Acei Cichlids

Italy592

Italy592

Members
I am relatively new to this forum. I am on a few other ones though but I have a question bout my acei cichlids. I had bought 3 acei young juveniles and put them in my tank. One died It just didn't acclimate right because te other two are thriving !!! Heres the thing I have been trying to sex them and I know venting is the best it just sucks because it's hard at the moment I don't have time to sit an watch just at te moment so I got a few tips not guarantees but tips like the male has more than 1 egg spots n females just have one and color makes are more colorful!! Now I noticed one acei had more than one egg spot ao I thought I had a male but now I noticed the other acei is shaking at the other acei.

My questions are 1 can of he shaking does that mean the other acei is a female deff ?? 2 or could he be shaking just because ???


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hollyfish2000

hollyfish2000

Members
A few things:

acei do better in groups and mbuna in general need to be overstocked and with appropriate rock, etc. You don't mention what else is in the tank nor how big it is. Generally speaking they need a four-foot tank, although I had one in a peacock tank once that was only a three-foot tank and he did fine
shaking can be aggression or romantic behavior

Why do you care the gender? If you want to breed, just get a bunch more and watch . . .
 
fischfan13

fischfan13

Banned
hollyfish2000 said:
A few things:

acei do better in groups and mbuna in general need to be overstocked and with appropriate rock, etc. You don't mention what else is in the tank nor how big it is. Generally speaking they need a four-foot tank, although I had one in a peacock tank once that was only a three-foot tank and he did fine
shaking can be aggression or romantic behavior

Why do you care the gender? If you want to breed, just get a bunch more and watch . . .
Click to expand...

The Lady with the plants and the Greyhound just hit a Home Run!

+1
 
Italy592

Italy592

Members
I have a 80 gallon tank !! It's tank mates are acei, yellow labs, a red empress female, fire fish, Frontosa ( I know when the Frontosa gets bigger I'm going to relocate ) I also have baby Tropheus. I have 140 gallon filtration running on this tank and two different air stones running in this tank for extra oxygen !!


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verbal

verbal

CCA Members
That is a pretty good start. How many acei and yellow labs do you have? I would build groups of those. They are mbunas, but among the more peaceful, and you should be able to get them to breed.

The Frontosa will get big, but you should be able to rehome him. The wild card in my mind is the fire fish, but unless you have a nasty one it should probably work.

The tropheus in a primarily Malawi tank is a little different, but has been know to work. However unless they are the focus of the tank, only an individual Tropheus will really work.
 
Italy592

Italy592

Members
Well that what it is is just one baby tropheus and I have a adult male an female yellow lab that have breed twice already and I have 3 acei juveniles I vented 2 they are males and the one idk it's too young still should I go buy like 2 more acei's ??


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Italy592

Italy592

Members
Listen i put up my tanks size a couple post ago its 80 gallons ..... second my lab numbers are fine it works fine the way it is im asking about the acei number manily


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hollyfish2000

hollyfish2000

Members
Sorry, you said 80 gallons.

I don't like mixing lakes, personally, except for synos. So if this was my tank, I'd probably do something like:

six labs
six acei
one red empress or taiwan reef male only

I'd remove the frontosa, the female hap and the tropheus. by fire fish do you mean the manmade peacock also known by various names, dragon blood, etc. I think they look fake myself, but he should be OK in a tank instead of the hap.

You could probably also do a third group of mild mbuna, like "rusties" in addition to the list above.
 
verbal

verbal

CCA Members
I think adding 3 acei would be a good idea.

One thing to watch out for is the frontosa. Although they aren't very aggressive, they are predatory and have pretty big mouths.
 
Italy592

Italy592

Members
I have been keeping fish for over 3 years now never had a problem with mixing lakes before my frontosa is going to get relocate wen it starts getting bigger , the tropheus i only have one in there because i like the color but its just for display the labs i have came to me as a mated pair and have reproduced twice and i have the babies that are young juveniles now growing up in the tank so im not going to get more labs as for the acei i think im going to get two more because i have 3 acei already


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DiscusnAfricans

DiscusnAfricans

Past President
Italy592 said:
I have been keeping fish for over 3 years now never ...
Click to expand...
Why do some people ask for advice and then argue against it? Its not worth asking the question if you're only looking to find the answer you think you already know.

If you ask questions, listen to the advice and don't attack the people that offer it. If someone didn't see the tank size was listed, repeat it. Other people probably didn't see it either.

And starting off a sentence with this statement will never gain you any credibility... There are people on this forum offering advice who have been keeping fish longer than you've been alive.
 
Italy592

Italy592

Members
Your right i am sorry i just get alittle frustrated sometimes because im trying to find out answers and all people do is criticize on here i understand people have had fish longer than i have been alive but i would like to stick to the topic on this thread not vary off on everything people think im doing wrong the tank size your right i should of just posted back up thats my fault but i stand strong with people can advise than there are people that just criticize im sorry if i asked about the frontosa should be left in there then fine but i didnt i asked about my acei thats all im saying.


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DiscusnAfricans

DiscusnAfricans

Past President
People just like to offer advice based on the situation. Sometimes people ask the wrong questions. But everyone is here to help. People were commenting on the frontosa and others because they seemed to be more of a problem than the acei themselves.

For mbuna, a larger group is generally more successful. Adding more acei to the group will improve the success of tankmates getting along, and potential breeding. Yellow tail acei will get big though, and could possibly outgrow an 80 gallon depending on the other stock. They are pretty mellow as far as mbuna go, so they fare better with cichlids of similar temperament, i.e. yellow labs. Once the tropheus gets bigger, it may become a bully, even if its the smallest fish in the tank.

If the acei are the main focus you want to build the tank around, the advice offered by others is sound to help improve the likelihood of success.
 
Italy592

Italy592

Members
Ok i can understand what your saying i guess in ways i can say im wrong and other ways i dont but i thank you for speaking up takes true person too. I was wrong, but heres my plan i started this tank just to display i got a mated pair of yellow labs and the red empress female an fire fish female and the tropheus. Than i wanted more blue so i chose the Acei similar temperament and conditions. But than i saw a baby frontosa for 5 dollars i research it and there normally 10 -15 dollars so i purchased him just to see him grow alil enjoy him than eventually relocate it i know alil stupid but i couldn't help it. So far hes gotten along great with everyone on the tank so its ok for now. The tropheus alone ive been told itll be ok like i said if he gets big enough causing problems ill relocate the tropheus and frontosa to a whole new tank !! but when i kept reading on acei i loved them. Than my labs started breeding like rabbits and i wanted my acei to do the same so i have two males(deff) and one female (i think) i had bought them young so should i just go out and buy 2 more just in case or no ??

what do you think of that ??


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DiscusnAfricans

DiscusnAfricans

Past President
Most people won't criticize how the tank got that way, almost all of us started out doing the same thing. Its easy to do one of these, a few of those pretty ones,...

If you want to increase the ratio, you may have to buy larger fish, or larger groups of juveniles. Considering the first three you bought were 2M/1F, if you buy two more, theres no guarantee you'll get any more females. I'd buy 12 if the money were available, and eventually separate out extra males.
 
verbal

verbal

CCA Members
Generally with mbunas you want 1 or 2 males and up 3 to 6 females. So to make sure you get at least 4 females getting 12 young fish would be a good idea.

With African cichlids generally you can find takers for your surplus males who want them for a display tank.
 
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