Cichlid Woes

[vitacrux]

55 gallon.

Stock list:
6 Yellow labs (3m/3female)
2 yellow tail acei
2 Kenyi (Trying to Rehome)
1 Red Jewel (Very passive so assuming female, displays no aggression whatsoever)
1 Striped peacock eel

Was just observing my fish tank per usual and saw my alpha male, (an yellow lab) trying his best to take bites out of my peacock eel. This is the first time I have witnessed this behavoir so mortified I netted the eel and am in the process of putting him in my 29 gallon which is awaiting the arrival of Orange flash apistos. Is he likely to fair any better with the apistos?

This is the first time my alpha male has shown such open aggression toward the other fish, could it be that he mated with one of the females? I did notice that one of them is not eating. Or didn't atleast at the current feeding ( kinda hard to keep track of them.)

I am aware of the 1 m per 3 female stocking guidelines but it is really hard to do when all I have to deal with is a petsmart.

Are there any other methods to curb aggression. I know this was a long post so any help would be great.

 

[HUKIT]

As the males mature the aggression gets worse, just like most fish as they get older they get meaner.

 

[Termitehunter]

Just like Hukit said.
But to add from my observations; breeding Yellow Labs aggression can get into the psychotic category. I have seen them pound fish 5 times there size into submission and keep all the other tank mates crowded into the corner for a week.

If you have 3m and 3f there will be big aggression issues. Especially as time goes on.

 

[WendiDell]

I'm sorry to say this but, you really need to trade in 2 of your male Yellow labs for a couple of females. Or get about 6 more Yellow lab females to balance your ratio.
I know that females are really hard to come by for some reason, but never get another male instead. Otherwise the death rate in your tank will begin to rise as they mature.
Your BIGGER Boys will start killing each other because there are to many of them and then they will harass the females to the point of death because there aren't enough of them to share in the chase.
I make sure I only have one Male of each type. Like 1 male Yellow Lab & 1 Female Yellow Lab, with 2 more female Yellow labs on back order. Or 1 male Acei White Tail & 2 female Acei White Tail, with one more female White Tail on backorder order.
With out enough females to choose from they will start to cross breed all willy nilly, until you end up with 100 beautiful Hybrid fish. That no one will want except as feeder fish.
I know this because I have 16 beautiful Hybrids, that no one wants and I don't have tank space for. And the idea of selling these beauties for food makes me sick to my stomach. Trust me it's not a position you want to be in.
I have one male Red Top Zebra, I haven't been able to get any females for him. I've been waiting for nearly a year for RTZ females and all the breeder has sent are males.
So Charlie, the RTZ male bred with a female Kenyi. I have a male Kenyi but he was to young to breed at the time.
If you don't want WWlll in your tank. Or a hundred hybrid you don't have room for, loose a few boys and add some girls. Depending on your tank size, and how may males you have, in a pinch you can get away with 2:1 (F:M) ratio, but 3:1 or 4:1 is best.
Here are a couple of pics. of the beauties that no one wants except for fish food.
They are our first fry in 7 years of keeping fish, so they are very special to us. All everyone else sees is, HYBRID-KEEP AWAY, they are good for nothing but food.

PS. Are your Kenyi male or Female?

 

[HUKIT]

Wendi you need to cut back on feedling a little those are fish are fat.

 

[WendiDell]

I'll take your word for it, since they are my first fry. I was feeding them a small amount of NLS Grow 3 times a day. Then about about 10 days ago I dropped it to twice a day. They weren't happy but they've slimmed down since those photos were taken.
I would drop them to once a day, but I have three pure bred fry in with them that are only a couple of weeks old and just started the .5mm pellets 2 days ago. It's a bit of a balancing act.
I even tried sneaking food into the tank were the little guys hide while the others were sleeping. As soon as the food hit the water, they all woke up and chowed down. So much for separate feedings.

 

[HUKIT]

They are a little fat, but I was joking more than judging.

 

[mdawg75]

Wendi im taking care of my OB Peacock hybrid fry too. I keep telling the wife I need more Tank.

HUKIT Ok that Avatar is classic!!!

 

[WendiDell]

They are a little fat, but I was joking more than judging.

No worries, my skins a bit thicker than that. But other than being a bit chubby, they sure ended up with beautiful and varied coloring.
They are all so insanely active they are burning off their baby fry fat really quick. I'll try and get some skinny fish pics for you, soon.

 

[T-man02]

the fry really have turned out nicely and looks pretty good too.

 

[WendiDell]

the fry really have turned out nicely and looks pretty good too.

Thank you T-man,
I think they are beautiful, but because they are a Kenyi (mom) and a Red Top Zebra (dad) no one wants anything to do with them. Well except as feeder fish and I just can't do that to our first ever fry. Actually I don't think I could do that with any of my fish.
Hybrids are extremely frowned upon, to my deep regret.

 

[T-man02]

well at least they look attractive i personally think that the hybrids look cool but are a coin toss on agression

 

[WendiDell]

well at least they look attractive i personally think that the hybrids look cool but are a coin toss on aggression

I agree with you. If the parents have anything to do with their temperament, I've nothing to worry about. Even though the dad is the Alpha he's never been in a fight. He's so much bigger than the rest of them that no one has ever challenged him.
And the Mom is just mellow all the time. Instead of getting feisty when she was holding, she hid the whole time.

They are growing like their Dad, they are 58 days old and they are an 1.5-1.75" long, a couple are almost 2" already. If they keep this up, they will be pretty spectacular looking adults.

 

[T-man02]

i agree from the pictures if they continue to color they have i think they will look good. well at least your alpha is there only because he is the biggest i have had a couple of tussles

 

[WendiDell]

i agree from the pictures if they continue to color they have i think they will look good. well at least your alpha is there only because he is the biggest i have had a couple of tussles

So far so good on all of their coloring, they all have pretty deep colors.
Charlie is pretty cool, always has been and he's not just a little bigger, he's almost twice as big as the others of the same age.
He's also one of 3 males that survived the RZ serial killer.
Here are a few pics. of Mom & Pop, you can see why the fry have so much color. In the second photo you can see how thick Charlie is, he's about 2" longer than everyone else and the Cobalt Blue Zebra behind him, Berry. They are the same age, I bought them on the same day and Berry is Quite a bit smaller than Charlie. In the last one Rainbow, the Mom, is holding the fry and she's not a happy fish.

 

[baronbasher]

Hybrids are extremely frowned upon, to my deep regret.

Are the fish in a "mixed mbuna" tank at the LFS usually hybrids or does the LFS put only pure breeds in there?

 

[WendiDell]

Are the fish in a "mixed mbuna" tank at the LFS usually hybrids or does the LFS put only pure breeds in there?

The FS where I buy all my fish (it's not local) only have pure bred Mbunas. They don't have a mixed Mbuna tank. If the did I'd just give the fry to them to sell.

The sad thing is, I had 3 female holding, 1st was Rainbow(a Kenyi) with RTZ father. The second was Daisey (a White lab) with a White Lab father. The 3rd was Daffodil (an Electric Yellow Lab) with an Electric Yellow Lab father.

Rainbow had 16 hybrid fry, Daisey had 1 purebred fry, & Daffodil had 2 purebred fry.
It makes me wonder if hybrids are so bad why are 16 of them strong and healthy and growing like crazy. But out of all the purebreds that Daisey & Daffodil spit out only 3 survived.
I didn't do anything different with the hybrids or the purebreds. So it just makes me wonder about the genetics of hybrid vs purebreds. If you go by my fry the hybrid are much hardier than the purebreds.
Just food for thought.

 

[T-man02]

probly because the dad is such a giant lol.

 

[WendiDell]

probably because the dad is such a giant lol.

He does look like a bit of a brute but he's more like a Marmaduke, if the others only knew.
But the children are taking after their father where size is concerned. Which will make them even more spectacular as adults.
The great coloring and large size, if they weren't hybrid they could have been center piece fish

 

[T-man02]

that's true some almost look pure bred to me but that will probably change when they get a lil bigger