A problem with tankmates
- Thread starter jaymekelley
- Start date
I can only see from what the pictures reveal - some better ones of ALL the tankmates would help, but it appears you have a pair of Kenyi cichlids .....the orange one with bars down it's sides is the male, the blue would likely be the female unless it is a different species or hybrid of some type. It also looks like you have a Black-and-white Convict which are Central American and likely not tough enough to stand up to a vicious pair or even a male Kenyi alone, but in pairs, Convicts breed prolifically and often take over half the tank or more.
Sand-sifting and digging through gravel is just a normal behavior all cichlids exhibit for one reason or another. I would choose either African or South and Central Americans and trade-in the rest you decide not to keep. If you keep the Kenyis, the male will require a harem of females (1M ; 3-5F) while SA/CAs should do just fine with 1 of each species. When I keep smaller SA/CA cichlids in a tank w/ larger more aggressive cichlids, I do intentionally keep the smaller species in pairs to raise their aggression levels so they are able to hold their own and fend-off the larger dominant fish being bullies.
Post some more pix for now, try to get every fish for us and then we can give better advice which direction would be appropriate.
I suspected the blue one was a Blue Dolphin, but upon a closer look, it seems to have similar vertical bars like the male Kenyi so either way better pix would help. As I said, it could also be a hybrid KenyiXBlue Dolphin so THEIR offspring would be even more diluted 3rd generation hybrids.
Little brown one with bands. I think this is the one that came with the big blue and orange ones, they were the only three fish in her tank so I'm thinking maybe this is their baby?
This one hides most of the time so it was hard to get a decent pic. When he pops his top fin up he has a thin line of bright red along the length of the fin
