Hi,
I'm just getting interested in chichlids and am wondering which are the easiest to keep?
Are they more labor intence than a community tank of tropicals?
What would be good starter fish for somone familiar with aquariums but not chichlids?
Thanks,

To be honest im new to cichlids (well africans) and im loving how easy the various species of alunacara are to keep. They are colourful, active and easy to spawn, they arent hyper aggressive like the vast majority of mbuna, dont get too big like the frontosa, and aren't fussy eaters like tropheous. Well worth a stab in my opinion.

Cichlids arent any harder labour wise once the tank is set up, but they need a bit more forward planning than your standard tropicals to prevent cross breeding, particularily aggresssive species and that each intended species can have its own spawning point.

ALso a favourite of mine a the various lamprologus species available, my fave being the birchardii, unfortunately due to their breeding habits tank mates should be picked wisely.

Some species of african can be really difficult to keep if research isnt done, i found this out with a strain of xenotilapia, these fish really suffered at the hands of my normally docile alunacaras so i had to move them.

However there are sooooo many strains of african out there, what i would suggest is that you flick throug h a couple of specialist books, websites etc and make a wish list and pop it on here.

Good advice Oddball~!

I think the peacocks (Aulonocara sp.) would be a great place to start. I'd avoid the Mbuna as they can require much micromanagemnet to prevent loss due to aggresion...

Several Tanganyikan species such as Julidochromis ornatus, are also well suited to someone new to cichlids....

What size tank are you thinking of setting up dtroup?

I'm not sure yet what size tank it will be, I'm getting ready to move across country and am selling my current tank, I have a 30 gal long but I plan on making my hubby get me somthing bigger once we are setteled. I am in the research stage right now, so any advice helps.
Thanks,

To be honest when keeping any particularily territorial fish with others the bigger the tank the better. Obvioulsy when territory is brough up i instantly think cichlids anyway lol. If you cqan get a 6ft or bigger it will be absolutely stunning!

My African tanks are 30x20x20 inch, 18x12x12 and 42x 18x 15

the 30 incher has 8 alunacara and some catfish
18 incher is home to a colony of 6 lamprologus bircharrdii and some flying fox
42incher has 10 assorted mbuna, including Ps Zebra, blue dolphin, demomosii and a soem tropheus duboisii (i know not mbuna but im not puting them in with my alunacarrras!) tanganykan yellow eel, some nice dwarf plecos

When you've setup your bigger tank, you could always get a species of shelldweller, such as Neolamprologus Multifasciatus, or Brevis, they'd love that tank & are great fun & very easy to care for. After all can't let a perfectly good 30g sit empty. :D

barramundi

Unfortunatly the 30gal is being left behind when we move from MN to Alabama in July, I'm gonna try to sell it (see related post in B/S/T). I can't see trying to transport it 1300miles and if I sell the tank and fish Hubby will be more willing to let me keep my Guineapig. I'm more attached to the pig than the tank. Patches was born in our apt a year ago, my dog and I claimed him. Ive only had the tank setup for about 3-4 months.

Yellow labs are a pretty good beginner fish, they tend not to be quite as aggressive as other mbuna. Alot of mbuna require a tank of at least 55 gallons though. Although there are a few types I get away with 29-30 gallon setups, but wouldn't recommend to a new comer.

The one down side to yellow labs is that they are very sensitive to water conditions, losing colour and the will to live in a very short time, unfortunately mine came across the bad side of my blue ps. zebra who beat the hell out of em, damnable mbuna

Hmph I've not noticed this with my Yellows. They seem to be just as hardy as the next mbuna. Any mbuna is going to get stressed out for the most part if they are the main target of a more dominant fish. Alot of the Zebra types have the knack for being pretty aggressive. I've kept the Yellows with Lab. Hongi, Afra Cobue, and Ps. Lime, Ps. Acei, Ps elongatus, Ps. Saulosi and they did just fine. Right now I have them in a malawi hap setup due to their lower aggression levels. They are working pretty well with Lithobates and Moorii. Really offset the haps blue colors.

Dont take it the wrong way orbital, it was a valid point that yellow labs arent a first cycle fish, they need well established water, also they arent for aggressive tank mates, mind, if both these are in effect your chances are even worse.

But then again if these issues arent touched upon then we wouldnt have a forum as one persons experience is all we need mmmm? dont be so quick to hmph or pfft a members experience, you can point out what experience you have had but please dont start with Hmph, it gets peoples backs up, as if your dismissing them from the start.

anyway end of nag, i will conceed my zevras over aggressive but with mbuna its always a risk you have to take im afraid :( another nice one is of course the red empress absolutely stunning fish :)

:pill: Wow Oddball....I didn't know you where so sensitive! :gay: :laugh:

Jeez man, It was just a "hmph" I'm not sure he was totally dismissing you, I think he just has an experience differnt from your own...remember, it's hard to convey tone in a post. So let's give people the benifit of the doubt...

NeWays...I think one reason your experiences may have differred may have been the stock where you got your fish from....This particular species has been inbred and linebred to hell by the large commercial fish farms...and isn't often imported.....so It's hard to get quality specimins (solid yellow color, no barring, thick black bar on dorsal fin)...this has also affected the general quality of the stock available from your large megapet stores...I've seen more deformed (from excessive inbreeding) Yellow Labs, than any other species of cichlid...

Where did each of you get your fish from?

I think a lot of people would recomend yellow labs as a good first cichlid because it was their first cichlid....It was one of my first African Cichlids...If you are looking for a smaller, single species tank then where you can watch moothbrooders do their thing....then I think yellow labs would be a good choice...

Its like one 1AM and i was reading into it as ive been taught, thats what three years of A level language and literature do to you....*shudder* my stock was got from my lfs, imported them form africa, but then again whos to say they arent farmed.

in any case im calling it a night, uh morning, er whatever im shot, oh and seedy, feel free to mod it if you think its too sensitive, its your spot and you know best in these instances, and thats the truth from my view :) anyway sleep is good........

No need to edit it...your fine...I'm just giving you a hard time! :bitchslap: :)

yawn :KMA: im off to bed glad thats resolved lol, oh and sorry for thread de railment dtroup :laugh:

Oddball: I think you misunderstood me. Definately was not meant as a pfft, just have not noticed them being that sensitive. Although I do agree they don't mix quite as well as some other mbuna with extremely aggressive types like Kenyi, and even some Cobalt blues. I don't doubt your experience with them, maybe your water is different from the tap then here in the midwest. We have 7.8pH and hard water out of the tap to start with, I don't do anything other the dechlorinate. IMO Yellow labs are one of the easiest mbuna to get started with. I don't know it all, just here to share my experiences. I'm sure alot of others have quite a few more years of experience under their belts then me. I've kept fish off and on for quite a few years, but never really got deep into fishkeeping until around 4 years ago when I started keeping african cichlids (mbuna). Ever since I've been hooked. :smokein:

Seedy: I got my original trio from a LFS around here. My prized male died a couple years ago while I was visiting family in Arkansas. Jason Selong at Big Sky Cichlids was kind enough to give me a great deal on some fish while a friend and I were visiting his fishroom. Me and my buddy worked out a deal, since we both wanted the Perspicax Ndumbi I let him get the army of yellow labs(alot of females) and I picked out the nicest (IMO) male of the group of Yellow labs (they were all nice). He is breeding away with my group of around 14 labs. He is my avatar, every bit as nice as my original male. The first batches of offspring from the new male and my main female are up to around 1.5" now, seeing some pretty clean markings in the dorsal and anal fin already. I plan to work with this group of Yellows for years to come, hopefully. I picked up some pretty nice unrelated juvies I plan to mix with my group eventually, hoping for some females. Go figure :)

BTW Seedy Yellow labs were amongst my first cichlids to keep, well other then angelfish back in the day. :lol2: I started out with 3 Ps. Acei, 1 Socolofi, 1 Cobalt Zebra, and one Red Zebra. I then got some Yellow labs and Kenyi. Quickly found out I needed a bigger tank for those Kenyi. The more tank syndrom grew from there.

I've heard nothing negative about Jason Selong's fish....Just good things....and the yellow in your sig is nice...but I think I remember rating your yellows a while back...top notch examples of the species...!