Yellow lab alone in a 29gal

[Jim]

My male lab is pretty aggressive and killed both of my females so now i want to get a male in with him that can hold his own. Any suggestions? something half affordable...

Cheers
Jim

[kennyman]

Might also have something to do with keeping Mbuna in anything less than a 55. Adding another male would actually make it worse I think.

[Jim]

He is still under 4'' people have told me that one lab in a 29 is ok.

[pegasus]

He is still under 4'' people have told me that one lab in a 29 is ok.

If you would have fallowed their advice the female would have been alive today in another tank.

[Jim]

If you would have fallowed their advice the female would have been alive today in another tank.

I did follow their advice. The females were a lot smaller than the male i'd say 1.5'' and i did not think that they were ready to be taken out yet. If this is going to turn into you guys telling me what i have done wrong in an unfriendly manner someone should just delete this thread.

Thanks for the help
Jim

[kennyman]

I'm sorry Jim. I never meant to be unfriendly. I was just brief and I can see how it would look like that now that I read my post.

Seriously the best advice I can think of to give you is to keep fish more appropriate for the size of tank. I really don't think African cichlids belong in a 29gallon tank for longterm. It is not just about gallonage but about the footprint of the tank.

[Jim]

Sometimes its hard to tell without seeing facial expressions. 

I am cycling my 48gal right now maybe i can put him in there once its cycled.

Thanks
Jim

[PoisonJello]

if you want to keep africans in a 29gal i would recomend getting the africans that only grow to a maximun of 3"
I have had a 4 or 5 in a 29gal before and they were fine, they only got to 3", so much for labs being peaceful fish

[Adam]

Hi,

You can have a number of african cichlids in a 29 gallon...here are a few examples:

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/cookie_cutter_29g.php

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/cookie_cutter_20g.php

It depends a lot on the individual fish.  Some are very aggressive, and some are quite peaceful.  You have in your hands an angry, angry yellow lab.  Angry fish generally do better in larger aquariums where there are more than a couple fish to terrorize and the other fish have a chance to swim away. The 48 gallon would be nice for him.  You could have a nice tanganyikan aquarium with some shelldwellers and a pair or two of rock dwellers...but I would go with just one pair of rockdwellers.

Adam

[cory]

honestly, i have had a male with 2 female's for over 7 months, they have bred on a constant basis...if you want something to work...try a couple females of equal size (3"+)