? on cichlid tank

I think I get it. So cobue,chinuni and lumbila are all the same species because they have Cynotilapia afra before their name. Nkhata bay, Lions Cove I, and kakusa are all the same species because they have labidochromis caeruleus before their name. Did I get it?:-/

 

as some have mentioned higher ph is almost a must for there temperment as well as color i just keep a small bag of aragonite in my filter and change it every 6 months and i found start from the beginning run chcilid lake salt from seachem works great with ro/di water and lots of hideing places i too liked the texas holey rock for astedics as well as it has tons of holes and have had good luck with some driftwood as well

the biggest thing to watch out for is eggs if there happy thell breed and thay get verry protective of them if you see eggs time for qt theres nothing worse than a mama protecting her babys i had 1 3 inch electric blue holding back 6 others bigger than her with no problems that was the only time i had issues with haveing chcilids

oh and as you add fish slowly when ever you add do it an hour or more after lights out and move some of the rock arround that dont seem to be a hideing place for any of them

 

It's not a "before thier name" thing .. that is thier name..

The part in brackets is thier location where collected in the wild that has a different "colour morph"

Cynotilapia = Genus
afra = Species
Cobue = location/colour morph

Genus and species are always properly written in italics where the common names, locations or morph is writin in standard.

Also not that the first letter in the genus is capitalised and the first letter in the species is not. (not even if it is a title to a book or article is the species to be capitalised)

a SW example is the Mandrin Goby.. Pterosynchiropus splendidus is the proper latin genus species name.

MandarinFish

Shows the scientific name in italics and ALL other names are normal (family can be written either way as a note but if written as a 3 set name should be italics as well ie. Callionymidae Pterosynchiropus splendidus )

 

Agreed most cichlids are VERY protective of thier eggs/fry.. a single small pair will put the run on a whole tank of fish (or fishes LOL) many times thier size.

The normally passive fish can become quite the agressor when it's protecting it's brood be it a surface spawner or a mouth brooder.

I really gotta take some new pics of my tanks! ( 5 FW and 1 SW running atm.)

Also gotta break up my Jewel cichlids have a few pairs that will not stop breeding. grrrrrr

 

Thanks for the info.

So is it more important to match genius, species, location or temperment and conspecific temperment?

 

If you are looking to breed stay in the same genus, species and location.

If you are looking for a display tank only then it really is a toss up depending on the decor (hiding places etc) size of the tank and experience.

conspecific temperment may or may not include morphs(other locations) in some species one colour morph will not breed with another colour morph. in other they will readily. Safer and 'purer" to not mix morphs though it happens/people do it all the time..

An example on the south american cichlid side. I have Heros efasciatus (Turquoise) that I breed. http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=514
I will not add any other Heros http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/category.php?cat=32 species to that same tank.

Though I do have THREE different African species in the tank with them..
Labidochromis caeruleus (Lion's Cove II)http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=1665 , Hemichromis guttatus http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=1348 , and Tramitichromis sp. "Intermedius" http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=1279 .

That tank takes a lil bit of balance work to keep the peace as most really don't like to mix southies and rifties but it can be done.. There is also a Green Botia (type of loach) and 3 male Ancistrus sp. plecos in with them.

 

Thanks, I really miss them. Yeah it gets a little darker over time but I like it, but as you can tell the 55 have about 1/2 and 1/2.

 

Here's a crappy Blackberry shot taken of the above mentioned tank awhile ago.


You can see the different species and continents represented as well.. Have had each one breed multiple times with that same layout as well. (minus the loach and plecos of course since the loach is single that I just can't bare to net and part with, and the plecos were specifically selected as large males)

 

That's a nice tank.

I'm not interested in breeding right now. What ration of male to female for each species should I get. Should I even get females if I'm not planning on breeding?

 

If you aren't wanting / planning to breed at all I would try and stay with all males if possible for the colour.