Need help with Yellow Lab

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
See posts with no answers
RobbieHadley

RobbieHadley

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Jun 7, 2012
Messages
201
Location
Roy, UT
new to cichlids and I need some help with my Yellow Lab. Everything has been going good in the tank, where i have a yellow lab, yellow tail acei, rainbow shark, and an electric blue cray. All parameters are on target, all other fish are fine. But the last couple days my Yellow lab has been hiding either in the back of the tank, or under a piece of driftwood (which you see in the video ill post). I do not believe its bullying in the tank, as they all get along, with the exception of the rainbow and acei who like to "play tag" a couple times a day (no damage to either, so just a little fun banter) I keep an eye on the tank throughout the day as its in a location where i spend most of my time, and have never seen the yellow lab be chased. It (sorry hate to call it that, but dont know sex yet) comes out to feed, right along with the acei, then goes back into hiding. both lab and acei are juvies about 2", possibly 3" in length. cant think of whats going on, please help!!!
 
thanks for the info. ok ill just keep an eye out then for the next little while. I do have another question that came to mind after sitting here watching it. Around what age do Cichlids, primarily in question yellow labs, start to lay eggs (would that be correct terminology lol)? Ive seen vids of cichlids who were mouth brooding, and its behavior kinda reminds me of that as her mouth is always open and in a kinda eating like motion. Ive noticed this behavior over the last 10 or so minutes when it did venture out of hiding for a couple minutes.
 
I don't believe they are mouthbroders but I could be wrong. I think it has picked it's territory and that's where is going to hangout. Does it chases others out of the hiding spot?
 
RobbieHadley said:
thanks for the info. ok ill just keep an eye out then for the next little while. I do have another question that came to mind after sitting here watching it. Around what age do Cichlids, primarily in question yellow labs, start to lay eggs (would that be correct terminology lol)? Ive seen vids of cichlids who were mouth brooding, and its behavior kinda reminds me of that as her mouth is always open and in a kinda eating like motion. Ive noticed this behavior over the last 10 or so minutes when it did venture out of hiding for a couple minutes.
Click to expand...

They don't lay eggs they are mouthbrooders. My female started showing signs at and inch and half. But if there was anything it didn't make it till she was around 2".

Mbuna live in rocks they need lots of hiding places. That's all that's going on. Once they get older they will wonder a little more imo
 
TheCommunityCichlid said:
I think it has picked it's territory and that's where is going to hangout. Does it chases others out of the hiding spot?
Click to expand...
No it really hasnt chased anyone away. My acei has swam right through where its hiding and nothing, just stays there. It does get out and wander a little bit, like right now its hiding in the back in the plants instead of under the driftwood like it was in the video.
 
Your not always going to see agression with lights on. Ive had a peaceful mbuna tank with lights on, with lights off all hell would break lose. I lost many fish in the cover of darkness when the tank was a perfect harmony with the lights on. Im not saying you have a bully, but you very well could. You can do a night stakeout and watch to see if there is any chasing or the such. Being they they are still small this probably isnt the case, but you can never be sure till you watch. Good luck with you fish!
 
Andrew McFadden said:
They don't lay eggs they are mouthbrooders. My female started showing signs at and inch and half. But if there was anything it didn't make it till she was around 2".

Mbuna live in rocks they need lots of hiding places. That's all that's going on. Once they get older they will wonder a little more imo
Click to expand...

Thanks for both info on them being mouthbrooders as well as whats more than likely going on. I was thinking about picking up a couple more yellow labs and acei tomorrow, could that possibly help? Are they more active when they have others of the same species? Im newer to cichlids, only ever done community fish before, and i know my platys and guppies are more active when theres others of their kind in the tank. But i also understand cichlids are more aggressive than community obviously, so i dont know if it would work anywhere near the same, but i wanted to get a couple more of each anyway to try and get a breeding pair.
 
Cichlid-dude said:
Your not always going to see agression with lights on. Ive had a peaceful mbuna tank with lights on, with lights off all hell would break lose. I lost many fish in the cover of darkness when the tank was a perfect harmony with the lights on. Im not saying you have a bully, but you very well could. You can do a night stakeout and watch to see if there is any chasing or the such. Being they they are still small this probably isnt the case, but you can never be sure till you watch. Good luck with you fish!
Click to expand...

Hey thanks for the info Cichlid-dude, i never stopped to consider the fact there may be fighting when the lights go out. Like i said the tank is set up where im at most of the day and so i watch them a lot through the day, but i turn the lights off at night when i go to bed, and havent thought to keep an eye open, so i will definitely do that tonight for a little bit after i turn their lights off. I dont know if thats the cause, as they get along great during the day, but like you said, you can never be sure haha
 
RobbieHadley said:
Thanks for both info on them being mouthbrooders as well as whats more than likely going on. I was thinking about picking up a couple more yellow labs and acei tomorrow, could that possibly help? Are they more active when they have others of the same species? Im newer to cichlids, only ever done community fish before, and i know my platys and guppies are more active when theres others of their kind in the tank. But i also understand cichlids are more aggressive than community obviously, so i dont know if it would work anywhere near the same, but i wanted to get a couple more of each anyway to try and get a breeding pair.
Click to expand...

How many of all do you have? If you don't have very many then yes I would add more. Check this link out it will help you :) on stocking #
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/lake-malawi-mbuna-stocking-dcor-hardware/
 
Last edited:
I have a yellow lab in one of my tanks and for awhile he was doing the same thing and it ended up being he was getting picked on one way to tell at least for me was his color when he is being dominant or happythe stripe on his dorsal fin is jet black and the rest is bright yellow with the blueish spots on his fins when he is getting bullied or unhappy his stripe fades to a light gray and some black/grayish vertical stripes show more through the yellow I also at one time had a rainbow shark in with him yes they can coexist together but the rainbow sharks are extremely territorial and once he hit 5in I had to remove him and now my lab is super happy
 
MMantelli said:
I have a yellow lab in one of my tanks and for awhile he was doing the same thing and it ended up being he was getting picked on one way to tell at least for me was his color when he is being dominant or happythe stripe on his dorsal fin is jet black and the rest is bright yellow with the blueish spots on his fins when he is getting bullied or unhappy his stripe fades to a light gray and some black/grayish vertical stripes show more through the yellow I also at one time had a rainbow shark in with him yes they can coexist together but the rainbow sharks are extremely territorial and once he hit 5in I had to remove him and now my lab is super happy
Click to expand...

The Yellow labs black stripe is a solid black as far as i can tell, the last couple days i only get a real good look when it comes out to eat, but that is really great advice thank you i appreciate it, now i know what to look for with them as well. I know with my acei, when he gets hungry, he goes a lighter blue color, and when hes happy hes almost a purple color. and yea, i figured id have to move the rainbow eventually, i know they were the least aggressive at a younger age than some of the other options, and hes working great for the moment or so i think, maybe i should return him to the LFS, maybe my lab will perk then.
 
No problem and Yes it sucked when I took mine back he added the character my tank was missing I ended up getting two clown loaches to replace him but just recently had to switch them to my other tank cause the cichlids kept them in hiding to the point they almost starved so I've decided to keep only my males in my 55 but the up side I can add a few more cichlids now
 
Ive thought about doing clown loaches as well as a kind of clean up for the tank, but they get HUGE. i know its over time, but i dont know what id do with them when they got to be full grown, none of my friends around here are into the hobby for me to pawn off too lol
 
True that they didn't seem to keep my 55 as clean as the rainbow did though but he was a total pig that ate everything that hit the bottom the second it made it there and I have the same dilemma with my loaches one is 2in the other is 3in and had to put them in my 20 since my quarantine is currently being occupied but st least my gold lab is being nice to them lol but he was lonely is there by himself which could be why he is now the best looking fish I currently have lol
 
MMantelli said:
True that they didn't seem to keep my 55 as clean as the rainbow did though but he was a total pig that ate everything that hit the bottom the second it made it there and I have the same dilemma with my loaches one is 2in the other is 3in and had to put them in my 20 since my quarantine is currently being occupied but st least my gold lab is being nice to them lol but he was lonely is there by himself which could be why he is now the best looking fish I currently have lol
Click to expand...

See thats what im starting to wonder if thats whats going on with my yellow lab, just because i have it, an acei, and a rainbow, (plus my cray, but they dont want to hang with him for obvious reasons haha) so tomorrow i think im gonna hit up the LFS and pick up a few more labs as well as acei see how that goes before i return the rainbow
 
That might help to keep the rainbow a little confused some of us will over stock to curb aggression the more aggressive one will kinda loose the one its chasing in the pack I have a very aggressive tank I have 8 different Malawi males in my 55 and am going to add some more I'm kinda ignoring some stocking rules (well most of them) but I keep them well fed and have twice as many hiding spots as I do fish (in a sucker for my daughter she picks the fish for this tank) and have only had 2 casualties in 6 months but that was due to something entirely different than aggression but if u over stock make sure you way over filter and it helps to keep the temp a little on the lower side of there comfort range if possible
 
hey thanks for all the info MMantelli i appreciate it, i dont have to worry on the overstock just yet lol but ive heard exactly what you said, that overstocking can help with the aggression. I will definitely make an update probably saturday or so after ive added the new fish. Thanks again
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

H
Sexing Yellow Lab
Replies
2
Views
557
HRM
H
R
75gal stock question
Replies
1
Views
676
Colin_T
C
L
Plants dying - please help
Replies
3
Views
514
Aiken Drum
Aiken Drum
S
Yellow tinge to water?
Replies
7
Views
540
Aiken Drum
Aiken Drum
N
Must i use air stone for yellow lab?
Replies
7
Views
679
nashihoude
N

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom