# Small lab in 20 gallon



## mhsrunner (Aug 1, 2006)

Now that my tank is cycled ill be getting either one or two small yellow labs tomrow for my 20 gallon. They are no bigger than an inch long. In a tank that large with that much empty water space, should it be difficult for the fish to find food i put in there? Will it just swim aimlessly and no realize theres food on the surface, or am i worrying to much? thanks


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## Gourami Swami (Jul 4, 2006)

Your worrying too much, I think. 20 gallons isnt big at all. but one or two fish isnt really enough. you may want to get a couple more females because males like harems and also, africans need company. 2 fish will be lonely and will hide lots of the time in rock formations or caves. Id get a couple more females. 4 would be a good number. africans are pretty easy to train. i think if you get enough fish so they dont hide, they will realize its feeding time, and when I walk by my tank, all my africans follow me because they think ill maybe give them some extra food. Mine even eat from my hand, so I wouldnt worry about it.


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## mhsrunner (Aug 1, 2006)

Flakes i guess would be easier to start them on, since i can swirl them around and get it around the water column so they get used to it. Do i need to switch them to pellets like i did with my oscars or are flakes an ok staple for smaller africans like labs? thanks for the quick reply


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## Guest (Aug 5, 2006)

i feed my yellow labs a mixture of crushed TetraMin Tropical Crisps and flake food. They eat it like a hungry pack of wolves along with my baby fronts and have been doing very well.


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## mhsrunner (Aug 1, 2006)

Is there a way to tell (besides venting) the difference in male and female yellow labs?...how do i know really what im shooting for/choosing in trying to get one male and several females?..how do i know if i didnt just get all females?...


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## Cichlid Man (Jan 19, 2005)

mhsrunner said:


> Is there a way to tell (besides venting) the difference in male and female yellow labs?...how do i know really what im shooting for/choosing in trying to get one male and several females?..how do i know if i didnt just get all females?...


Just take a risk and guess!
I know that this isn't much help, but once I bought 5 firemouth cichlids. After about 6 months two pairs formed with one loner. I put another firemouth in the tank and within a few weeks I had three breeding pairs with fry!
What luck.
Also, firemouths are even harder to sex then labs so you should have no problems.


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## Gourami Swami (Jul 4, 2006)

Omega one kelp flake food is a very good quality flake food that would be a good staple. My fish also love to eat from my little cabomba forest i have in my tank. and there is sufficient protein in the omega one food, so they dont need an external supply. As a treat every few days give them some mashed peas or greenbeans, and mine also like chopped edimame.


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## Zildjian-Man (Jan 26, 2006)

I have smaller cichlids than you're talking about, and they all see the food on the surface, so I don't think you should worry about that. Also I feed my cichlids pellet food, but I crush it up into smaller pieces and they seem to like it.


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## Osiris (Jan 18, 2005)

To get the nice bright yellow out of them, i have discovered feeding them live plants like cabomba does the trick. I always keep live plants in with them for them to eat and suppliment with a higher protein food like new life spectrum.

As for sexing them like Cichlid_man stated, it's just a shot in the dark, they are amongest hardest cichlids to sex.

as far as the tank, it's perfect size could even add 6 more to it. People breed these in 10g tanks.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

The two lower front fins get black in the males when they get older, they also tend to get bigger and more aggressive. You prob. can't sex them at that size. Try to get big ones and little ones, the hardest to catch is a female


> People breed these in 10g tanks


 Don't try this at home. I did have a female "get chinny" in my bare 15 gallon fry tank. She was less than 2 inches long and release one 3/8" fry after I put her in a 5 gallon tank. They can get 6 inches long. I'd recommend 8-10 in a 55 gallon tank.


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## Osiris (Jan 18, 2005)

well yea if they get that large then gonna want to breed them in bigger tank, mine are 1.75-2" that are breeding


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