Enki
Aquarium Advice Freak
I have a 50 Gallon 4" tank, my first tank in a long time and my first with Malawi cichlids.
I want to establish a breeding colony of Ngara Flametails, but I was hoping to have a little color and variety in the beginning as well, so after much research I ordered 10 Ngara Flametails and 4 Yellow Labs through my LFS.
I did a fishless cycle, and my water parameters have been solid at 0/0 ammonia/nitrites. About a week and a half ago I stocked the tank with the fish I ordered.
I was expecting small fish, in the 1" range. The plan was to watch the original bunch, weed out some of the subdominant Ngaras and any of the Labs that start to threaten the dominance of the alpha Ngara, stacking the deck towards the alpha Ngara becoming the alpha of the tank.
The fish I got were all in the 1.5" to 2" range, which is good in many ways, there are a couple of the Ngaras showing a little color, and I would have paid a lot more for these fish if I had not got them 'in the bag', but I am having to think about stocking changes earlier than I expected.
The problem is that two of the Labs are the biggest fish and fairly aggressive. not mean and beating up the others, but claiming more than half the tank as their territory, running the Ngaras out of hideyholes. They have pretty much taken the hyper-dominant role.
They are getting big fast too! Being more aggressive they are getting more than their fair share of food and showing it. The 2 smaller labs are fine, they get along well with the other fish.
I added a few Zebra Danios to the mix a few days ago for the dither effect, and that has helped. Everybody is out swimming around more, but the dominance scales are still heavily leaning towards the big Labs. The Ngaras are still pretty crowded into 'their' corner.
That's the background, here are the questions:
1-Is it too early to take the 2 big Labs back? Is there a chance the Alpha Ngara will assert himself over time? The LFS is willing to take them in trade for store credit, I already have that worked out, so that is no problem.
2-Should I get another little lab to fill out the trio of Labs, or will the 2 be ok on their own? I would prefer at this point to just drop the population by 2, but I don't want the little Labs to be too bummed out...
Any advice is appreciated!
I want to establish a breeding colony of Ngara Flametails, but I was hoping to have a little color and variety in the beginning as well, so after much research I ordered 10 Ngara Flametails and 4 Yellow Labs through my LFS.
I did a fishless cycle, and my water parameters have been solid at 0/0 ammonia/nitrites. About a week and a half ago I stocked the tank with the fish I ordered.
I was expecting small fish, in the 1" range. The plan was to watch the original bunch, weed out some of the subdominant Ngaras and any of the Labs that start to threaten the dominance of the alpha Ngara, stacking the deck towards the alpha Ngara becoming the alpha of the tank.
The fish I got were all in the 1.5" to 2" range, which is good in many ways, there are a couple of the Ngaras showing a little color, and I would have paid a lot more for these fish if I had not got them 'in the bag', but I am having to think about stocking changes earlier than I expected.
The problem is that two of the Labs are the biggest fish and fairly aggressive. not mean and beating up the others, but claiming more than half the tank as their territory, running the Ngaras out of hideyholes. They have pretty much taken the hyper-dominant role.
They are getting big fast too! Being more aggressive they are getting more than their fair share of food and showing it. The 2 smaller labs are fine, they get along well with the other fish.
I added a few Zebra Danios to the mix a few days ago for the dither effect, and that has helped. Everybody is out swimming around more, but the dominance scales are still heavily leaning towards the big Labs. The Ngaras are still pretty crowded into 'their' corner.
That's the background, here are the questions:
1-Is it too early to take the 2 big Labs back? Is there a chance the Alpha Ngara will assert himself over time? The LFS is willing to take them in trade for store credit, I already have that worked out, so that is no problem.
2-Should I get another little lab to fill out the trio of Labs, or will the 2 be ok on their own? I would prefer at this point to just drop the population by 2, but I don't want the little Labs to be too bummed out...
Any advice is appreciated!