helen38

we have a tank of malawi cichlids, any help in identifying what sort would be grately appreciated. they are in a 4ft tank, approx 2ft high and 1ft wide, there are 13 fish altogether and wondered if its classed as overstocked.

Amanda

Well, there are the zebras.
And then some Yellow Labs.
And I'm bad at IDing anything blue, b/c all the blue cichlids look alike to me.

helen38

how do i tell the difference in male and female, the pinky/orangey ones which i think are red zebras have dots on there anal fin, one has 3 dots, the other about 7

Amanda

Sexing info at the bottom

http://www.aquariumlife.net/profiles...bra/100019.asp

Angela_96

The orange colored ones are met red zebra (red) species, they are female. The number of egg spots doesn't matter in sexing that fish, the color is it.The males are a deeper orange than the females.
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profile...es.php?id=1730

The Lab in the picture is a female as well.
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profile...es.php?id=1669

The spoted one in the back is a Nimbochromis venustus a type of hap.
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profile...es.php?id=1160

Telling the difference in the male/female malawis are different between the species, there are some where the female is one color (blue) and male is a yellow then their are some that the colors on the anal fin are different. And the other species where the female is a dull color and the male is a brighter color.

For a 55g tank you can stock from 13-15 cichlids easy w/o being overstocked, it just needs to have frequent water changes, and over filitration (example, in my 55 I have 15? cichlids and a eheim ecco canister and a biowheel on it as well). I do 2 times a week waterchanges w/ one time vaccuming the tank.


Here is a cookie cutter for stocking a 55g:
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profile...es.php?id=1669

Angela_96

I wouldn't go on the egg spots, there are some males that have 7+ egg spots and females in the zebra group. I have a female red zebra that has only 1 egg spot.

helen38

thanks for all your info, i have a blueish coloured one with an orange blob on his head (bottom pic) any ideas what he is?

helen38

sorry for all the questions but im pretty sure i have some of each sex, one of them has taken control of a plant pot and is moving gravel out then chasing what i now know is the male red zebra, could this be the start of breeding?

Angela_96

Do you have any more pictures of the blue one? I can't really tell from that pic.

helen38

il try and take one and put it on

Angela_96

The male will do the chasing, and the female around here anal area will be pooched out and look like she is getting ready to pop out eggs.
when they breed they will swim head to tail cycles w/ each other.
Otherwise they are just showing territories.

BTW they don't do well w/ plants they will dig them up and eat them. I would get some structures in the tank like caves, I use limestone to build their caves in my tanks, and I also use crushe coral for a substrate (it keeps the pH and alkalinity up)

helen38

there is no plants, the pic im about to put up is of 2 of them, the stripey one seems to have an opening, they have caves and plant pots to hide in

helen38

the plant is a fake one in pot

this one we have no idea either, we call him mick after mick jagger cos hes got huge lips

Amanda

I think the bottom one is also a zebra.
They sometimes come in mottled form.

helen38

the 4 yellow labs i have, 2 have black stripes and 2 dont, is this a male/female thing?

Angela_96

The ones witht he prominent black on their fins are males, the others are female.

For the blue fish I think the one closer to the camera is a kenyi, but more of a LFS quality. The one in the back looks like possibly a red top zebra which is a completly different species all together than the red zebras. If the cichlids are less than 3 inches I will say the one in the back could be a kenyi changing to male colors, they will look orange/yellow/blue for a month before they morph into male coloration.

By the way there is no met est. (red zebra) species that has black striping.

helen38

blimey i never realised there was so much of a diiference between them all

Amanda

OB Red Zebra:
http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/fish/redzebra.php

Angela_96

I never realized that they were all so different until I started keeping and breeding cichilds. I have worn out the Ad Konings book "Malawi Cichlids in their Natural Habitat" I don't recomend reading it unless you can stand the "text book" style books. It was the only book out there that contained all the discovered species of cichilds (there are 1000's of them) and the scientific reasons for the classifications of species.

Certain ones have bigger teeth, mouth, the way their fins are shaped, etc. Its really intresting to me.


Here is what I am going w/ on your spotted cichild:
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profile...es.php?id=2305

You say that its lips/mouth are huge and so are the Labeotropheus fuelleborni species.

This is the only "true" OB cichild, they have to have a certain pattern of spots/colors to qualify for the OB name.

I am still sticking to the Met species for the barred cichild, most likely a female kenyi, or like I said the age will tell if its a juvie it could be a male that hasn't morphed yet.