# Stocking??



## blakeoe (Apr 27, 2005)

Two topics:
1) I have a "electric yellow lab" and heard that you should put 2 females per one male. Is this correct? If so how do i tell the males from the females when they are juviniles?
2) My tank is a 55 gallon. I have allot of rocks, caves, and plants. How many should i stock? I already have 1 yellow lab, 2 other unidentified cichlids, 2 clown loaches and an upsidedown catfish. What else could i or should i put with these? I am looking to go as colorful as possible.


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## fishfreaks (Jan 19, 2005)

i know it is hard to sex the yellow labs. i would try to find out what your unidentified cichlids are before you add any other fish species


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## Orbital (Jun 11, 2005)

young and subdominant yellow labs are impossible to sex by eye with out venting them. Venting is difficult unless you have a trained eye. :roll:


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## blakeoe (Apr 27, 2005)

o i almost forgot the rainbow fish. Here's some pics of the 2 cichlids:
The first one is Blue with darker blue stripes and has orange trim on his tail and two orange spots on the fin under his belly.
The other is kinda purple and yellow it has a silverish base with purple spots or blotches and yelloy fins ohh and green lips.
(bad pics sorry camera phone)


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## blakeoe (Apr 27, 2005)

so should i just get any three? Im not trying to breed them or anything i just want them happy.


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## Orbital (Jun 11, 2005)

Top one is probably a Metriaclima Zebra type, can't ID location. The bottom one is a Nimbochromis Venustus which can reach sizes of 10" as adults. Venustus also hunt smaller cichlids, but at its current size that shouldn't be a problem with similar sized fish.


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## Orbital (Jun 11, 2005)

blakeoe said:


> so should i just get any three? Im not trying to breed them or anything i just want them happy.


What do you have for filteration and how often do you do water changes?


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## blakeoe (Apr 27, 2005)

i have a penguin 350 with 2 bio wheels and added some "filter flooss" type stuff And a whisper 30-60. water changes about every 2 weeks.


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## Orbital (Jun 11, 2005)

I'd say you could have 10-12 mbuna in there, but that Venustus could outgrow the setup eventually. I would try to stick with mbuna. Also may need to add some more rock cover as you add more fish.


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