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bettalover77

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May 27, 2010
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Alex
hi, I'm kinda new to african cichlids and I have a roughly 50 gallon hexagon tank with 5 labeotropheus trewavasae and one labidochromis caerueus should I add a cynotilapia afra and if not, what, if anything should I add?




ps. I feel like I should add something to have more "targets" for the dominant yellow lab.:nilly::1zhelp:
 

Pittbull

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You should be ok adding some Afra's i would add like 6 of them though..
 

bettalover77

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Thankyou, do you think I shoul add them, space is already at a premium I could add a few more rocks and restructure them. What would the make female ratio be in that 6?
Thankyou again
 
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Pittbull

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Yeah i totally did not pay attention to the Hex part, for some reason i was thinking like a 50gal breeder tank, Really you only have like 6 fish total for a 50gal Hex which in terms for an African tank is low density on the fish load for Africans but you have limited floor space in comparison to water volume. If the fish are still small and the Afras are going to be small you could add the 6 Afras and see what transforms but if you want to play it safe just add 3, sex ratio is unwarranted when the fish are small and is up to the keeper to split the difference when you are able to do so. If you can determine the sex go for one male and rest females.
 

bettalover77

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ok, thankyou thats kinda what i thought thanks for the advice!
 

Pittbull

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No problem i hope everything works out for you..
 

bettalover77

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ok... a little update, I got a trio of afra cobue and the one I presume is the male is a light chocolate brown and is just starting to get slight light blue bands and yellow egg spots, I AM REALLY IMPATIENT! :( :help: do you or anybody else with experience with these know how long it takes for these guys to color up
he is roughly 2-2.5 inches and his girls are around one inch.


thankyou very much!
 

efors

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Jun 17, 2008
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How did the L. trewavasae welcome the afra newcomers? If the male afra feels a little bit scared, you will have to wait until he establishes well enough in the tank. Just be patient.
 

bettalover77

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well... my dad's freind misidentified the "trewavasae" i did a little research and I think that the fish I have are fuelleborni, this is partially because they are the fish I have are fatter than trewavasae I have seen and because my yellow lab beats my adult male up and is king of the tank. the little afra male is really small and is getting picked on by the fuelleborni females, my adult and juvenile males leave him alone. the pictures are outdated, I have since added more rocks.

here are some pictures of my labeotropheus

_MG_9100.JPG _MG_9105.JPG
 

efors

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It seems you are correct and that's good because trewavasae are more aggressive than fuelleborni. Good idea the addition of more rocks. From what you say, it seems that the male afra will have to establish himself in the group, before he can color up.
 
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