A Few Questions about my Africans

DjBootleg

I have 5 Africa Cichlids.......

3- Psedutropheus Crabo
2- Pseudotropheus saulosi
1- Auratus

I have a few questions maybe you guys can help me with.. I'm new to the Cichlid world.. Not so much the fish in general.. The 55 Gallon is right next to my desk so I'm constantly spacing out and watching them hahahaha.. Anyway...

First question - I see them like doing something with their mouths lol the best way to describe it is like there flexing their lips like kissing or maybe coughing?? Nothing comes out and they only do it onces.. They flex the lips for like 2-3 seconds and then like close.. Nothing comes out.. Not a real jerking motion.. Just curious?

Two - Earlier I saw the smaller of the three "Psedutropheus Crabo's" stopping in front of one of the "Pseudotropheus Saulosi" and turning on its side in mid air and like vibrate lol, like shake??? And the Saulosi chased it around for a few seconds??? The heck is that??

Last but not least... These Africans are ALWAYS at the bottom.. Very rarely at the mid to low level of the tank.. The top looks so empty is their any other aggressive fish or breed of Cichlid that will kind of stay at the top I can get?

One more quick question lol sorry - Is there any freakin way to tell the sex of them?? Besides picking them out and looking under them?

Thanks a lot!!!!!!!!!
If you need or want to see them a video is here > https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXt72ot4ZqQ

92smokeaccord

1 is a yawn
2 is 1 of two things.either the little one wants to try and mate with the other or it's a territory that the little one wants.

As for other fish no but there's a trick you can use.use rocks and make tall decor with lots of holes they will eventually go up and use them and stay in that general area. Other types of Africans like mid range swimming I just don't know which ones. Good luck

Tazman

1 - Yawning
2 - Crabo to Saulosi is more likely an aggression thing, although usually it ends in lip locking and a major chase around the tank.
3 - Most africans will stay towards the bottom, I would not add anything to the tank given the aggressive nature of the fish you have, there is a chance WW3 could erupt in that tank, so caution needs to be taken.

Only way to sex them properly is venting them, although the Saulosi, the male will turn blue when sexually mature and the female will stay yellow.

DjBootleg

Wow thats so cool that they actually Yawn ahahhaha. That means their tired correct? Or.... And @Tazman so I want to add more fish, whether it be Africans or w/e.. But its a 55 gallon with only 5 fish, and 3 out of 5 are very small... What do you recommend?

Marty

Hey Dj im new to keeping cichlids too and me and my girlfriend have around 19 at the moment all different sizes and I have been trying to keep the colours as different as I can as the guy I spoke with when first getting them said they will become territorial but also they will attack similar patterned or colours cichlids as for my tank I have a 40 gallon and I have lots of different hiding places territories for the fish to have so that there are enough for each fish to have a spot of their own and so that if they do shake at each other which is aggressive from what ive seen the smaller one can get away easily and they get distracted by all the other fish I think you could get a lot more if you pick carefully but you have to be prepared for how big they will eventually get I have got mostly cichlids that will get to 10-12 cm but i also have a frontosa which will get to 35cm so eventually I will have to seperate them when they get bigger but the chichlids grow slowly from what ive seen but I have a spare tank just incase

Tazman

This generally only works for all Male tanks and can lead to aggression issues if you keep aggressive fish with none aggressive fish.

I hate to say it but 19 fish in a 40g tank is asking for major major problems, there simply is not enough room for the fish, unless they are all very very young fry, that is only way that many fish in a tank that small will work.

Untrue this can be breeding behavior as well. Usually aggression is chasing, fin nipping and lip locking.

Never go on the pretense of getting fish now that will go into a bigger tank later, many reasons come up that this almost always never happens. Once your fish outgrow their tank, what do you do if your fish store cannot take them back? Euthanize them or give them away?

PLEASE PLEASE use punctuation when posting as well, took forever to decipher this message and quote from it.

Marty

We have now had this tank for quite some time now and ALL of our fish get on fine besides a few bigger ones chasing each other and so on, As for them shaking being mating that is incorrect as I have all Males except one red empress female.. Many people I know who have bred cichlids for many years have said this is them puffing their fins and showing dominance. And also the certain way they should be kept doesn't always need to be to the book like how many fish in a tank .. who can go together and so on because we take great care of our fish they're always in clean perfect water with the right pH levels and heat and so on we are constantly checking they're healthy and not fighting... And also I'm not 12 years old and understand the consequence of buying fish, I have another two spare tanks the same size. So no I am not going to give them away or kill my fish!!!!
My fish range from 1" right up to 11" and have no problems with them in the tank.
Thanks for your advice all the same.
Hope this punctuation is more to your liking.

djembekah

Taz is just trying to keep you from heartache, Marty. He's got lots of experience with cichlids.

also an 11 inch fish in a 40 gallon tank sounds severely uncomfortable for that/those fish.