Sarah D. - 2010-12-12 I have a 300 gal cichlid tank. jeweled, electric yellow, electric blue, calico, convict, and fire mouth.. I only have 1 actual pair of fish which are the jeweled, but my electric is on her 2nd set of babies :o) Can an electric yellow cross breed? I'm really not sure what it could be breeding with in there, because as I said, one of each kind of fish. I really don't have a great knowledge of fish. I kind of stepped into owning them by accident, but I must be doing something right, I have only live plants, and lots of rocks for hiding, and apparently a breeding pair, Can someone help me? If you know if they can cross breed, can you let me know. The babies are all different colors. All are very similar to their mother, ( all a base color of a creamy yellow) but some are dark, some are striped, others just have the black fins. Thanks so much...
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Anonymous - 2011-01-17 Hi yes the yellow can cross breed with many other mbuna cichlids but if I had to guess I would say it is breeding with the electric blue.
Nancy - 2011-01-09 Our electric yellow cichlids just had babies! It was a big surprise to us. All the babies look very diffrent from each oher. There are about 10 babies that we have seen but will they all be yellow in color as the parents or can they become diffrent colors? It looks likes some are blueish and some more yellow in color. Sorry 1st time fish owner. =/
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Anonymous - 2011-01-17 I have noticed that of my electric yellows have a tiny glimmer of blue. From what I understand the male takes on a blue tint as a mating color it could be these are males or that the 2 you breed were somewhere down the line cross bred and some of that cross breeding is showing in the fry.
Dan - 2011-01-17 The black is due to bad genetics I had a batch of about 20 and several started to turn black like that, I contacted a breeder who advised to dispatch the black ones and get another male with better features.
eileen - 2011-01-15 Help... my Electric Yellow has developed black freckled spots on his belly & now moving on to his fins & up his face... he is eating & swimming well any ideas...he is the only one in our 55gallon tank with this?
alafish - 2010-06-14 Hi, Just wanted to post my experience with yellow electric. It started with a male and female along with a small Australian blue lobster/crayfish. After about 5 days I found the female injured at the tail. My suspected was the lobster. He was moved out. She was dead in 1 day. Then I started adding fish over several days to my 55 G tank. This is the first time had a yellow electric. Eventually I added some tetras (for a total of 10 cardinals and 10 neons). it was peaceful for few weeks. Then the inevitable. The yellow started eating my fish. He is about 3 inches and very healthy but with enormous appetite. So he has to go in a separate tank with the lobster.. :( Finally just to mention that this guy was extremely territorial.
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tammy - 2010-09-05 Hi, the same thing happened with my electric yellows. I have only one left now and all I can put in with it is feeder fish (which it eats). I have a small lobster in with it as well and a big sucker fish which it leaves alone. I am no longer going to spend any more money on fish as it becomes very expensive when they keep being eaten, stick some feeders in with it, good luck.
Crystal - 2010-09-26 Didn't the people who sold you the electric yellow tell you that you can't keep them in a community tank? They are the most peaceful of the cichlids but they are still aggressive. Keep them in a tank with other mildly aggressive cichlids, but NEVER put them in a community tank. You really can't just put random fish together and hope for the best. Also cichlids are supposed to be housed in an aquarium with a much higher PH than tetras can handle.
brad - 2010-10-09 I agree. My fish is very territorial! I have 5 cichlids in a tank. The yellow one chases all the other fish around non stop. And if I try to add any other fish to the tank, the yellow one will attack it and kill it. Ohh and this fish also digs in the gravel.
Mike Doran - 2010-12-19 I have found that the Yellow Lab when kept with other cichlids or with larger fish will be shy and peaceful. In my opinion no African Cichlid should be kept with anything other than African Cichlids. Even the Yellow Lab will be more than territorial when kept with other fish. I have a 100 gallon tank with approx. 50 Yellow Labs and a large Pleco. Other fish are Electric Blues and the bully of the tank is what we call Yellow Fin an unidentified African. The blue and gold theme is for my college colors.
Anonymous - 2010-12-20 I totally agree with that statement I had 2 yellows and 2 other cichlids that were supposed to be more aggressive well let's just say I only have one yellow left bc he dominated the tank.
GAVIN - 2011-01-15 Your yellow electric is a mbuna cichlid, it's best to keep him with multiple mbuna, is your ph 7. 5 - 8. 5. . . . . It should be for yellow lab.
cheri raye - 2008-10-08 Okay okay....so electric yellows are only peaceful with their own kind, and if anyone thought it would be okay to put any smaller tropicals into the tank....well you have found out it isn't a wise thing to do unless of course its for live food. Amongst other cichlids they are territorial, but as a rule I have never had a problem as long as they are all of the cichlid family. Excluding convicts! I have 3 plecos and assorted electric blues and yellows, and silver dollars and the only time there is trouble is when they are hungry. Feeding daily will normally prevent them from being too aggressive. Since I wrote in 2004, I have had many many cichlids and many experiences, some not so wonderful, but most have been good.
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Gary - 2010-02-21 I have yellow labs in my four foot tank with 10 tiger barbs, 4 firemouths, 4 danios, 3 angelfish, 3 dwaf rainbows, and 2 golden loach. All get on ok but the tank is well planted and plenty of caves. The labs breed easy and have found fry all over the tank. Of course some do get to be food for the others but some make it to a size I can pass on to my mztes if they want some.
james peck - 2010-11-15 I have a 55 gallon with 2 elec. yellows and 2 pink convicts and 2 green terrors. The electric yellows are fine with other fish that can hang with there attitude and can defend themselves. All my fish are aggressive but equal so there is no problems. Actually all my pairs have had fry. Most of the time they have their fry at the same time. It's kind of cool how they divide the tank. The only pair that tends to lose their fry are the yellows since they stop watching their young after a week.
Shelley - 2010-02-08 My Electric yellows are in with gold fish, small tetras and anything else I wish to add. My fish are not aggressive! I have raised the small fry in with the other fish.
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Marcus Doherty - 2010-03-31 "I only have 1 yellow lab (and she is holding at the moment) she is in with 3 gold gourami's 2 red tetra and 3 black widow tetra and a pleco...everyone gets along brilliantly...
Marcus.
DEAN - 2010-07-02 How is she holding if she is the only one and shelley you might think yours are ok now but when they get bigger its not a matter of nice or mean its big fish eat little fish and cichlids get territorial.
Elo - 2010-10-12 Your small fry's days are numbered, just wait until the labs get a bit bigger. And even though labs are rather peaceful for Mbunas, they are territorial and will hurt other fish, particularly ones that move unpredictably such as plecos or pictus cats.
As for keeping goldfish with tropical fish, it is an okay thing to do, but goldfish tend to plow through their food and release a lot of ammonia waste into the tank, which will poison tropical fish without much trouble. It's best to keep goldfish separate from tropical fish. Goldfish also will live longer in cold water.
Lisa Bistodeau - 2010-10-11 I have 2 yellow cichlids that are not aggressive but I have a small balloon belly molly (about the size of a nickel) that follows them around and pokes them with his mouth like he is trying to bite them. I'm not worried about the cichlids but I just do not understand why the tiny fish would follow the huge fish?
fish man - 2009-06-04 Hi, had a male Yellow for 6 months now he is about 4 1/2 inches raised with a female Convict. Just added a 1 1/2 small Yellow male along with 1 small Yellow female, and same size Acei. So far so good-fingers crossed! My big male Yellow likes to try and threaten the 2 small yellows but when he trys to threaten the Acei, the Acei stands him off with a look of ya, so what! How ever befor adding them I did do a water change along with re arranging the tank with lots more slate,rocks,caves ect. I have found that my large Yellow is very territorial from day 1 months back and loves to dig all the time. Anyways love the site.
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Chuck - 2010-09-05 To answer the first persons question. I have had several yellow labs in a 135 gal. Tank and have had so many babies i sell them to the local pet store. It is normal for some labs to get this blackish bared look while some stay bright yellow. I am not sure why this is. I suspect it has to do with their rank in the tank but not sure. Also most of the darker ones seen to be females. The reason i know this is because i have seen them carry eggs. I have other cichlids with them and they will have babies more than almost any others. My demosonies are a close second but for some reason have a much higher survival rate. The young are just much smarter.
The bold striking colors of the Electric Yellow Cichlid have certainly helped it earn its name!
I have a 300 gal cichlid tank. jeweled, electric yellow, electric blue, calico, convict, and fire mouth.. I only have 1 actual pair of fish which are the jeweled, but my electric is on her 2nd set of babies :o) Can an electric yellow cross breed? I'm really not sure what it could be breeding with in there, because as I said, one of each kind of fish. I really don't have a great knowledge of fish. I kind of stepped into owning them by accident, but I must be doing something right, I have only live plants, and lots of rocks for hiding, and apparently a breeding pair, Can someone help me? If you know if they can cross breed, can you let me know. The babies are all different colors. All are very similar to their mother, ( all a base color of a creamy yellow) but some are dark, some are striped, others just have the black fins. Thanks so much...
Hi yes the yellow can cross breed with many other mbuna cichlids but if I had to guess I would say it is breeding with the electric blue.
Our electric yellow cichlids just had babies! It was a big surprise to us. All the babies look very diffrent from each oher. There are about 10 babies that we have seen but will they all be yellow in color as the parents or can they become diffrent colors? It looks likes some are blueish and some more yellow in color. Sorry 1st time fish owner. =/
I have noticed that of my electric yellows have a tiny glimmer of blue. From what I understand the male takes on a blue tint as a mating color it could be these are males or that the 2 you breed were somewhere down the line cross bred and some of that cross breeding is showing in the fry.
The black is due to bad genetics I had a batch of about 20 and several started to turn black like that, I contacted a breeder who advised to dispatch the black ones and get another male with better features.
Help... my Electric Yellow has developed black freckled spots on his belly & now moving on to his fins & up his face... he is eating & swimming well
any ideas...he is the only one in our 55gallon tank with this?
Hi, Just wanted to post my experience with yellow electric. It started with a male and female along with a small Australian blue lobster/crayfish. After about 5 days I found the female injured at the tail. My suspected was the lobster. He was moved out. She was dead in 1 day. Then I started adding fish over several days to my 55 G tank. This is the first time had a yellow electric. Eventually I added some tetras (for a total of 10 cardinals and 10 neons). it was peaceful for few weeks. Then the inevitable. The yellow started eating my fish. He is about 3 inches and very healthy but with enormous appetite. So he has to go in a separate tank with the lobster.. :(
Finally just to mention that this guy was extremely territorial.
Hi, the same thing happened with my electric yellows. I have only one left now and all I can put in with it is feeder fish (which it eats). I have a small lobster in with it as well and a big sucker fish which it leaves alone. I am no longer going to spend any more money on fish as it becomes very expensive when they keep being eaten, stick some feeders in with it, good luck.
Didn't the people who sold you the electric yellow tell you that you can't keep them in a community tank? They are the most peaceful of the cichlids but they are still aggressive. Keep them in a tank with other mildly aggressive cichlids, but NEVER put them in a community tank. You really can't just put random fish together and hope for the best. Also cichlids are supposed to be housed in an aquarium with a much higher PH than tetras can handle.
I agree. My fish is very territorial! I have 5 cichlids in a tank. The yellow one chases all the other fish around non stop. And if I try to add any other fish to the tank, the yellow one will attack it and kill it. Ohh and this fish also digs in the gravel.
I have found that the Yellow Lab when kept with other cichlids or with larger fish will be shy and peaceful. In my opinion no African Cichlid should be kept with anything other than African Cichlids. Even the Yellow Lab will be more than territorial when kept with other fish. I have a 100 gallon tank with approx. 50 Yellow Labs and a large Pleco. Other fish are Electric Blues and the bully of the tank is what we call Yellow Fin an unidentified African. The blue and gold theme is for my college colors.
I totally agree with that statement I had 2 yellows and 2 other cichlids that were supposed to be more aggressive well let's just say I only have one yellow left bc he dominated the tank.
Your yellow electric is a mbuna cichlid, it's best to keep him with multiple mbuna, is your ph 7. 5 - 8. 5. . . . . It should be for yellow lab.
Okay okay....so electric yellows are only peaceful with their own kind, and if anyone thought it would be okay to put any smaller tropicals into the tank....well you have found out it isn't a wise thing to do unless of course its for live food.
Amongst other cichlids they are territorial, but as a rule I have never had a problem as long as they are all of the cichlid family. Excluding convicts! I have 3 plecos and assorted electric blues and yellows, and silver dollars and the only time there is trouble is when they are hungry. Feeding daily will normally prevent them from being too aggressive. Since I wrote in 2004, I have had many many cichlids and many experiences, some not so wonderful, but most have been good.
I have yellow labs in my four foot tank with 10 tiger barbs, 4 firemouths, 4 danios, 3 angelfish, 3 dwaf rainbows, and 2 golden loach. All get on ok but the tank is well planted and plenty of caves. The labs breed easy and have found fry all over the tank. Of course some do get to be food for the others but some make it to a size I can pass on to my mztes if they want some.
I have a 55 gallon with 2 elec. yellows and 2 pink convicts and 2 green terrors. The electric yellows are fine with other fish that can hang with there attitude and can defend themselves. All my fish are aggressive but equal so there is no problems. Actually all my pairs have had fry. Most of the time they have their fry at the same time. It's kind of cool how they divide the tank. The only pair that tends to lose their fry are the yellows since they stop watching their young after a week.
My Electric yellows are in with gold fish, small tetras and anything else I wish to add. My fish are not aggressive! I have raised the small fry in with the other fish.
"I only have 1 yellow lab (and she is holding at the moment) she is in with 3 gold gourami's 2 red tetra and 3 black widow tetra and a pleco...everyone gets along brilliantly...
Marcus.
How is she holding if she is the only one and shelley you might think yours are ok now but when they get bigger its not a matter of nice or mean its big fish eat little fish and cichlids get territorial.
Your small fry's days are numbered, just wait until the labs get a bit bigger. And even though labs are rather peaceful for Mbunas, they are territorial and will hurt other fish, particularly ones that move unpredictably such as plecos or pictus cats.
As for keeping goldfish with tropical fish, it is an okay thing to do, but goldfish tend to plow through their food and release a lot of ammonia waste into the tank, which will poison tropical fish without much trouble. It's best to keep goldfish separate from tropical fish. Goldfish also will live longer in cold water.
I have 2 yellow cichlids that are not aggressive but I have a small balloon belly molly (about the size of a nickel) that follows them around and pokes them with his mouth like he is trying to bite them. I'm not worried about the cichlids but I just do not understand why the tiny fish would follow the huge fish?
Hi, had a male Yellow for 6 months now he is about 4 1/2 inches raised with a female Convict. Just added a 1 1/2 small Yellow male along with 1 small Yellow female, and same size Acei. So far so good-fingers crossed! My big male Yellow likes to try and threaten the 2 small yellows but when he trys to threaten the Acei, the Acei stands him off with a look of ya, so what! How ever befor adding them I did do a water change along with re arranging the tank with lots more slate,rocks,caves ect. I have found that my large Yellow is very territorial from day 1 months back and loves to dig all the time. Anyways love the site.
To answer the first persons question. I have had several yellow labs in a 135 gal. Tank and have had so many babies i sell them to the local pet store. It is normal for some labs to get this blackish bared look while some stay bright yellow. I am not sure why this is. I suspect it has to do with their rank in the tank but not sure. Also most of the darker ones seen to be females. The reason i know this is because i have seen them carry eggs. I have other cichlids with them and they will have babies more than almost any others. My demosonies are a close second but for some reason have a much higher survival rate. The young are just much smarter.
How to get mother cichlid to release her babies?