Hey just a couple of questions;
was wondering if its aight if i have an electric blue ali, electric yellow lab and a ps. Saulosi in the same tank? and my black ghost knife is in there but not for long..
they are all quite young.. the elecrtic blue has not coloured up yet(close). The saulosi get stripes at night and i have noticed between his/her eyes it has because slightly darker and there is a little 'bump', is there anyway of knowing if it's sex yet? (impatiant)
I was also wondering what would be the best tank conditions for this combo..
at the moment pH is @ about 7.6 - 7.8.. temp is 26 - 27c, the tank is 60L, i have 3 plants in there, an air pump, filter and mini filter/pump with 'cichlid gravel'... 1 drift wood and about 4 rock caves..
If there is anyone out there that could gimmi a hand it would be awesome, thanks :)

Im going to move this toipic to "Tank Talk" as more members will see it there dude.

60Liters....what is that...about 15 us gallons?

Ok...the tank is going to be a bit too small to comfortably house any of those species by themselves....so compatibility in that tank is going to be a moot point...

All the fish you list are Cichlids (except the ghost knife) from Lake Malawi in Africa. These fish prefer a pH around 8...

I would recomend stepping up to at least a 55 gallon (~200L) tank to comfortably house these fish together...However I would not recomend this particular mix to a someone new to the hobby...

sexing soulosi is fairly simple...males are blue, females are yellow...they all start out yellow, and males usually 'morph' around 2 inches in length...

Here is a link to info on them
http://www.malawicichlidhomepage.com/panis...eus_saulosi.htm

be carefull with the driftwood as it can lower pH...

I hope this helps...

BTW....I'm moving this to the African Cichlid forum....

cool sig seedy, very nice.

Thanks D! Photorah made it.

Aight, i wasnt wondering about the tank size, i know its too small, i was wondering about the compatibility of these fish being in the same tank (ignore the ghost knife). My plans are to move them all into my 200L tank in the near future but i need to get one more tank so i can seperate them properly (ghost knife with discus.... Cichlid with cichlid.... community with community)... so i was wondering if it was alright to keep those three fish together...(will i get better results with different fish together?) and iam getting impatient with the saulosi and electric blue, the electric blue is about 2" and not blue, and saulosi is dark yellow with slightly darker stripes...do the females get stripes? Does anyone know @ what length the elecrtic blue changes colour?

The blue (I'm assuming you mean S.fryeri ) will take a while to color up, and probably wont reach full color untill nearly 4 inches...it's not going to color up to much in the 15gallon...

Srtipes usually are not indicative of sex in that species...and most cichlids stripes can darken or fade depending on the fish's mood. it's going to be the overall color when the fish reaches maturity that will give the sex away to you.

While it's probably not the ideal set up (as you are mixing "non-mbuna" and "mbuna")...THe species selection is probaly not a disaster waiting to happen (assuming you upgrade to the larger tank soon)...If you feed a quality spirulina flake and supplement with occasional frozen treats (I'd avoid live, and any mammal protein) you should be able to meet the protein needs of the S.fryeri while not bloating the Mbuna....

thanks for the info... i have another question though, lol.
i am moving the cichlids into a 4ft tank in the next couple of days.. i was going to add a tropeus debosi into the tank with them... will it be aight with the other 3?

I may be getting a little mixed up here but, as tropheus being strictly herbivorous and the fryeri a hap, the diets are very very different, my understanding is that tropheus are very suceptible to bloat and sensitive to their diet which needs minimum amounts of animal matter, while the fryeri is a predator and should require at least a small amount-so no

Good advice Vantge!
I agree...Tropheus are very easily bloated by high animal protein diets, and the S.fryeri would probably not color up very well on that low a protein diet...so I'd avoid that mix...If you got rid of the electric blue, and kept to a strict spirulina and veggie diet you could probably get away with having a Tropheus in with the others :tup:

roberto: :woo: :woo: :woo:
Congrats on the new 4 foot tank! That is great! Those fish will really appreciate all the room, and you'll have room to add more fish!

thanks heaps Seedy :)
the reason i was wondering about it because i was hoping i could feed them both and the tropheus would go for the veg and the s.fryeri would go for the protein foods? lol
i will prob just get another tank later put afew tropeus in? i heard they go well when there is more of them..
anywayz thanks heaps for the info, ill keep u updated :)

If your intrested roberto there are only a few mbuna that would work with haps-soulisio, caeruleus, as you have, as well as pseudotropheus acie, and Iodotropheus sperengae, other wise consider other small haps that can fit in the 75

I'm not sure on this one but would expect most peacocks to work as well, something to check into at least

iam not sure what these fish are? "pseudotropheus acie, and Iodotropheus sperengae"
what would i ask for at the aquarium as i would not have a clue how to prenounce that, lol.

Anywayz, i have the 200L tank up and running, waiting a couple of days to let it 'cycle'..
Iam putting the three cichlids (yellow lab, electric blue and saulousi) in there, i was thinking about pairing them up? or maybe getting a Cobue afra + some others? People please post your suggestions, i was wanting to end up with approx 6 cichlids including my current.

In my 60L tank (which will be changed into a larger one once i get some funds) i have the ghost knife and a new discus, i was thinking about pairing them up? any other suggestions? :hmm:

Any suggestions at all to do with these tanks would be very much appreciated :)

thanks guys :tup:

I tried to get a polit once at an lfs I was saying "polee" with like some funny silenced "T" for some reason, for later reference you pronounce the "T" Like saying "pull it" but pronounce the O instead of a U.
Anyways the sperengae can be called a rusty cichlid and the acie an acie, don't know how to pronounce acie myself

First off, one thing the souliosi shouldn't be kept in a pair (one male per three females so single or four to more) the yellow lab will be able to handle it If you want them to breed though sexing could be a problem. the Afra cobue is also a likely problem most mbuna are too agresive for haps, your limited pretty much to what I suggested, and what you started with.
Look to about 15 fish, but a couple more either way should work in a 50 gallon tank.

There will be other options, but I'm mostly limited to mbuna. Maybe seedy can sugeest something else?

I'd say Saulosi are compatible to a extent with the Fryeri, but their diets differ and it would be better to keep them seprate. Saulosi are herbivores and Fryeri are carbivores. When I had Saulosi before, it seemed they were more prone to "Malawi Bloat" so be careful.

The Yellow labs are omnivores and are more suited to be housed with Fryeri, but can be housed with Saulosi as well.

hmmm... i got a new baby cobalt (zeb), just to stir things up abit, ill take a few pics this week and see what u guys think it needs? is there anything i can do to ensure they grow because i have had my electric blue for about 4 months now and he still isnt very coloured up at all, ill post some pics hopefully tmw..

p.s what is the best food to feed my discus? and ph levels? i have the ph currently at about 7.2-7.4 i will slowly lower it as the ghost knife prefers lower ph????

The cobalt will be trouble for sure, but can't say how dangerous it is

Try the Newworlds section for discus help, I know nothing about them except that they are exteremely sensitive to everything tend to be very expensive to keep

Yeah, the cichlid tank has alot of caves so im positive they can all get away from each other if needed but i like having an aggressive/dominant fish, makes it more interesting... the cobalt is very small, though... the saulosi, beleive it or not is prob the most dominant in the tank at the moment :numchucks:

I have gotten this thread twice by googling an african cichlid name. :laugh: