# One yellow lab is weird



## phlyergirl (Nov 6, 2011)

Okay guys, I asked back in December about some african cichlids and went with the suggestion of demasoni and yellow labs. So far I have four yellow labs, about 4 inches long, and 6 demasoni which are about 2 inches, maybe some of them 1.5 inches. I'm going to get 2 more labs and 6-8 more demasoni but I'm giving the biofilter time to adjust plus I added a new filter a couple weeks ago since I plan on overstocking this tank (now have 12x filtration YEAH!) so I want that to get colonized. Surprisingly, the demasoni have been very well behaved and it's the labs that are the problem.

Anyway, question is three of the labs will spend most of their time down around the rocks or in the rocks. The fourth spends most of his time in the top corner of the tank staring at the wall. When he ventures down near the rocks he gets chased by one of the other labs until he goes back to his spot and then they all leave him alone. Feeding time they all get plenty and when they're startled he does go down and hide in the rocks but when they settle he goes right back up to the corner. What's the deal? Would having more help?


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## kay-bee (Dec 6, 2006)

Mbuna's are social fish which form hierarchies. It appears that the yellow lab in question occupies the bottom of the totem pole in terms of dominance.

Do you know what genders your labs are?

Adding two more labs as planned may grant this yellow lab an opportunity to gain some dominance (at least over the two new ones). Normally, though even the fish at the bottom of the totem pole shouldn't be hiding out in the top corners of the aquarium. It's also possible it may grow out of it as it matures but keep an eye out on any physically aggression directed at this fish. It appears the other labs already have it 'singled out'.

As for the demasonis, conspecific aggression among the demasoni's will become evident when they enter the 2.5"-3" size range. Increasing their numbers from 6 to 12-14 is a good decision.


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## phlyergirl (Nov 6, 2011)

I have no idea of their genders and really don't know how to sex them either.

Another question, when I get the new ones does it matter if they are the same size? Because these guys are much bigger than what I usually see available so the new ones might be smaller.


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