# my stock so far (input)



## tsnider1 (Mar 6, 2014)

hey everyone I have been stocking my tank with mbuna cichlids. I have 1 light blue 1 peach 1 orange 1 lab 1 kind of mutt looking think with a pink face an different colors on the rest and another kind of like that one but blue face with broken horizontal lines on it. 1 greyish brown with spot my wife got and called fester because that was part of his scientific name 1 yellow with horizontal stripes and one absolutely gorgeous blue peacock with yellow fins and he is bigger than the rest of the. Everyone gets along great and I never see any fight unless they go inside my log I have in my tank the peacock has claimed that and chases everyone away from it. The only problem I have expierenced is when we put in a blue with vertical stripes they keep getting beat up and I have to take them out once I do everyone is happy again. I cant figure out how to post pictures but my tank is a 75 gallon with the right side having a big assortment of rocks and caves to hide in and the left side has a few live plants a few more small rocks and very small caves a small fake log and open water. The fish seem to love the tank and the peacock loves the open water area and hides in the log once in awhile. I plan on getting some more soon since we have only 9 what should I get?


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## tsnider1 (Mar 6, 2014)

oh and my peacock has an egg spot i have heard that is a sign of a male


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## noki (Jun 13, 2003)

First of find out what you actually have. You are WAY too vague. Once they all mature they may get much more aggressive. Not even sure how you are using the term "peacock".


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## forever_fishing (Jan 12, 2014)

Get rid of all your fish, the stocking really isnt good to be honest,sounds like you have hybrid mbuna and some peacocks id get rid of them and get some better mbuna. What kind of rocks do you have? I recommend you get cichlid stones and as for the fish id get some saulosi cichlids id go with one male and 6 females and id also get some rustys one male and 4 females along with With some acei ngara one male four females


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## tsnider1 (Mar 6, 2014)

well i am not going to get rid of the fish i have especially since they are getting a long great and i spent good money on them. I will get rid of them if they start having problems. I am using just creek rocks that i have cleaned and treated then stacked to make caves and nooks and i also have a flower pot that is broken that matches the color of the rocks they seem to love that. Majority of the fish i have gotten have been in mixed mbuna tanks but i also know that they arent always what they say they are in the tank. The lab and the peacock i have are the only ones i got that werent in a mixed mbuna tank. Like I said these fish are not having problems and seem to be much friendlier than most cichlids I was expecting more problems than just the not being able to put the blues in. Also I have read and read and read on how to identify the gender of the fish and almost every article says it is very hard to be sure at juvenile stage so i dont really know how I am supposed to precisely pick 1 male 5 female what if there all male or all female its just hard to tell at juvenile age.


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## tsnider1 (Mar 6, 2014)

also the only ones i think are hybrids are the ones with a bunch of different colors which are just the 2 the rest of them have pretty standard colors


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## Thalas_shaya (Mar 10, 2014)

http://cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/viewtopi ... 9&t=255437 <-- These are instructions on how to post photos.

I echo the previous responses: You need to figure out what type of cichlids you have using their scientific names (best) or common names (acceptable). You can start with your receipts from the store where you bought them, and also browse through the African Cichlid Genus Gallery here: http://cichlid-forum.com/articles/afric ... allery.php to get a rough idea and then use the Species Profiles (in the content bar just under the header image at the top of every page on the site) to narrow it down.

There are MANY cichlids which are "light blue" or "blue with vertical stripes" and they have a variety of sizes, preferred diets, breeding habits, habitat requirements, and compatibility/aggression levels. Almost all are one color as juveniles and a different color as adult males, some females change color, too. Keep a close eye on your tank, watch for development of bullies, and return to your source any fish that are getting violent with the others.

The two basic approaches are to keep all males, or to keep them in harem groups so that no one male is harassing any one female for mating ALL THE TIME. Once you figure out what you have, you can sort out what is compatible, return what is not, and restock with things that are compatible with what you're keeping. Most people buy large groups of juveniles, say 15 and hope they get about 50/50 m/f. Then as the fish mature and color up, they return for store credit or sell to local collectors the excess males and females they don't like as much. The main thing to note is that - because of the variety of species and their variety of needs - you have to plan your livestock with some attention to this stuff and not simply because you liked how they looked.


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## tsnider1 (Mar 6, 2014)

https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/...nSKN20wVvrcAAuwTdBJrqQ8nE9IgUPhK2a5d9cUxkh5eg orange looks kinda like this guy
http://web.mit.edu/lxs/www/cichlids/images/red-zebra-peach-2.jpg the peach kinda see through one looks kinda like this
http://www.tropicalfishtanksonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/malawi_golden_cichlid.jpg one of these
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/CichlidPIX/Hap ID WWM.jpg my wife got one that looked like this while i was on active duty orders
http://www.aquariumfish.net/images_01/cobalt_zabra_film4_w0640.jpg isnt an exact match but this color blue and similiar body shape
https://encrypted-tbn2.gstatic.com/...8OoPbHc4Ll5S1B9_QBlHwd4MiJrGtZSwJOHj6XL9IzdQi peacock is this color blue but with yellow top and tail fins
i did a lot of research how how to set the tank up for mbuna but i do still have some open area but i just dont know the scientific name for each and every mbuna. peacocks can be mixed with caution so i keep an eye one him


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## tsnider1 (Mar 6, 2014)

ya i have been trying to do my research on these guys as i buy them unfortunately the pet shops just say mixed african or mixed mbuna and have most of them together the only ones i know 100% are the peacock and the yellow lab. i have a hunch the orange one i have is a lab too


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## tsnider1 (Mar 6, 2014)

ok i made an imagur account hopefully pictures will be up soon.


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## forever_fishing (Jan 12, 2014)

The one your wife got is called a venustus I believe


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## forever_fishing (Jan 12, 2014)

I think you have red zebras, cobalt blue zebra, venustus, some kind of peacock I have one like that but it has yellows if you find a dragon blood peacock I dont recommend it I have one with red zebras and they fight cause theyre the same color


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## forever_fishing (Jan 12, 2014)

I cant remember what the yellow one is but I believe its in the same family as johanni and maingano cichlids it can be a bit aggressive


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## tsnider1 (Mar 6, 2014)

i plan on having more rocks put in soon
 sorry about the pcture quality they are super active today and it was hard catching a picture









really bad pic of my peacock  
more coming s


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## tsnider1 (Mar 6, 2014)

the non blurry is the one my wife got


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## noki (Jun 13, 2003)

You do seem to have

Red Zebra, Mbuna
Cobalt Zebra, Mbuna 
Melanochromis auratus, very troublesome Mbuna
Yellow Labidochromis, Mbuna
Nimbochromis venustus, a Malawi Hap that can get pretty big

What you are calling a "peacock" looks like a Pseudotropheus "Acei" to me, a Mbuna, far as I can tell.


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## tsnider1 (Mar 6, 2014)




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## forever_fishing (Jan 12, 2014)

Yup its an acei


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## tsnider1 (Mar 6, 2014)

which one is?


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## tsnider1 (Mar 6, 2014)

ok so peacock is acei who is the the potential trouble maker you are tlking about


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## tsnider1 (Mar 6, 2014)

the mutt


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## noki (Jun 13, 2003)

this is an Auratus









You also have what appears to be two hybrid so called "peacocks"... these are hybrids between many different fish

the light peachy one
and the one with vague blotches like in your last photo


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## tsnider1 (Mar 6, 2014)

ok ya kind of figured they were hybrid but is that problem


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## tsnider1 (Mar 6, 2014)

what is the orange one


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## Boe82 (Mar 6, 2014)

The bottom picture in the first picture post almost looks like a yellow tail acei, the picture above it(yellow with black/white horizontal bars) looks to be a female auratus


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## forever_fishing (Jan 12, 2014)

The orange one can be a mass bred red zebra that might be a hybrid with a yellow lab


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## Boe82 (Mar 6, 2014)

the potential troublemaker would be the Auratus, they can be very aggressive.


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## tsnider1 (Mar 6, 2014)

What else can I add to my tank to increase numbers but continue the peaceful nature of my tank right now


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## tsnider1 (Mar 6, 2014)

I have:
2 Red Zebra, 
Cobalt Zebra, 
Melanochromis auratus, 
Yellow Labidochromis, 
Nimbochromis venustus, 
A yellow tail acei
The last 2 my wife got while i was on active orders for the army for 2 weeks.
Everyone is very peaceful so far and want to know what else i can get and keep it peacefull because i know my tank needs more fish.
my tank is a 75 gallon with lots of rock on most of it and a section of open water with live pants and a fake log that i plan to replace with a real log


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

What are the current sizes of the fish you have now?


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## tsnider1 (Mar 6, 2014)

juvenile size i would say 1.5-2.5. most being about 1.5-1.7 and the acei is 2.5


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

I merged both of your posts so some info is repeated here.

The Nimbochromis venustus and the Pseudotropheus acei 'yellow tail' will get quite large as adults, about 10" and 8", respectively so you may need to re-home them in the future.

Are you planning on a male only tank, a colorful tank or are you interested in keeping an male/female ratio?

I know I've asked a lot of questions but I find it easier to stock appropriately the first time then to struggle to find new homes for fish or worse yet, experience stressed fish or aggression issues. The zebras and auratus can be problematic when they mature and establish their domination.


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## tsnider1 (Mar 6, 2014)

my wife would prefer a colorful tank and i just want a good peaceful tank


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## tsnider1 (Mar 6, 2014)

when the other two start getting too big for the tank i have ill probably start another tank to house similiar fish but thats probably a ways away


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## Thalas_shaya (Mar 10, 2014)

tsnider1 said:


> ok ya kind of figured they were hybrid but is that problem


The chief problem with hybrids as a keeper (not a breeder) is that because they are often a mix of unknown species, you simply don't know what to expect from them in terms of behavior and aggression levels. A hybrid of two pretty peaceful species could turn out to be a tyrannical monster who won't let another fish within 7 feet of his place in the sand. Or it could wind up super-duper peaceful and get whomped on by the moderately aggressive tankmates its parents were able to tolerate.
The second problem with hybrids as a keeper (not a breeder) is that it's hard to stock around them until they fully mature and take on their adult coloration. And you won't know for sure when that's happened, because you don't know what their adult endpoint should look like. You're not supposed to stock, for example, horizontally striped fish with a Johanni, because the Johanni will not tolerate competition. With a hybrid, you don't know how big it'll get, so you can't judge maturity by size, and you don't know what color it will eventually wind up so you can't judge maturity by color intensity. What if that peach guy is going to grow up and pop horizontal stripes when he sexually matures, and in the meantime you picked up a Johanni, and overnight they start trying to kill each other when the hybrid colors up?
The third problem with hybrids as a breeder is that you don't know who they can/can't mate with and all the unknowns above apply to the fry as well. No conscientious breeder should sell you a hybrid cichlid (some would add: without clearly labeling it as such and making sure you understand the risks.)

One of the nasty ethical dilemmas in the developing world (where Malawian Cichlids live wild) is that life is hard and money and food are scarce and people will do things that are really terribly bad for the environment in order to ensure their own survival or freedom from hardship. This means that some of our beloved cichlids are endangered and their best hope for survival in the wild lies in keeping clean breeding lines going in aquaria around the world so that they can be reintroduced to their homes when appropriate protection for their habitat is in place. Hybrids threaten that whole prospect with their existence and procreation.

They just present too many unknowns, basically.

In the small scheme, there's nothing wrong with owning a couple of hybrids, if you're prepared to deal with their unpredictable behavior as they mature and develop personalities and colors, and can work around them with your other livestock choices. In the grand scheme, they're a threat to the ongoing viability of cichlid species in the wild and when you buy them, you're voting with your dollars.


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## hose91 (Mar 5, 2014)

Thalas_shaya said:


> tsnider1 said:
> 
> 
> > ok ya kind of figured they were hybrid but is that problem
> ...


Wow. Really well put. Thanks for the insight.


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## Schticky Schnauzer (Aug 2, 2013)

Indeed, excellent way to put it.


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