herefishiefishie

Yep, she's a great looking convict, great pic. Frenchy

Kadango's are a pretty cool fish, males are great looking when they are grown up. Females can be delicate. I think the Copadichromis belongs in the Utaka group. From reading posts by others there seem to be a few peacocks around. Bit hard to gauge from this side of the ditch. :roll: Frenchy

There is a very good chance they will cross breed. :-? If you have a cobalt blue both males & females are blue. If the other fish is a red zebra,(Metriaclima estherae 'Pulu Point') can tell be they have red/orange colouring in their eyes. then both males & females are red. if you bought these as such, I'd say that is what you have, both species here in Aussie, are everywhere So just keep shopping around for more cobalt blues, best to buy in a group of 6 to 10 and get rid of excess males later on. What krib is referring to is a different species of fish again. Frenchy

Peacocks & zebras are easy to tell apart, by shape of body... heres the albino pindani I used to have, they are in Brads display tank now, Frenchy

Thats what most here are too, though there are some now with names, eg; Albino Pindani. (Pseudotropheus socolofi) Albinos are either loved or hated, I think the different colour/eyes.... makes a nice look to a display tank. Frenchy

Any idea on what type of Zebra they are? Frenchy

If they have lasted this long, then hopefully they have the smarts to survive long enough not to be a food source. Frenchy

yep tank will be to small, may do the 1 or 2 oscars(if they get along :roll: ) for a little while to you find a bigger tank. Frenchy

Depends on what u mean by community. I have guppies in with the white calvus, as they feed off the babies the guppies drop. In the wild calvus specialise in hunting, stalking baby fish.....calvus can fit into tiny spaces as of their compressed shape. If calvus are breeding they won't let anything near their cave, but the same 3 guppies have been alive in the tank for about a year now, with no real marks on them. Problem is Calvus are from Lake Tangy, the water there is very Alkaline, water is very hard...so having them in with some community fishies from the softer Amazonian waters won't work. Frenchy

:lol: I have thought of possible mishaps,(paranoid... ) so grabbed some when they have come up. 4 of them are still about 6 months from maturaity. At least 2 of them are guys. (got these from melbourne, breeder) Out of the next 3, about a year away from breeding, 1m 2f (from bloke up the road, via city in the far West, from another place outside of this country...but shhh) These have done more miles than me. :lol: Frenchy

Just to give another update. Yesterday I took a second batch of babies off the female. All up between the 2 batches there are about 60 babies. Not big numbers, but I'll take what I can get :lol: On Xmas day I noticed the other female hiding in a barnacle shell & won't go far from the entrance either. Yesterday I looked into her shell & yes she has laid eggs :bounce: So the lucky Bas...d of a male is doing a great job with both girls. :roll: I will try to get some photos later. bit hard when the bubs are so tiny... Frenchy

I'd say could be a couple of health problems in there. Have a look at this site http://www.fishyfarmacy.com/fish_diseases/fins.html If you are sure your water is fine, temp, oxygen levels.... Then i'd be looking at fish like the banded laproscomis, these guys can be a problem in a tank. Red heads, Jacks can be agro buggers, to eat only fins :-? If the parrots are breeding then they could inflict some damage. But for a midas or a flowerhorn at there sizes, and get damaged, I'd say they had a problem health wise first. Frenchy

Kenyi's are agro buggers, usually to much for a docile cichlid like a e.yellow. Also the males sort of don't get the fact that if a girl is holding she really can't breed any more & he will continue to annoy the female. :roll: That is why colonies are suggested,eg;1m 5f the more girls the better. or if its hard to find more girls, as said above, seperate female. Frenchy

Maybe just settling into there new surroundings, if the ph/gh/kh is different to what they are used to, that can cause stress & heavy breathing. I have had some cichlids added to new tanks do that, yet at the same time other newbies are fine. Give a couple of caves, a dark spot in the tank, check water, see how they go. Frenchy

Depends on the cichlid, americans can handle the higher heat. Tangy's don't like it over 29 degrees, people here lose these guys in summer here. Malawis bit tougher than Tangys, but I still wouldn't keep the temp at 30. try and get the temp down to 27. Frenchy

jack up a UV steriliser, long term solution Frenchy

Yes its possible. Very probable if she is young. Frenchy

Poor attitude, :-? cheers funny i thought that of Cess by the way he posted to me, first time he asks about my photos & he goes "and fix it!!!" with the 3 !'s :lol: Thats why I said why bother, pretty simple really, not attitude. Be better to say I noticed you have large pics, here are the rules incase you have missed them, can you please do something about it. :roll: sounds a bit better ah 8) Dial-up different, really?? funny that my realations in NZ say its s*&t just like here :lol: & you do lose quality with down sizing. But then again I did give views from both sides, I do see where the mods come from, thanks for noting that. Yep, agree with you 100% on that one. Frenchy

I can see where Paul is coming from, sometimes a bigger pic shows more detail. eg; My fish stripping pic, I would of liked to have left as bigger. & as for fish tank shots, shrinking a 10 ft fish tank down to 640. I see where the admins are coming from, Cause it could get out of hand. I thought of asking if I can post a bigger picture on occassions, but when I reiceve I thought why bother, As for dial up, I am on dial up half the times. I have no dramas waiting for a pic. Usually I have a couple of pages open & while waiting for a pic to download i check out other posts...not hard. Frenchy

Hope all goes well. My only suggestion is to add more females. Frenchy

Good point about the gravel, I read a while ago, substarct with just shell grit/ coral sand...can cause gill irritation. Death though :-? Seeing as fronnies dig up subtract more than comps, maybe that could be it. What you said about under sized fronnies is what Deagon said too. Thanks for the reply Shelly. I will post up asking how he went. Frenchy

Yeah all the comments above were mentioned in one form or another. http://www.qldcichlid.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=2106 Frenchy

I guy on a forum in these parts posted this, to which he got the ph, ammonia, oxygen, temp, water changes........ Then he replied with Hey, they stay to the very bottom of the tank, hugging the substrate very lethargic! nThey have more then enough air, actually overkill comparted to any tank i have ever seen. the fronts are the only effected thus rulling out ammonia, nitrite and nitrate ( i have had the water tested so this is an informed conclusion). Tank temp is 28C and goes no higher. They have gone almost 6 months without a single health complaint. All this time weekly 50% water changes buffered with tanganyikan buffer and conditioned with prime. What do you all think? Frenchy

Some very nice pics. Frenchy

I stripped an acei today(20 odd young, I never count :roll: ) & noted 3 more holding, problem is they all look the same. 1 of the 4 was holding last week. I guess next week I have go by which girl has the bigger mouthfull. Frenchy