# Here goes nothin'...



## Vivid-Dawn (Jan 18, 2005)

So... I got rid of all my livebearers (and danios), and decided to go with Cichlids since my water is hard, and I don’t want to bother with peat moss (not yet, anyway).

I got 3 Electric Yellow cichlids, that are about 2.55cm long, and they’re in my 57 liter tank. I also got 3 Pictus Catfish (7 or 8cm each), who are being quarantined in a 30L tank until next Monday (a full 2 weeks), then they’ll go to my 189L tank. I might keep the cichlids in the 57L since they’re so small, until they get big enough that the Pictus won’t snack on ‘em.

Anyhoo... my wondering is - should I get more cichlids? The lighter color one likes to chase the darker two around a bit. I figured at least six, but I’d like a total of 9... if I do a 10% water change every 72 hours, I hope that’ll be alright to keep 9 fish in 30 liters for a few months.

Or, I would like to get some “Scofoli”, but I can’t find any information on them, and I refuse to buy fish without at least a little bit of research first! Particularly if they’ll be compatible with Electric Yellows and Pictus Catfish.
I also pondered some Angel fish, but everything I read suggests they get way too big and would need about twice as much room as I have. 


(For American versions of numbers... 30 liters is an 8 gallon tank, 57L is 15g and 189L is 50g)


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

*Do you mean Socolofi?*

Socolofi, also known as Pseudotropheus Socolofi or Pindani and pretty purplish cichlids, but they are much more aggressive than the Labiochromis cereleus (yellow labs), they also grown bigger. I wouldn't keep them in the same tank unless it was really large (150+ gallons). 50 gallons is too small for Pindani long term, as they grow, you will eventually end up with only one fish. 8-10 yellow labs in 50 gallons is ok. They will grow fast in the large tank, but not if you keep them in the little one. 4-6 angels in 50 gallons is ok too, but you would need to soften your water. Its much easier to fit fish to water than water to fish.


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## Lexus (Jan 19, 2005)

Are you going to keep the labs in the 15 permanently? or are you moving them to the 60? They should be in at least a 29g and when I did that even that was pushing it... You can keep 9 in a 60g fine... I wouldnt mix angels with them IMO.


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## Cichlid Man (Jan 19, 2005)

Instead of wasting your money on all of these poorly bred cichlids, why not try breeding your current labidochromis as they are a common beginners choice when it comes to breeding cichlids for the first time. All you need is to keep them on their own for a few months and be patient, and for god's sake don't let them mingle with your angelicus pims!


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## Vivid-Dawn (Jan 18, 2005)

Okay, I decided not to get Angels after all. 

emc7
The whole reason I wanted Scofoli, is that they were a nice blue. A’course, my whole tank is done in blues (even the background!) so they might get “lost” in it, anyway. I would like more yellow ..or even a white/gray/light species, but the only ones I can find are Bumblebee and the Electrics I have now. There’s “snowflake” ones at Petsmart, but they look more albino with red eyes, and albinos freak me out LOL

Lexus
Er...well, I had planned on moving them to the 60, when they were too big for the Pictus to eat. Or I could move them to the 60 first, and crowd my pictus in the 15 for a little while, so the Cichlids could grow faster in more room? I dunno!

Cichlid Man
I suppose I could breed ‘em...except I already have my Pictus! I like ‘em!
I’m _assuming_ the ones I got are juveniles, since they’re barely an inch long, and there was a whole bunch of them in the store tank. The other cichlids with them, and in the next tank were all at least 3 inches or more.
This would be another reason I should get a few more... I have no idea which ones are male or female. If I got more, there’d be more chance of getting at least one of either in the group.
I’ll also have to get more caves, and maybe some big rocks to bundle in a corner of the tank. The only kind of “rocks” I see at pet stores, are the plastic painted ones that are supposed to look real. Dunno if I like those very much, they’ve always got moss painted on ‘em... which in my opinion, just makes it look like algae LOL

Either way, I still want to quarantine for another week, so I have a bit of time to work all this out.


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## Lisachromis (Jan 19, 2005)

Pseudotropheus socolofi is also known as edwardi (or eduardi). Pindani was a trade name. They do need a decent sized tank. The 60g tank will be more than fine for the electric yellows (Labidochromis caeruleus). Adding more will up your chances of being able to breed them. (more chances for females) If you want rock for your tank, why not go to your local 'garden' centre and see if they have some decent looking granite or even limestone (to help with pH) rock for sale. It'll be cheaper than buying it at a petstore.


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## Vivid-Dawn (Jan 18, 2005)

I don't need any help with my pH, unless it's for lowering it. Right out of the tap, it's 8.2 ...and while I haven't tested the G/KH of it, I'll bet that's high too...it's so hard, there's mineral deposits on stuff after only a few weeks.

Tomorrow I'm going to a garden shop to get some white pebbles (it seems my black gravel is washing out the colors, since my Electric Yellows are now Drudgy Browns), and some bigger rocks to make hidey-holes with. I already have one small decoration cave, and I really want to get a big castle thing at the pet store...but extra couldn't hurt!

I'm not so concerned about breeding right now, as just keeping them alive and happy for now.


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## Lisachromis (Jan 19, 2005)

Don't make the substrate too light as that will wash out the colours on your fish. Fish tend to want to 'hide' and if the substrate is light, they'll lighten to match it.


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## Cichlid Man (Jan 19, 2005)

So what colour is your substate Lisachromis?


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## Orbital (Jun 11, 2005)

Alot of my setups are on a off-white crushed coral substrate, my 75 is a off-white aragonite substrate. I also have a few on darker gravel, and one older setup on some old ligher blue gravel. I don't really notice a difference with the color of the fish though. 

I have two types of Mbuna that are mostly a black bodied fish and they are on white substrate and look jet black most of the time when in dominant color.

BTW the 8 and 15 gallon tanks are too small for Malawi cichlids other then raising up their offspring. 29/30 gallons are the minimum I use for smaller less aggressive species. 55-75+ are best suited for bigger groups of cichlids.


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## Vivid-Dawn (Jan 18, 2005)

I moved the cichlids (all 5) into the 50 gallon tank, a couple days ago. My Pictus Catfish (and yes, I know they like softer water...) chased ‘em a few times, but apparently gave up on trying to bite off more than they could chew LOL

With light blue gravel under ‘em, they’re not brown anymore! Now they’re so pale, they’re almost the color of the inside of a lemon rind. A couple are getting fat... I’m hoping it’s not Dropsy (none of the scales are protruding yet...), but I think they’re too young to start filling with eggs.
I noticed they move in a group now, straying no more than half a foot away from each other. At the pet store, cichlids just seem to be ‘everywhere’, and in my 15 gallon tank, they also just sort of wandered around on their own. Now they’re hardly ever apart, unless one gets distracted with something and forgets to keep up with the others.

I bought some slow sinking “crumbles”, since they don’t seem to like going up for food (even in the 15 gallon). Though they must be eating something, to still be alive, I guess.


Anyhoo, I suppose I’ll see how this goes.
I may post a picture tomorrow night, after I do my weekly church activity and before I go to bed!


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