# The official "Help me stock my 55g mbuna tank" thr



## Rhinox (Sep 10, 2009)

...because my LFS didn't have the fish I wanted.

Anyways, yeah... 55g mbuna.

The plan WAS to get 12 juvie yellow labs and 12 juvie mainganos, and reduce to ~5-8 of each by the time they become adults.

My lfs mostly breeds their own stock, but they don't breed mainganos. they had 4 juvie mainganos in a tank, but I didn't want to get them because knowing my luck, I'd get 3 or 4 males and have to get rid of them all anyways.

My second choice was labs and demasonis... well, my lfs used to breed them but don't anymore because "they're too aggressive and always kill each other". They had 9 juvies in a tank. If they'd have had 12, I might have got them. I'd rather get 15. 9 would be asking for trouble though.

My LFS does have saulosis. an early plan was to do a saulosi species tank. but when I showed them to my wife, she tells me "but I like the yellow labs". I don't think it would be good to mix labs and saulosis due to the hybridization risks, and I think it would be too much yellow. Later on, my wife said it was my tank and I could get what I wanted, but I know that a few months from now she'll be in a grumpy mood and we'll be in an argument and she'll pull out the "...and I hate the fish tank and you wouldn't even get the one type of fish I liked!" So, while this is still a last resort option, I'd rather find something to keep with yellow labs.

My LFS does often have acei's. I could get 3 or 4 of them with some labs. But then I think I would be looking for a 3rd species as well.

One species of fish that they're really pushing they're selling as Pseudotropheus sp. "Blue Dolphin". The owner claims its brand new. I notice they are not listed in the profile section, unless they're also known as something else. The males are blue barred and look kind of like demasoni or male saulosis. The females are also blue, but they're darker, and some look almost black. The seem to get about the same size as the yellow labs. Here's a pic of one from their site, but IMO its not really what the fish in the downstairs breeding tank looked like...










The LFS were breeding them in a tank with yellow labs. BUT, I still know nothing about them... I don't know if the ratio is important, or how aggressive they get long term, or anything, and there is no profile here to help unless I've missed it. He says that the juvies sell out instantly I guess because they're new and rare :shrug:. I didn't dislike them, but since I haven't yet researched them, I don't really love them either. And while my lfs may have great fish, I'm not yet sure I trust the species and compatibility advice they're giving yet.

So, I know I can always order my stock online, but I would like to support the local business in my area. If someone can tell me anything about the blue dolphins, I guess they might be the best choice to go with labs.

If I decide to go with the saulosi's as a species tank, how many should I shoot for in a 55g? I'm thinking 3 males - 9-12 females? How many juvies would I need to buy... 20-30?

I'm also open to any other suggestion to go with yellow labs besides a blue mbuna... I'm not sure what else is available at my LFS, but after researching for 2 months and finally settling on a stock idea, I feel like I'm right back at the beginning starting over.

I swear if I don't get this settled I'm going down to Pet<whatever> and buying a bunch of auratus' and kenyi's


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## GaFishMan1181 (Dec 17, 2008)

with a saulosi species tank you should shoot for 3m and anywhere from 12-15f. if you have more than 3 males the 4th or 5th will stay yellow. the dominate will be bright blue with dark black strips while the second and thrid will be lighter in color with weaker barring.

i had mine like that for a few monthes but now i have switched it to a 3 species tank with 1m 6f


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## eddy (Jan 16, 2009)

blue dolphins get about 10 inches. Where did they get the mainganos? I would simply suggest they get more from where ever they got those four.

You may be being to picky. I mean you might not ever find 12 of the same fish in a small store. You might just have to get what they have a keep searching for more.

I like the idea of supporting local business but hey if they won't get you what you want....

Have you looked on CL? Don't just look for fish for sale. Look at the aquariums for sale also. Sometimes they are full of fish and they will sell separately.

Also try here.
http://www.midwestcichlid.com/forums.php

Find your local fish auction as well.

I would strongly suggest holding out for exactly what you want. Don't compromise.


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## frozennorth (Dec 16, 2008)

Here is the profile. http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=2605 Not much info though. Other common name is Giant Demasoni. And they get to 7 inches. Hopefully somebody here has them and can give you more info.


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## eddy (Jan 16, 2009)

I'm sorry I should have read more carefully I was thinking about the wrong blue dolphins. I don't know squat about the "blue dolphins" your talking about.

Picture looks good though.

Have you considered just doing single species Jonanni? Males look like maingano and females are yellow.

http://www.malawicichlidhomepage.com/aq ... hanni.html

Look at these at well but don't forget to look at the females under images.
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/s ... php?id=764
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/s ... php?id=769
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/s ... php?id=770

Might be hard to find but ya never know. The johanni should be fairly easy to find. I have often wondered why I have yellow labs and maingano instead of just johanni.


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## Rhinox (Sep 10, 2009)

frozennorth said:


> Here is the profile. http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=2605 Not much info though. Other common name is Giant Demasoni. And they get to 7 inches. Hopefully somebody here has them and can give you more info.


Aha! yes thats them. I'm thinking 7 inches might be too big for my 55g tank...



> I'm sorry I should have read more carefully I was thinking about the wrong blue dolphins. I don't know squat about the "blue dolphins" your talking about.


Haha yeah its alright. I started a post last night asking about that - the LFS showed me 3 different species with the "blue dolphin" common name.



> Have you considered just doing single species Jonanni? Males look like maingano and females are yellow.
> <snip>
> Might be hard to find but ya never know. The johanni should be fairly easy to find. I have often wondered why I have yellow labs and maingano instead of just johanni.


Well, no, tbh. My LFS doesn't carry them, but they do carry saulosi, so if I wanted that type of setup, I'd just do the saulosis. The reason for the yellow labs and maingano though is two fold. 1) my wife likes yellow labs the most out of all the mbuna, and 2) it would allow for more blue in the tank - 50/50 blue to yellow. I like the blue 



> You may be being to picky.
> <snip>
> I would strongly suggest holding out for exactly what you want. Don't compromise.


How can I not be too picky while refusing to compromise 

Anyways, this particular store has a huge breeding colony in the basement. The owner says he has about 1000 fry that are going to need tank space. The also get shipments though. He says that sometimes when there is room, they can add customer requests onto orders. That may be a possibility, but he seemed reluctant to do so this time because he has a tank space shortage and he's in the process of opening a second store. He said to shoot him an email though so its possible we can still work something out. If not, I know I can always order online.

Anyways, any fish that they breed themselves I can easily get 12 or more at a time. Their saulosi juvie tank had at least 30 fish in it. They didn't have an acei tank this time, but last time it had a bunch of fry in it. They always have a ton of yellow labs. I think he said the mainganos were a customer request, and then the customer didn't buy them. Not sure where the 9 dems came from.

CL around here doesn't really have a lot of fish. I did buy my 29g (48x12) future shellie tank on CL though 

I'm a little nervous about fish auctions because I've never been to one, and I have no one to go with me . I know the OCA Extravaganza is coming up in a couple weeks in my area, but I don't really know what to expect there...

And now that my tank is finally cycled, I don't know how much longer I can wait to get fish. I'm getting bored at staring at an empty tank


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## Rhinox (Sep 10, 2009)

GaFishMan1181 said:


> with a saulosi species tank you should shoot for 3m and anywhere from 12-15f. if you have more than 3 males the 4th or 5th will stay yellow. the dominate will be bright blue with dark black strips while the second and thrid will be lighter in color with weaker barring.
> 
> i had mine like that for a few monthes but now i have switched it to a 3 species tank with 1m 6f


How many juvies do you think I should buy to get that ratio, if I decided to go that route?


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## Rhinox (Sep 10, 2009)

And I just realized I should have posted this in the Malawi section... 

Any mod willing to move it for me?


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## GaFishMan1181 (Dec 17, 2008)

Rhinox said:


> GaFishMan1181 said:
> 
> 
> > with a saulosi species tank you should shoot for 3m and anywhere from 12-15f. if you have more than 3 males the 4th or 5th will stay yellow. the dominate will be bright blue with dark black strips while the second and thrid will be lighter in color with weaker barring.
> ...


well i started with 15 juvies and it turned out that 9 are males. Everytime i pull a couple of males out another one will color up.

this isnt uncommon to have more males than females with saulosi. you can expect that every 2 males you get you will probably get 1 female (total estimation though)

the best thing is that they breed pretty easily so you will have a lot of fry. i wouldnt buy more than 15 just because that is alot of money to spend. just start saving your fry until you have another 15-20 fry and then you can start pulling out males of your original mix. once your fry get to about 1"- 1.5" then add all your fry in.

it can get a little tricky because like i said normally after 3 males none will color up. so if you have another smaller tank you can take the 2nd male in command out of the tank and see which one of your other fish starts to color up.

i hope all this makes sense but you will have to juggle fish in and out to get a good ratio. even if the extra males are not colored up they can still cause your tank to be out of balance. at one time i had 6 males and 6 females and thought that 3 of the males were females because they were yellow. well female saulosi started getting attacked so i did what i said earlier and took out two of the sub dom males just to see. within a day (literally) a few more fish were coloring up) . they are much happier now with the correct ratio.

also my 2nd in command had better barring than my dominate male so i took the dominate male out and kept my 2nd in command as my only male saulosi. within a few hours the 2nd in command was a bright blue with dark lines. the original dominate male turned light blue with faint barring within a couple of hours after i took him out of the main mix.

all this being said i like a 55g with 3 species (1 being 1m and 6f saulosi) over having the species only tank.


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## eddy (Jan 16, 2009)

Rhinox said:


> frozennorth said:
> 
> 
> > Here is the profile. http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=2605 Not much info though. Other common name is Giant Demasoni. And they get to 7 inches. Hopefully somebody here has them and can give you more info.
> ...


 Too picky thinking you have to find 12 at the same time rather than 4 here and 4 there etc. Most LFS I go to hardly ever have 12 of anything at the same time.


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## Yajna (Oct 20, 2009)

You may have already done this, Rhinox, but I had good luck using the search function to find other people on the forum in my area. Sent out a few truly random PM's and in no time I had located someone 30 minutes from me who had the juvies I was looking for. I didn't have to order online, didn't have to settle for the LFS, and it felt good to support and get to know a fellow hobbiest. Happy hunting.


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## Dewdrop (Nov 20, 2007)

I would get the 4 maingano. I started out with just 3 maingano planning on an all male tank & removing females as they became apparent. As soon as I had a maingano holding I got so excited about the whole thing that I threw the idea of an all male tank out the window :lol: .

I went back to the LFS to get more hopefully female maingano to make a nice breeding group and they only had one left so I got it not really knowing the sex. As long as you have one female, and of course a male, plus another tank I think you will be fine. My experience with maingano is that they aren't all that aggressive. You can use your 29g. tank (though getting a cheap 10g. tank would be just as good or better) to raise maingano fry to get more females for a proper size breeding group & also use it to remove extra males if that *does* turn out to be a problem. I really don't look for it to be much of a problem though. I think with just 4 maingano you will be fine :wink: .

I hope someone with experience with those blue dolphins can give you some advice on them. I really like the looks of them & think they would look good with maingano but like you I'm iffy if a 55g. tank is big enough. People keep 6" acei in 55's but I think a 6ft. tank for them is better.

Another fish that I like with maingano is albino socolofi. Does the LFS have any of them?


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## Rhinox (Sep 10, 2009)

I just had a d'oh! moment...

I completely forgot that these fish, you know, BREED! 

hahahaha :fish:

I think I'll go back on saturday and get the 4 mainganos and a group of yellow labs. I have another tank, its a 29g but its a 48x12 footprint. I was planning on using it for shellies, but I s'pose I can wait until I work out my mbunas. I also have a 10g tank laying around as well. Hopefully I can get at least 1 female out of the 4 mainganos and get some fry to fill out my 55g tank before all **** breaks loose 

And then I'll probably only get 4-5 labs too and try to do the same thing instead of buying 12...

I don't know what I've been thinking haha.


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## Dewdrop (Nov 20, 2007)

Well, a lot of mbuna are to aggressive to wait on fry to reach breeding size to get females. Sometimes if there are several males (and in some cases only one male is enough) and only one female, the female can be harassed to death. Sometimes having more than one male of a species causes the males to fight to the death too but I didn't have any of those problems with maingano & hope you don't either.

I would get the 29g. tank & 10g. ready by running the filters for them on the 55g. tank for at least a couple weeks to seed them. That should give them time to get enough bacteria in them to skip the cycling process for the new tanks :wink: . In the mean time if you *would* have trouble with the maingano (males being to hard on a lone female etc.) you can fill one of the other tanks and use filter media out of the 55g. tank's filter to put in the filter of the emergency tank.

Leave the new filters for the 29g. & 10g. on the 55g. until you are ready to add fish to the new tanks because if you set up the new tanks after the filters are seeded but don't add fish or ammonia, you will loose the cycle.

Hope this has helped. Might be more info than you needed or telling you something you already knew :lol: . Just want to see you get the tank you want the easiest way possible :thumb:


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## Dewdrop (Nov 20, 2007)

One more thing.... :lol: . If you are only going with 5 labs, get a list of the mbuna he has at the LFS and we can help you pick out a third species, if you'd like. The more fish you have in the tank, the better it will be for the 4 maingano.


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## Rhinox (Sep 10, 2009)

> Well, a lot of mbuna are to aggressive to wait on fry to reach breeding size to get females. Sometimes if there are several males (and in some cases only one male is enough) and only one female, the female can be harassed to death. Sometimes having more than one male of a species causes the males to fight to the death too but I didn't have any of those problems with maingano & hope you don't either.


I'll be keeping my fingers crossed. Knowing my luck, I'll end up with 4 females, or worse, 4 males!



> I would get the 29g. tank & 10g. ready by running the filters for them on the 55g. tank for at least a couple weeks to seed them. That should give them time to get enough bacteria in them to skip the cycling process for the new tanks . In the mean time if you would have trouble with the maingano (males being to hard on a lone female etc.) you can fill one of the other tanks and use filter media out of the 55g. tank's filter to put in the filter of the emergency tank.
> 
> Leave the new filters for the 29g. & 10g. on the 55g. until you are ready to add fish to the new tanks because if you set up the new tanks after the filters are seeded but don't add fish or ammonia, you will loose the cycle.
> 
> Hope this has helped. Might be more info than you needed or telling you something you already knew . Just want to see you get the tank you want the easiest way possible


Right. Thanks. I did already know that, but its always nice to be reminded. I actually don't have filters for the 29 or the 10 yet. Wasn't planning on setting the 29 up until I get the 55 situated, but, well, plans change  I'll still have a few months probably at the least before I have to worry about fry though, right?



Dewdrop said:


> One more thing.... :lol: . If you are only going with 5 labs, get a list of the mbuna he has at the LFS and we can help you pick out a third species, if you'd like. The more fish you have in the tank, the better it will be for the 4 maingano.


well, I CAN get more labs, or I can probably get some acei. I really think I only want 2 species though, so I'd probably just get more labs. What do you think, 6-8 labs enough with the 4 maingano?


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## eddy (Jan 16, 2009)

Rhinox said:


> > Well, a lot of mbuna are to aggressive to wait on fry to reach breeding size to get females. Sometimes if there are several males (and in some cases only one male is enough) and only one female, the female can be harassed to death. Sometimes having more than one male of a species causes the males to fight to the death too but I didn't have any of those problems with maingano & hope you don't either.
> 
> 
> I'll be keeping my fingers crossed. Knowing my luck, I'll end up with 4 females, or worse, 4 males!
> ...


 I would decide how many females you wants then double that # and add 2 more. Assuming they are all juvies.

If you want 4 female labs buy 10 juvies.


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## Rhinox (Sep 10, 2009)

> I would decide how many females you wants then double that # and add 2 more. Assuming they are all juvies.
> 
> If you want 4 female labs buy 10 juvies.


I was thinking since its looking like I'm going to be hoping for some maingano fry out of my original 4 to grow out and keep, that maybe I could do the same with the labs as well?

I was thinking of maybe getting 6 labs to go with the 4 mainganos to start out. Even if I end up with more males than I want, the lab ratio doesn't really matter right, and I can always adjust the ratio assuming I get some fry?


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## eddy (Jan 16, 2009)

Rhinox said:


> > I would decide how many females you wants then double that # and add 2 more. Assuming they are all juvies.
> >
> > If you want 4 female labs buy 10 juvies.
> 
> ...


 Then when you have fry your going to start over?

The labs are not real aggressive but they will chase the female relentlessly if the ratio is off.

It's not as bad as most but still a problem. If your ratio is way off the females may not hold.

It will also be a very long process.

Alot of times I find myself wishing I would have just went out and got what I wanted in adult size by the time I got done messing with them.


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## Rhinox (Sep 10, 2009)

> Then when you have fry your going to start over?
> 
> The labs are not real aggressive but they will chase the female relentlessly if the ratio is off.
> 
> ...


idk... I'm tired of planning, I'm just gonna buy some fish and wing it  I think I'm seriously starting to drive myself mad!


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## GaFishMan1181 (Dec 17, 2008)

have you ever considered ordering online. most place are really fast and have good selection. i have made four total online orders and they have all been good. most likley nicer fish then you find at a local fish store or a big name chain store.


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## Rhinox (Sep 10, 2009)

GaFishMan1181 said:


> have you ever considered ordering online. most place are really fast and have good selection. i have made four total online orders and they have all been good. most likley nicer fish then you find at a local fish store or a big name chain store.


Yeah, I've considered it. I actually think my LFS has some pretty good quality fish though. The labs, at least, have very prominent black bars on the fins, and solid yellow bodies with no trace of barring that I can see. And these are the adults in the basement that are producing all their lab fry.

TBQH, I'm not really looking for the "I just want to add fish once and then never change anything" solution. I don't mind a little bit of work with the tank over the next year or so to get everything just right. If that means I'll have to wait for the maingano to hopefully produce fry and then replace the original 4 with the entire batch of fry, I'm ok with that. I'm ok with doing that with the labs as well, if I have to. In the meantime, I think probably 6 labs and the 4 mainganos will be ok for quite a while before they reach maturity, and I'll keep on the lookout for other local sources for mainganos. If I find some, I'll add some more labs as well.

Alright, well, last chance to change my mind. I'm going to do my big water change to take out the nitrates, and then I'll probably be bringing the fish ome by 1. Any final comments/suggestions/support/warnings?


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## GaFishMan1181 (Dec 17, 2008)

6 labs and 4 maingano juvies should be a fine start. is your tank cycled and ready to handle 10 juvies. even though this isnt much of a bio load i dont want to see you battling ammonia and nitrite.


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## Rhinox (Sep 10, 2009)

GaFishMan1181 said:


> 6 labs and 4 maingano juvies should be a fine start. is your tank cycled and ready to handle 10 juvies. even though this isnt much of a bio load i dont want to see you battling ammonia and nitrite.


yeah my tank is cycled just fine. I did a fishless cycle to 2ppm ammonia by adding the ace hardware stuff. Took 37 days for nitrites to disappear. I've been on top of everything since I started cycling, and I've been on here researching all I can. But you know how it is, you think you know what you want to do, then you second guess, then second guess your second guess, and so on...

Just finished my big water change before going to get the fish. Nitrate is currently ~5-10ppm.

I'm still a bit on the fence... but if the store has some acei's ready to go, I might grab 6 of them as well... Or I might get there and decide I want to get the saulosis... or maybe I'll decide on something entirely different, assuming its a fish I've researched before and know about. All I know is, there will be fish in my tank today.


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## Yajna (Oct 20, 2009)

Happy Fish Day, Rhinox. Forget the fence and go look at those fish, LOL.
:fish: 
You'll make the right choice when you get there. You've educated yourself enough to make a good decision. It's Fish Day. ENJOY.


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## Rhinox (Sep 10, 2009)

Yajna said:


> Happy Fish Day, Rhinox. Forget the fence and go look at those fish, LOL.
> :fish:
> You'll make the right choice when you get there. You've educated yourself enough to make a good decision. It's Fish Day. ENJOY.


Thanks 

I was just looking through the website and I think they have rusties too... but they call them Greberi...

here's the pic given though:










definately looks like a rustie to me.

Here's the complete list of mbuna's according to the website, but the website doesn't always seem to follow whats actually in the store (this list is their terminology, not mine). See anything in this list I might wanna look into?

*Labidochromis: *
Electric Yellows
Yellow Top Mbamba
Pearlmutts

*Pseudotropheus:* 
Red Zebra cherry
OB Zebra
Saulosi
Elongatus "Chewere"
Elongatus "Limon"
Daktari
f2 Acei Luwala Reef
Greberi
f2 Sp. Blue Dolphin
Deeps mosbo
Aurora Albino
Albino red top Greshki
"zebra long pelvic" Galireya Reef
Albino Colbalt Blues


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## frozennorth (Dec 16, 2008)

Not a rusty. http://www.cichlids.com/pictures/pic/Maylandia_new_addittion.html


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## Rhinox (Sep 10, 2009)

Thanks for that link. do they have a profile here on cichlid forum?

Well, I got my fish  weeeeeee, I'm giddy! ok, enough of that 

Imagine my glee when I discovered there were actually 6 mainganos and not just 4. We didn't even realize it until we took the bluest one out first. Then it was like the other 5 changed colors instantly and stood right out. They were housed with some other blue fish with vertical barring, but very pale. They were all about the same size, and I swear the maingano were trying to blend in with the rest. Every time the bluest maingano was removed, instantly another one turned bright blue. It was very exciting to watch.

So, I got all 6 mainganos, 6 yellow labs, and 3 Synodontis petricola. They are all settled in now, and the tank is like a hive of activity. I love the petricolas. They look gorgeous in person. I'm worried about the smallest one though. He was getting picked on a little by the mbuna already, and there is a red mark on his underside that I can't tell is normal or not. I don't see them much right now though. Every once in a while, one will swim out around a rock and go the whole way around and then right back behind the same rock :lol:

One of the maingano's is definately the most dominant right now. It was the only one that stayed blue on the way home, and even turned his whole face almost black. In the tank, his face stayed black for a while, but now, his face is back to blue. No clear dominant lab yet.

And, as much fun as watching the fish, is watching my cats try to figure out how to get them! One of the cats has been going for almost 2 hours now :lol:

I also finally realize just how much flow the 2 AC110's produce - sometimes it seems the fish are only half swimming and half just going with the flow.

I'll post some pics later on. Yay fish 
:fish: :fish: :fish: :fish:


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## GaFishMan1181 (Dec 17, 2008)

AWSOME! :thumb: glad to hear everything worked out for you. 
that sounds like a great number to start out with. now as you watch those interact you can think about what your 3rd species will end up being :wink:


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## Yajna (Oct 20, 2009)

Glad to hear it worked out!



Rhinox said:


> ...sometimes it seems the fish are only half swimming and half just going with the flow.


ah, the wisdom of fish. :wink:


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## Rhinox (Sep 10, 2009)

Well... the small petricola didn't make it. What a buzzkill. I watched it swim for a while, and while the two larger ones were swimming around the rocks, the smaller one seemed to swim closer to the surface along the glass, and even swam upside down once. I couldn't find him for a while so i thought he might have found a place in the rocks to hide... then I found him dead up against the filter intake. It didn't look like he was attacked - apart from being dead, he looks physically fine. Must have been something wrong with him?

Maybe I'm just paranoid, but I'm worried something is wrong. within the past hour, both petricolas have started pacing the tank, swimming from top to bottom, and left to right, and all around, seemingly frantically, but not too fast. most of the maingano's are doing alright hanging out in the center of the tank, but all the labs are crammed into a corner behind a rock pile frantically swimming up and down. As I'm sitting here watching, one of the petricolas is going crazy all over the front glass like he's trying to swim through it. Any of this sound like normal behavior? I'm also a little worried about all the current in the tank... there doesn't seem to be a spot where the fish can rest without getting pushed around by the flow... can they rest in a current? I just don't want to wake up tomorrow to anymore dead fish.


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## Rhinox (Sep 10, 2009)

Day 2 of the fish saga... I must have just been paranoid. Everybody's fine this morning, and they all ate well at breakfast. Both syno's made it through the night and are both very active still this morning. My LFS seems willing to give me a replacement for the one dead syno. I'll find out on tuesday when I take in the dead fish. Wonder what it will look like by then :-?

Also, one of my yellow lab has a yellow dorsal fin with barely a trace of a black stripe and is larger, while the other 5 have more of a whitish dorsal fins and more noticeable black stipes, and are smaller. Normal?


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## eddy (Jan 16, 2009)

Rhinox said:


> Day 2 of the fish saga... I must have just been paranoid. Everybody's fine this morning, and they all ate well at breakfast. Both syno's made it through the night and are both very active still this morning. My LFS seems willing to give me a replacement for the one dead syno. I'll find out on tuesday when I take in the dead fish. Wonder what it will look like by then :-?
> 
> Also, one of my yellow lab has a yellow dorsal fin with barely a trace of a black stripe and is larger, while the other 5 have more of a whitish dorsal fins and more noticeable black stipes, and are smaller. Normal?


 Put it in the fridge......in a bag of water of coarse.


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## Rhinox (Sep 10, 2009)

> Put it in the fridge......in a bag of water of coarse.


didn't think of putting it in the fridge. I have it in a vial of water though, under the tank stand. Thanks for the tip!

I think I'm going to get another trio of those syno's when I go in for a replacement. The tank was supposed to be an mbuna tank, but I think I like the petricola's better than the mbunas . Of course I like them all, but the petricolas are really beautiful fish, and if I like them this much at 1", I can't wait to see what they look like at 4".

I'm also thinking I might go ahead and get some acei's as a third species.


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