Electric Yellow Cichlid tank

[melrick1]

Hi there guys,

I am new to African cichlids - I have only realy done south american fish in the past. But trying something new and bought a colony of electric yellows. What are peoples experiences with these fish, the inside tips that you dont get in the books and internet :-)

Also looking at some electric blues and maybe some Demasoni. I think it would look amazing.

[zuri08]

What size tank do you have and how many fish did you purchase?very easy fish can be pretty agro lots of caves and places where line of vision can be broken and youl be sweet lots of space cant go wrong really

[TenyTinyKaz]

I'm pretty new to Africans myself and agree with zuri08, I found you should have plenty of them to help spread the aggression, lots of caves and territory boundaries / break line of sight helps to keep everyone happy. They are pretty easy going care wise, and if you have a sandy substrate they will dig to their heart's content, they will also breed like it's going out of fashion lol.

So far I have found they are a pretty easy care first African, they are fun to watch and can be so purposeful in their actions. I have two much larger Electric Blues with mine and they hardly seem to notice except to politely move out of the way if necessary.

[smidey]

to keep them well you need a 200L tank or larger IMO. also the key to keeping africans is to set up well, as above plenty of hiding places is a must. Aim for at least 6 times the tank volume of filtration per hour (200L tank aim for at least 1200lph canister filtration) and feed plenty of good food like NLS cichlid formula, JBL Novorift and Sera Granugreen and granured.

A good sized group, say 6 or more yellows will readily breed with the right ratio of male to female and adding the blues or dems has been done plenty of times with good success.

[GuppyHunter]

Ive seen plenty of people succeed at keeping the blues and yellows together... but in my experience the yellows pick on the blues something chronic

[ryanjury]

Electric yellows are probably one of the most passive african cichlids.. They will be fine with electric blues and demasoni, probably looking at a bare min of a 200L 4ft for adult fish, the electric blues being haps will possibly outgrow this but that will take a number of years.

[Caryl]

But don't the yellows and blues cross breed, producing ugly coloured fry?

[ryanjury]

The odds of the electric yellows and blues breeding together are low, yellows are mbuna and the electric blues are haps so it is less likely. As with any breeding in a mixed tank you would have to be very careful if you were breeding fish for sale, all africans can and will cross the only way to guarantee purity is to have species tanks.

[aer0]

But don't the yellows and blues cross breed, producing ugly coloured fry?

i think I have a few fish that are the result of this, or something along the lines of it.... ill take a photo tomorrow