Cichlid Compatiblity
- Thread starter T-man02
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If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
HUKIT
Aquarium Advice Addict
Yes and yes, any mouthbrooder can breed with any other mouthbrooder especially between the zebra and lab.
mfdrookie516
Aquarium Free - 2+ Years
the aggression will be amplified in the tank they're in now (29g right?) but once you upgrade them to the bigger tank you mentioned, and get appropriate ratios I think you'll be much better off.
WendiDell
Aquarium Advice Addict
How many female and how many male do you have? The F:M ratio is very important when it comes to decreasing aggression. You need 3-4 female for every male, even if you only have 1 male.
Also, is your Zebra Red or Blue?
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WendiDell
Aquarium Advice Addict
No need to apologize, we were all new at one time.
The orange/red is called a Red Zebra (RZ), It's also the most aggressive of all the Mbunas Cichlids. My male RZ decimated my entire female livestock except for 2 of them. I had to return him to the FS (fish store) or he would have killed every tank mate.
As far as figuring out who is male or female, there is a conclusive way called venting. It's better left to the experts, it involves turning the fish upside down and checking their, parts. If you want to know more about it, just google "venting cichlids". There is an article that explains it all with pictures of different types of cichlids and what to look for.
But for a quick fairly accurate way to tell on a lot of African Cichlids, you can tell by looking at their anal fin( the fin underneath the fish just before the tail). There are several, 5-7 give or take, egg shaped yellowy/orange spots on the males anal fin.
This way isn't 100% but it is better than nothing and it is a decent way to gauge your F:M ratio.
The spot method works well when choosing fish at the FS. As the FS is unlikely to let you hold onto their Fish and flip it over just to check out the boy/girl parts. It's better to go with the spots.
Now, sometimes when the cichlids are small, none of them have spots. Then when they are a little bigger you find that you new little girls are new little boys. When that happens try to exchange them for the much needed female. My FS does this without any issues at all.
There is an African Cichlid called Kenyi's. They are less aggressive and really beautiful. But with these guys there aren't any spots, and when they are young they are identical. It's a bit of a pain, but when they reach adolescents the females stay the light blue and the males turn orange. But they don't look or act anything like the RZ. I'll put up a picture of a male and a female Kenyi so you can see the difference. In fact I'll put up a picture of a male and female Mbuna too.
I hope this helps you figure out the sexing of your Cichlids.
The first 2 are Kenny and Rainbow, my Kenyi Cichlids. They were young when I bought them and both were the light blue. I didn't know about the color thing at the time, we were all surprised when Kenny turned.
The 3rd pic. is Charlize and the 4Th is Marty. It's not easy to see, but there are spots on Marty's Anal fin. You can't see all the spots but a couple are visible, but there are actually 7 on his anal fin. It's not easy to capture something that small that moves that fast.
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Ok based on what u said about anal fin I have 2 spots on the rz and one spot on my acei the thing is they r tiny 5th tops but my lab has none I was told earlier the rz and lab will make hybrids I believe so do I need to take the rz back to the fs (I feel cool with these abbreviations I'm only14 lol)
Josh
Aquarium Advice Activist
I've always heard Auratus were the most aggressive of the bunch. My RZ is definitely the king of his domain, but he hasn't hurt anyone. Occasional chase is about it. He's pretty much fully grown.
WendiDell
Aquarium Advice Addict
Not to worry T-man, your not alone. There are a lot of other people here on AA around your age.
It's your choice, if you take your RZ back to the FS or not.
I've had so much bad luck with RZ's. I was watching when my RZ, Sonny, jumped out and in one really fast move, he ripped the stomach out of a female Electric Blue. It killed her instantly, but it shocked me.
In 7 years of fish keeping I'd never seen anything like it. I've seen fish fight before but this was different. She was just swimming past, no fight, then just dead. 2 days later I found my male Kenyi, the one in the picture, with his side ripped out the same way. Kenny was one of my favorites. Sonny, the killer RZ, decided that half of the 55g tank was his territory and if any other fish swam near his half he didn't just chase, he killed. Because of Sonny, I went from 15 to 7 Cichlids in less than 2 weeks.
I had 2 other RZ males, as they got older they started behaving the same way. So all the RZ's went back to the FS.
I did do some research after Sonny's homicidal behavior. I found out that it's not all that unusual for a male RZ to act like that. Although Sonny was a little more aggressive that most RZ, but only a little.
It's taken almost 4 months to get my stock back up. The last 5 are in QT (quarantine tank), until they get a bit bigger.
That was enough for me to never have another RZ.
I'm kind of confused, you said "they r tiny 5th tops but my lab has none".
Did you mean, there are 5 tiny spots on your RZ and your lab has none? My guess is the RZ is male, your lab is not and I have no clue about your Acei. But without venting or even pictures, it's just guess.
Labs are definitely less aggressive than the RZ. I don't know anything about Acei, but I've heard good things about them here on AA.
I hope this helps you with your decision.
Let me know how it goes.
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mfdrookie516
Aquarium Free - 2+ Years
So just to clear things up a little... red zebras are not the most aggressive mbuna. While it may be the experience of some that they can be quite aggressive, they are generally much more mild mannered. Auratus, Kenyi, and Bumblebees are said to be the most aggressive. My experience is that Kenyi are the most aggressive of those 3.
Second, egg spots is not a good way to sex africans. I can tell you first hand that the majority of my female fish had more egg spots than my males. The only sure fire way to sex any monomorphic mbuna is by venting. Venting is a difficult process explained here -http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/gender.php. The fish just about have to be sexually mature, though, as juvies are nearly impossible to tell.
Second, egg spots is not a good way to sex africans. I can tell you first hand that the majority of my female fish had more egg spots than my males. The only sure fire way to sex any monomorphic mbuna is by venting. Venting is a difficult process explained here -http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/gender.php. The fish just about have to be sexually mature, though, as juvies are nearly impossible to tell.
Hobgob
Aquarium Advice Addict
- Joined
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T-man02 said:
You should try making sentences. It just makes it easier for other people to read
WendiDell
Aquarium Advice Addict
As far as figuring out who is male or female, there is a conclusive way called venting. It's better left to the experts, it involves turning the fish upside down and checking their, parts. If you want to know more about it, just google "venting cichlids". There is an article that explains it all with pictures of different types of cichlids and what to look for.
to gauge your F:M ratio
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mfdrookie, just to clear some things up.
I explained to T-man that venting is the only conclusive way to determine the sex. I also said that it was best left to the experts. And told him where to find an article about it,to educate himself on the subject.
I was relaying my experience with male RZ and male Kenyi and some things that I had read, to T-man. I never claimed it was a scientific fact. But since I can't give the site where I read the info., I shouldn't have mentioned it. It is only hearsay at this point. I apologize for mentioning it.
Your females may have spots but for me, that has not been the case. The Cichlids that I have with spots are definitely, without question, male. And I did tell T-man it wasn't always accurate. But, I can't see any FS, even the one I frequent a couple times a month, allowing anyone to vent any of their livestock before I buying it.
to gauge your F:M ratio
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mfdrookie, just to clear some things up.
I explained to T-man that venting is the only conclusive way to determine the sex. I also said that it was best left to the experts. And told him where to find an article about it,to educate himself on the subject.
I was relaying my experience with male RZ and male Kenyi and some things that I had read, to T-man. I never claimed it was a scientific fact. But since I can't give the site where I read the info., I shouldn't have mentioned it. It is only hearsay at this point. I apologize for mentioning it.
Your females may have spots but for me, that has not been the case. The Cichlids that I have with spots are definitely, without question, male. And I did tell T-man it wasn't always accurate. But, I can't see any FS, even the one I frequent a couple times a month, allowing anyone to vent any of their livestock before I buying it.
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WendiDell
Aquarium Advice Addict
Hey T-man, just out of curiosity. Why is the RZ your least favorite?
We all know my reasons, but it's good to hear what other people think.
The phone thing,, just take it off of spell. It takes longer to text, but it will text what you really want ,not what it thinks you want.
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Ok Wendi well my rz is my least favorite for two things. First off my mom like the color and sugested it. Second I really don't want hybrids and as soon I got the rz in the tank he was best friends with my lab as you can see probably not that great for a none hybrid tank. Then he was starting to nip at my acei(my fav fish) i know that it's the way they are I was just a little bit annoyed by the new fish in the tank messing with the most like. Lol I just kindof went off on the rz but whatever. So that's why
mfdrookie516
Aquarium Free - 2+ Years
In all reality, if you appropriately stock the tank with 1m-4+ females of each fish, hybrids aren't going to be a problem IMO. My labs always stuck to themselves, and by red zebras always stuck to themselves. Sure, it can happen, but its not all that likely IMO
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