# Yellow Lab fish waste



## spenkyg (Jul 1, 2008)

Hello there,

I am just cyling my tank ready for 6 off Yellow Labs. They are all young at the LFS so I would ideally like to put them all in together. They are all about 1" and will get feed bloodworm and flake mainly, at least in the beginning.

I was wondering what sort of ammonia load these fish would create?

I am new to all of this and but from what I understand it would be best to to load my tank with a similar level as the spike has now passed.

Any and all help greatly apprecaited.


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## CichlidWhisperer (Apr 12, 2008)

You will probably be fine putting in all six fish. What size tank is it?

Adding Biospira has helped me to avoid any ammonia spikes. Otherwise you can ask the LFS for some used filter media to help boost the bacteria right off.

Check the water daily for ammonia and nitrites and if you notice spikes, do immediate water changes as necessary until the bacteria kick in.

I would avoid the blood worms in yellow labs though. They can get bloat from them. A vegi flake and/or pellet would be better.

Post some pics when you get them please!


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## Gibbs (Apr 21, 2008)

Don't feed them blood worm, they will get bloat as cichlidwhisperer has already stated.
Feed them NLS and a high quality flake rich in spiralina and plant matter


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## spenkyg (Jul 1, 2008)

Thanks for the input. Its a 40g Jewel 180 BF.

Its very good to know about the bloodworm as I was told by the LFS that that was a good food for them. The misses will be well chuffed that I wont be putting them into the tank though!

I have been doing a fishless cycle and now the ammonia is being eaten at a considerable rate so i'm hoping that there wont be any ammonia spike (and any unnessisary water changes)

I will post up a pic of them in the LFS when I find my phone cable. Particularly as three of them seem to have dark vertical strips. I think they may be crosses.....


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## Gibbs (Apr 21, 2008)

6 labs. won't upset your water parameters at all as long as your filtration is good. What filtration set up will you be running?
Try to buy really good quality labs, which these days are hard to come by.
Alot of the times LFS owners no jack **** :lol: . If you have any real questions just ask the people on this site for the best answers :thumb:


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

What are the dimensions of your 40G? What are your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate readings? You don't want to add fish until ammonia and nitrite are both zero.


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## spenkyg (Jul 1, 2008)

Cheers Gibbs, i'm starting to realise that!!

I'm intending to use the standard juwel filter at least at the beginning then maybe adding an additional one. Is it going to be worth adding an air stone?

My 40g is 920 wide x 45 Deep x 55 Tall.

In 1 day ammonia goes from 2 to 0.5ish, Nitrites are up at 5 and my niterates are now at 15. I am hopeing that the nitrites will strat droping soon as they have been like this for a couple of days now


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## Cardiff (Jun 2, 2008)

hi spenkyg and welcome, i am 3 months into ownership and have learnt alot! Did a fishless cycle but still had a spike which i found strange but

1. Make sure you test water with a good test kit (mine was faulty hence the spike happened and was not nipped in the bud beforehand)
2. Get a good external i would say thats what i did in my 90 Litre tank and am now going to use that along with another external on my new 400 litre tank (have been bitten by the bug!)

I was told to feed a varied diet, pellets one day, spinach the next, then meat etc. I buy the frozen blocks and put them in a cup and feed once defrosted, the fish love the meaty ones the most :wink:

On that note bought some yesterday and was suggested to try the brine shrimp with garlic and they loved it


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## Gibbs (Apr 21, 2008)

Sounds like your filtration will be good then, like Cardiff said external cans are the best.

Wait until your water parameters are spot on before you add your fish. You already know that :thumb:

Best food for these is NLS and high quality flake rich in spiralina and plant matter. Mine get fed NLS and Sera Flora once a day in the one feed, most days.

Stay away from anything high in protien, like bloodworms and other frozen meaty treats. Although they are omnivores they contract bloat very easily when fed a high protien diet or over fed in general


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## spenkyg (Jul 1, 2008)

Its good to know that my filtration will be addequate, at least at the begining  (one dy soon, external!)

I'm having a problem with my LFS, they seem to know whats bets and after doing a fishless cycle they still want to realise the fish 2 by 2. The only problems that i have with that are:

a. My bacteria (that I have workrd soo hard for) will die back. They currently are taking 2 ppm per day.

b. My fish may end up being agressive towards each other, which given that they have been raised together may not be a problem otherwise. My LFS is talking about a week ish between 3 and 6. Could this cause a resonably happy group to get unstable/upset?

Also I have pictures waiting. Do you need an external site to put them up? If not how? I have tried the Img* tab and to no avial!

Thanks for your ongoing support![/img]


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## dielikemoviestars (Oct 23, 2007)

Get all the fish at once. LFS rarely know much of anything (Sorry to say, but it's completely true).


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## Dewdrop (Nov 20, 2007)

I'm not sure about a 40g. but I added 6 fish to my 55g. tank in the first batch and I wasn't even cycled  and I didn't loose any. Alot of us here use Photobucket to post pics (it's free and pretty easy to use). Yes, I think you NEED to use an outside source to post.

I'd also consider looking at another fish shop for fish. Those yellow labs don't sound like very good quality.


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## spenkyg (Jul 1, 2008)

Hi People,

well I have finally found my cable. Below are links to my fish while still at the shop. Note the stripes. Are these definatly yellow labs? I have seen some that look like this at the transition into maturity. Comments on quality also greatly appreciated.

http://i325.photobucket.com/albums/k373 ... shop03.jpg
http://i325.photobucket.com/albums/k373 ... shop02.jpg
http://i325.photobucket.com/albums/k373 ... shop01.jpg

Tank wise my nitraite levels are starting to drop slowly so hopefullyu I should have them here soon! 

Does anyone have experiance (good or bad) with leaving the rockwool on plants)

Also a LFS has some baby fish that look like the one to the top left of this site (black with spots). What are these and would they be suitable with the labs?


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## CichlidWhisperer (Apr 12, 2008)

Those definitely look like yellow labs. A little dirty, but that will often go away when they mature more. As for the fish at the top, I think that one is actually a Goby, but the picture looks a lot like a much more common fish which as a juvenile is black with cute white spots. I suspect that is what you were looking at. It is a Tropheus Duboisi. It is a Tanganyikan Cichlid. As it matures, it changes looks entirely. The little white spots disappear, the face turns blue and often it will have a white or yellow stripe around the entire body just behind the blue head, depending on the exact location varient.

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/s ... hp?id=1864

There are also a bunch of other pictures under different locations. All of these have very specific dietary requirements (strict vegitarians) and get rather agressive as adults. I know some people do mix them with Mbuna; however, I think they do better by themselves.

The Gobies are a totally different fish from Lake Tanganyika tith totally different personalitites. The one above is a Eretmodus cyanostictus (Kasanga). http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/s ... hp?id=1520
But these are much more rare in LFSs and I would be surprised if that is actually the fish you saw. I don't think they would mix well with Mbuna (they are territorial, but not like Mbuna.) I am about to get some of these as they have really interesting mating habits and are biparental mouth brooders (Mom carries them for 11 days or so and then transfers them to Dad who holds them for the remaining 11 or so days before they are free swimming.) Probably the easiest way to tell the difference is that the spots are not pure white like the Duboisi.

Please update us with what they turn out to be.


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## cerissa (Mar 18, 2008)

Hey Hey!

Just a 'lil suggestion... You should definitely try to see if your LFS will give/sell to you one of their old/used sponges or any filter media that you can easily take home. This will definitely help with the bacteria in your tank.

Remember not to feed your fish too much food. Very little at first until your tank has been properly cycled...otherwise, you will experience a hike in your nitrate levels. You can also do water change in the meantime to help with lowering the nitrate levels in your tank.

Good Luck! :thumb:


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## spenkyg (Jul 1, 2008)

I stopped by the LFS on my way home this evening to discover that my 6 yellow labs had now become 4. The other two had apparently die during the previos evenings. Cause of death was apparently fighting.

Is this likley, they are certainly quite active and have been at the LFS for a couple of months now and are in a small (300x300x300mm) Aquarium.

If this is the case, are these fish going to actually calm down in my 40 gal aquarium?

Would they hav gort aggressive towards additional males only? Could that mean that I now have the perfect 3 females to one male balance?

My nitrites are droping slowley so I should have my tank cycled ready for how ever many remain this week!


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## CichlidWhisperer (Apr 12, 2008)

You have no real way of knowing what killed these fish. I would not personally risk buying possible sick fish. Is there anywhere else you can try and get fish from?


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## Gibbs (Apr 21, 2008)

There is no way of telling what the sex of them fish is without venting them. There are some male characterists but you can never be 100% sure with labs.
I doubt that the Labs. would of killed each other. Fair enough they are mbuna and it may possibly be the case that they have killed a few off. But i doubt it. I have never witnessed enough agro from a lab. to believe it. If they were Demasoni then yeah.
I would look at another source to buy the fish from.


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## Super Turtleman (May 21, 2007)

I agree with Gibbs. Sounds like maybe they're feeding you a line...


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## Dewdrop (Nov 20, 2007)

I'd try to find another LFS to deal with and don't give them to much info lol so they can't say you have to put the fish in 2 by 2 or something else dumb. They might have good intentions but so many times they just don't know what they're talking about. I dunno if they are going by old wives tales or what but their info alot of times is outdated and or untrue. I'd be afraid those labs you were looking at were sick.


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## evangelos1969 (Jul 6, 2008)

hello from larissa greece

i have somme question i f you don mind


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## evangelos1969 (Jul 6, 2008)

tank mix cichlid 385lt

tank 60lt yesterday method strip...15 babys labithocromis

now aylonocara nyasse eggs in her mouth

question

is it write to move her in the small tank with other babys .

or is it write to move the babys in pvc basket 5lt with air pump .

in the natural tank i have pedators.

i will glad if sommeone can suggest me -------

thank you

evangelos1969


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

evangelos 1969, you might want to start a new post so you don't accidentially hyjack Cardiff's post. You can put a holding Mom in with fry, but when she spits she may eat them. Also the older fry may eat the newborn fry if they are together even briefly. IMO, better to use a separate tank.


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## Gibbs (Apr 21, 2008)

At the end of the day an LFS is a business. And the aim of the game is to sell fish, so they will spin all soughts of stories in order to move fish.
That doesn't go for all fish stores. There are some geniune hobbiest's out there running some brilliant stores and up to date with all the news and latest info. Find these stores and poke your head in every now and then, they will look after you properly.


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## evangelos1969 (Jul 6, 2008)

thank you for your reply

but for the moment i keep the female with the babys 2 days is it time to move her in the natural tank?

what about the nyasse i must leave it in a pvc basket with air pump , for 2 weeks and after i will strip or you suggest sommething else

my natural tank 4 aylonocara ruby red,3 nyasse yelow blue, 1jacobfreiberg ,4 altolanprologus compressiceps ,2 calvus,2 frontosa ,3 pleco, live rock dead,natural plants.

i can send you a video 26 mb but i can know how to upload.

if you want to ask me anything i will glad to reply

sorry for the hijack

greeetings from greece
larissa
evangelos 1969


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## spenkyg (Jul 1, 2008)

I think the LFS isn't too bad generally thoough they are somewhat ignorant of cichlids.

It seem very strange as I have payed fot two of the origional 6 and had said that I really wanted 4 but would take the whole lot at a discount............So it does seem rather convinient that there are now only 4!

My tanks nitrites are still floating at the 1-2ppm so I still have a while to decide what to do. I'll keep you all updated. Thanks for the ongoing support.


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## evangelos1969 (Jul 6, 2008)

*DJRansome*

thanks for your advice .

its now the third day in the tank of 20 gallons . breeding, The babys yelow lab is ok.I feed them
2- 3 times day .i had the female aulonacara nyasse with eggs full her mouth.Yesterday i move the female lab in her natural tank and i made 2 territories with corals and rock one for the babys and one for the female. So what do you thng about that?

i wait reply from you and everyone

let me introduce my tanks

1) tank 385 lt
natural plants, live rock dead, caves

neolamrologus pulcher 3 adult 2 young ( born in the tank) 2 babys
4 altolamrologus comressiceps
2 caulvus
3 aulonocara nyasse
4 baenshi red , ruby red
1 jacbfreibergi
2 frontosa male female
4 copadichromis borley 2 female 2 male
3 pleco
4 clown

2) tank 60 lt

15 yelow lab babys

1 aylonocara nyasse female with eggs.

thank you 
for your time

evangelos1969
greece


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

evangelos1969, start a new post and I'm sure you will get lots of replies!


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