bumble bee cichlid

[Jbaygurl78745]

My hubby has a bumble bee cichlid in his tank in the shop. This thing borrows n hides in the sand is this normal? Also his brown strips are turning black and taking over the yellow in him. I went and tested the water 0,0,10... so nothing wrong there. We have a canister filter as advised wit cichlids and also a hob one. I dont remember names of filters but if needed i can call and ask him... and it seems tho his mouth has gotten bigger than his head? Oh and his tank mates are a AFF cat, 3 acei, 2 blue strip keyni (ugh idk spelling) 4 yellow labs, a clown pleco, and two all white with orange tiped fins n red eyes and a bright orange guy (he says came from assorted africans) its a 55g long. Are we over stocked?

His diet is pellets, frozen brine shrimp, lettice a lil orange, peas, cucumber, and as a treat two times a week my hubby gets them blood worms


Now i know this mite sound woo but we were camping n my sis was feeding could it be it just didnt like her? Because when we got back i fed them than later at night hubby fed em n thats when bumble came out. My hubby has become more of a nut with his "babies" than i am.

 

[isiah1820]

I know for a fact they change colors almost instantly I have 2 that does this and the borrowing that's natrual for them to dig and hide. And I'm not sure about the mouth being big maybe u have a female that'd holding.

 

[Jess1ca]

My hubby has a bumble bee cichlid in his tank in the shop. This thing borrows n hides in the sand is this normal? Also his brown strips are turning black and taking over the yellow in him. I went and tested the water 0,0,10... so nothing wrong there. We have a canister filter as advised wit cichlids and also a hob one. I dont remember names of filters but if needed i can call and ask him... and it seems tho his mouth has gotten bigger than his head? Oh and his tank mates are a AFF cat, 3 acei, 2 blue strip keyni (ugh idk spelling) 4 yellow labs, a clown pleco, and two all white with orange tiped fins n red eyes and a bright orange guy (he says came from assorted africans) its a 55g long. Are we over stocked?

His diet is pellets, frozen brine shrimp, lettice a lil orange, peas, cucumber, and as a treat two times a week my hubby gets them blood worms

Now i know this mite sound woo but we were camping n my sis was feeding could it be it just didnt like her? Because when we got back i fed them than later at night hubby fed em n thats when bumble came out. My hubby has become more of a nut with his "babies" than i am.

Males tend to get really dark as bees are dimorphic. I'd relax on all the protein filled foods like brine and bloodworms. Too much protein can lead to bloat and potentially kill them digging is a natural thing that just about all cichlids do mine do it allll the time love to watch them dig their dens

You are totally not overstocked, it's a common practice to overstock Africans anyway so you are good to go

EDIT: if in fact it is a "she" and she is holding she may darken up some as she puts her defenses up. My female Nyererei gets real dark when it's feeding time when she is holding because she gets very annoyed while the feeding frenzy is going on... Was the bee eating? If so the. It's not holding. Here is a female of mine that is holding (and wayyy darker than usually cuz she is mad haha) approximately 2 weeks before spitting/stripping.

 

[isiah1820]

Yea its cool to see them change it up so rapid wen I do water changes the loose there dark strips all together and turn a dirty yellow color and are not as aggressive as people say they are and I have 2.

 

[Andrew McFadden]

Yea its cool to see them change it up so rapid wen I do water changes the loose there dark strips all together and turn a dirty yellow color and are not as aggressive as people say they are and I have 2.

My female isn't aggressive at all but my male is a different story. My male changes from brown to all black or or brown stripes and black. My female only changes her stripes from brown to black when she eats or gets mad but the rest of her stays bright yellow

 

[isiah1820]

Yea not sure on the sex of mine but they do hang out together and they have like blotch strips dnt really look like a lot of the other bees I see. I also have a female auratus(spellcheck) that's is real mellow. I like to have the real so call aggressive cichlids all together to hopefully offset the aggression.

 

[Jbaygurl78745]

Thank you for all the responses. I dont think she is holding i didnt see any. Thing in her mouth all though she has it open quite a bit. And i did notice she changes colors in the blink of an eye. My husband stocked this tank so i dont see it much being its in the shop. I told him digging is a cichlid thing but he made me ask since she was actully hiding under the sand. I told him to keep a close eye in her. Also what kinda pleco would you recomend for this tank. Or would it be to much havibg the AFF.

 

[isiah1820]

Bristle nose or a common they get large tho.

 

[garfy]

Bristle nose or a common they get large tho.

Forget the common as they are capable of growing up to 2 feet in length and a 55 is way too small for a 2 foot fish.
Bristlenose you could do or you might want to look into some of the synodontis catfish.Maybe

Synodontis petricola

Synodontis multipunctata

Both great looking fish and a good size for a 55 as they neither get over 6 inches.

 

[isiah1820]

Forget the common as they are capable of growing up to 2 feet in length and a 55 is way too small for a 2 foot fish.
Bristlenose you could do or you might want to look into some of the synodontis catfish.Maybe

Synodontis petricola

Synodontis multipunctata

Both great looking fish and a good size for a 55 as they neither get over 6 inches.

Yea I mentioned they get large.

 

[Jbaygurl78745]

I have a snyo aaf ((african feather fin) i picked up a "bristle nose" that is dark has lk white spots and a white corner on his tail fin and upper fin for my other 55 mayb ill try get another for this tank. I know not a common one toooooo big for a 55

 

[Jbaygurl78745]

Ok i have another question would a red tail shark or rainbow shark be ok in this 55 the stock is listed as begining also maybe 2 more yellow labs? My hubby asked me to ask if we would be pushing the stock than.

 

[garfy]

I know people who keep sharks in their tanks successfully but for me it didn't work.I think it's better if they are added first or with the cichlids.I added a red tailed shark to my mbuna tank and before I had time to get him out they were on him and killed him.I never found a body or any trace of him.I wouldn't try it again