Starting an electric yellow lab tank...

usbarryl

I'm starting a 55 gallon cichlid tank and am really looking towards getting some yellow labs. I was wondering though, about how many should I put in there? Is there any other type of colorful fish that could get along with them? If at all possible I would like to have more than just yellow everywhere in there...but I get a lot of conflicting information on which malawis will get along with each other. I'm also completely fine with just yellows if that's all I can do. Any advice is appreciated!

kamazza

Everyone has their beliefs and opinions on what you should/shouldn't and can/can't put together. The truth is there are always exceptions to these and whatever works is fine as long as the fish are happy and healthy. As for cichlids it is best to keep fish from the same lakes together. Many people disregard this and have no problems. I work at a pet store in florida and we have an african cichlid tank with the following fish: kenyis, rustys, msobos, red zebras, cobalts zebras, pearl zebras, auritus, venustus, yellow labs, mainganos, yellow fin borleyis, and maybe a couple others. Most of these fish get along just fine with the exception of the one male kenyi but he is a little bit larger than the others and has decided to try and dominate the other fish. Other than him, the tank is very stable and all the fish are fat and healthy. As for the yellow labs, they seem to be less agressive so I would stick with african cichlids that are around the same aggression as they are, so just do some research and you should be fine. I dont know what other people think but yellow labs seem to be easy breeders so if youre doing a tank with just them, be prepared for babies!
As for how many fish, I would think you could have around 10(give or take a couple- depending on size) 5-6 inch african cichlids(extra filtration will help up the number by a fish or two). Anyways, hope this helps...if you have anymore questions just post again and ill try to help.

usbarryl

Thanks. I was also going to try demasoni pombo rocks, but i've heard that you need to have about 12 at a time to keep down aggression. I guess that would put me over my tank limit if I also had 4 or 5 yellow labs in a 55 gal. I think I would like the contrast between the yellows and blues though. Anybody know any bright blue fish that could do well in a tank with 4 or 5 yellow labs?

iamntbatman

Maybe blue peacocks, cobalt blue zebras or johannis?

willow

i kept yellow labs an age ago,
i found them to be easy to breed.
:)