forward.

Fish don't read the internet, but they also don't learn behaviour from the LFS employee. :wink:


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## TheeMon (May 11, 2004)

Fogelhund said:


> BrianNFlint said:
> 
> 
> > Of course they also had to throw in, "Fish dont read the internet so they dont know how they are suposed to act."
> ...


that should have been your responce!!!! omg i bet the employee would have pooped her pants


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