This beautiful Malawian is commonly referred to as the "yellow lab". The electric yellow coloration and black lining on the dorsal fin make it "stick out" in a tank of mixed mbuna. This fish has been produced in sufficient numbers that it is readily available in almost any store that carries African cichlids. There is always a ready market for any fry produced.

The caeruleus is a slow grower. When compared to other Malawians, it seems to take forever to gain size, but does spawn at around two inches. I had a "raising tank" with Labidochromis lividus and caeruleus of the exact same age. The lividus almost doubled the caeruleus in size. While on the small side, these fish can survive in a community tank of mixed Malawians quite nicely. Malawians, for the most part, keep aggression within their species. Community tanks should always be kept crowded with excellent filtration and frequent water changes. Much rock work will also benefit mbuna as these critters are territorial, and like their own "piece of the rock".

As "rifters" go, the caeruleus can be considered peaceful. They will chase one another around but rarely do any damage. If setting up a community tank with yellow labs in mind, another species to consider mixing with them is Iodotropheus sprengerae. The Rusty cichlid's dark rust/purple coloration makes a great contrast. The color extremes show each fish off to its best. Dark gravel with shale caves make a wonderful addition to a lab tank. You really get an awesome look at this fish when is contrasts so drastically with it's surroundings.

If there is one single thing you should watch with caeruleus, it is bloat. These fish do well on all types of food, but a large portion of their dietary needs should be filled with plant matter. Romaine lettuce, spirulina flake, and raw peas are readily consumed. Less than adequate water conditions and a high protein diet spell trouble for these gems.

Spawning occurs in the typical mbuna manner with the male and female circling each other. My brood sizes have been small and so far I am yet to get a spawn over 10, but I feel with growth, I can expect a higher yield of young.

These fish are active, beautiful and vibrant. No self respecting keeper of mbuna could not have Labidochromis caeruleus in their collection.

For any hobbyist with an interest in cichlids, it's tough to find a better fish than Pseudotropheus demasoni. The demasoni is a dwarf mbuna by Malawian standards, reaching an adult size of three inches. Make no mistake however, these fish may be small, but they can definitely hold their own in a community tank. There are not many cichlids that a demasoni will back down from. The striking dark blue (almost black) background coloration is a vibrant contrast to the light blue striping. These boisterous little fellows appreciate lots of rockwork on which to graze. There is no noticable sexual dimorphism. Pseudotropheus demasoni do well on a herbivorous diet. Spirulina based flake is perfect for demasoni. Water parameters are not crucial: however, a high pH and hardness will closely match their native waters. Temperature around 78F seems ideal. In the wilds of Lake Malawi, Pseudotropheus demasoni are found at Pombo Rocks on the Tanzanian coastline.

I have found these fish mix well with other mbuna as well as Aulonocara and Protomelas species. Spawning occurs on substrate with the male displaying to the female in a series of "shimmies and shaking". The female nips the male's anal fin while dropping eggs. Both fish will then quickly turn and the female will scoop up the eggs. An interesting note here is that females will continue to feed while holding a clutch. We have been feeding our fish a red colored flake and when after 20 days, we stripped a holding female, the fully developed fry all had bright red bellies. This insinuates that while the female is feeding, the fry eat while in her buccal cavity.

Fry are easily raised on crushed flake and will grow rapidly. Demasoni will reach sexual maturity in under a year. We have had successful spawns in aquaria as small as 20 gallons, but our present colony is housed in a 125 gallon tank and seem to thrive nicely. Spawn sizes are small in comparison to other mbuna. We have had spawns as small as six fry and as large as 17.

There is no secret to spawning Pseudotropheus demasoni. A larger group will alleviate aggression on an individual fish. Demasoni can safely be housed with larger fish. The fluorescent blue coloration makes them a sought after commodity in any mixed Malawian community tank.

Of all the Pseudotropheus, this one is, in my opinion, the cutest in both looks and behavior. Although it is perfectly capable of bullying everything else in the tank, this little fish is not nearly as belligerant as other members of its genus. It is a dwarf mbuna, so it stays relatively small, and groups of six or more in a community tank with other species will ensure that nobody gets beaten up.

I first got seven of these fish from Jessica Miller in January of 1998. They grew fast! I had some holey rock (it grows wild in my back yard) in the tank, and I'll be darned if one of those little critters didn't get stuck in one! I was down to six. As the months passed, they grew larger, and I found that I had only one female in the whole bunch! She got a lot of attention, but she survived it and has produced many spawns for me.

The first spawn resulted in thirteen fry, which I sent up to Greg. The second also resulted in thirteen, but I kept these for myself. Of the remaining spawns, the largest was 36! I had stripped her at about ten days of incubation, and because I wasn't very good at stripping yet, I only got about half the fry out. I _thought_ I had them all, as there were eighteen little wrigglers in the bucket, but she had some tucked way back. I released her into the tank, and after a couple of hours noticed that her mouth was still full. I decided to not harass her too much in one day, so I waited another week and stripped the rest from her... another eighteen! They spawned frequently, so I had LOTS of babies to sell.

At one point I decided that all these males in the tank was silly, so I got rid of a couple. I now had three males and one female. This was a huge mistake. The battle for dominance between the two top males resulted in the lesser male and the female being battered constantly. I had to remove all but my most dominant male and my female, and yet he still continued to take his aggressions out on his girlfriend. Lesson learned from this: there is safety in numbers. I removed the female and let her stay in another tank while the fry from an early spawn grew to such size as to form another colony.

When my first saved spawn was large enough, I saved back six possible females (the most orange, least striped) and sold the rest. I then reunited my pair in the tank with their now nearly-grown fry. Immediately they spawned. The tank temperature was a bit lower than the one they'd been in, and the spawns that I got until I put a heater in were very small... six to eight fry at a time. After the heater was reintroduced and the water brought up to about 80F, the spawn size increased to over twenty. When the younger females grew to within 1/2" of their parents, they started spawning too. To date, I have four females that breed regularly, and a constant supply of fry.

I check carrying fish every two weeks. I take the fish in my hand and use a net to hook a tooth from the lower jaw and open the mouth. I either let her release an egg/fry or just look into her mouth if there's enough light to check the development. If the fry have a tail, I strip her. If not, I get her next time. I prefer to take them just as the head and tail pop out, as they don't seem to perish as easily in a tumbler as eggs do, and I get more fry than if they were to carry to term. I'm almost convinced that the females swallow an occasional fry to sustain herself during the incubation.

The fry are reared in a bare-bottom tank with only a sponge filter. I feed them finely crushed flake (the same that I feed all my fish) and baby brine shrimp when it's handy. I must admit, they grow much faster on brine, but it's not absolutely necessary. I've raised many spawns on crushed flake alone. Water changes help growth too, as do larger tanks. A 55 is the perfect tank size for raising saulosi fry to salable size.

With young fish, it's difficult to tell the sexes apart. They are bright orange when they are babies, and the females in general stay that way. Males turn blue with black stripes, but only if they are the top male(s) in the heirarchy. Subdominant males can take on female coloration (to protect themselves from attack), and females have been known to stripe up and even take on blue coloration under the right circumstances. Venting is the only sure way to tell, but I use a much simpler method. If it carries eggs, it's female. If it doesn't, it isn't (but that doesn't mean it's male) :-)

Later: I had banished the dominant male to solitary confinement for nearly a month following a series of domestic violence charges. During this time, his blue and black coloration faded to the lavender with creamy orange edging on his fins. When I returned him to his community tank (by this time, his 'territory' had been lost), he quickly returned to a more vibrant coloration, but is still nowhere near where he was. I suspect once he claims some ground he'll start wooing the chicks with his stripes again.

The Melanochromis auratus is a mean, nasty little critter and careful selection of tank mates is a necessity. Any of the more docile cichlids will be torn apart if they get in a territorial dispute with these dudes. Females of this species are even aggressive, often killing a subordinate of their own species. Lots of rock work with many caves will help to curb the aggressive nature of these cichlids. It is advisable to keep a male-female ratio of 1:5. More than one male often leads to trouble also. This fish spawns readily, and the brilliant color makes them popular despite the problems associated with their aggressive nature.

The "fuelleborni" is one of my favorite African cichlids. When I started out keeping "rifters" about 15 years ago, this was one of the first species I tried. I had very limited literature on fish, no access to anything like the internet, and no aquarium society in my community, but this gem is quite forgiving and the success I encountered paved the way for my psychotic interest in mbuna.

My initial setup was a 15 gallon planted tank with six fuelleborni fry. The fry grew, the plants became salad, and I noticed that these fish are territorial! I set up a 33 gallon with shale made into caves, and before long I noticed a fish with a big problem; a huge lump in her throat. I isolated her in the 15 gallon so she wouldn't infect the other fish in the tank. All attempts at feeding were ignored, I was beside myself. Numerous trips to the local pet shops turned up nothing (no local stores carried African cichlids at that time), and instead of treating this fish i decided not to do anything and hope for the best.

A short time later disaster really struck, another of my fish had come down with "bump in the throat" disease! I frantically scooped this fish out and put her in the isolation tank. While I was transfering this fish I noticed the the originally "infected" fish seemed to be better. All was not lost. I offered some food and sick fish #1 greedily ate. I thought that maybe she was well enough to go back in the community tank. I got out the net and went after her. In the process, I snagged a rock and couldn't believe my eyes. Some tiny creature was in the tank too! This must have been the cause of the disease, some parasite that had completed it's larval stage, and was now mature, probally ready to spread more disease. Out came the rubber gloves, this creature wasn't going to burrow into my hand! When I lifted the rock I got a big surprise, underneath was a dozen tiny fish! How could this be? The impossible was the only answer, these fish had spawned and the female had carried the brood in her mouth.

The next week I went on a trip to Montreal. The first shop I went to had a huge supply of African cichlids in a multitude of colors. I found the man tending to this section and he explained to me the typicial breeding method of mbuna. I felt very stupid but at the same time, learned more about these fish than I had since I'd been keeping them. I was hooked! I left the shop with more African cichlids and a headache; information overload!

In the years since then, Labeotropheus fuelleborni has remained one of my favorites. These fish grow to around six inches, and males get slightly larger than females. Two color varieties are most common, the solid blues, and marble. Most marbled fish are female but every now and then a spawn will produce a prize, a male marbled. When mature this fish has brown, blue, and greenish marbled pattern on a pink background. The fins will have a blue hue to them, a real gem. I'd guess about one fish in a hundred will be like this.

The fuelleborni has an under-slung mouth much like a Tropheus from Lake Tanganyika. Both fish are heavy algae eaters in nature, grazing on rocks. Distinctive to fuelleborni are their snout, a fleshy growth above their mouth. They are not overly aggressive for an African cichlid but are territorial and do need their own space, especially males. They are easily fed and reared on good quality flake with a spirulina content. Lettuce and frozen peas are heartily accepted also. These fish should be kept in high population densities as a lone male is likely to harass anything he can. Crowding deviates aggression. Instead of pestering one fish all the time, a male will bug many fish giving subdominate fish at least a little time to relax.

Fuelleborni are a forgiving fish, not particular on water quality, or fussy eaters. They are easily spawned and grow quickly. Give them a try.

This little mbuna is known in the trade as "rusty cichlid". It grows to around 3", and as Malawians go, it is one of the smaller species. It is not high on the aggression scale in my opinion, but can get rough with its own kind. The safest way I have found to house these guys is to keep a group of around a dozen, this way one fish won't get singled out and picked on. They do have very well defined teeth, and can handle meat in addition to flake. I feed mine ocean plankton once or twice a week for a treat. Brine shrimp and daphnia are also greedily consumed. I feel this should constitute about 10% of their diet. Spirulina flake as well as other commercial flake is fine for their remaining sustinance. They are not fussy eaters in the least. Because they are "rock fish", I include many caves in their tank setup. Unlike other mbuna, males are not territorial to the degree that they will defend a spot against all others. Rusties do co-exist well with other fish that are not too aggressive. I have them housed with Melanochromis species which are quite aggressive, but these fish seem to be more concerned with picking on their own kind and leave the sprengerae to themselves. They also get along well with Metriaclima estherae. I suspect that they will get along with almost all mbuna.

I have my rusties housed in a 45 gallon tank. An AquaClear 200 filters the tank and a 50% water change is done bi-monthly. Shale caves and piles of round river rock are scattered throughout. Temperature is kept around 75F. No special tinkering is done to my water which has a near pH 8. In this setup, the fish spawn regularly. An average spawn is only around 20 fry, but I expect this number to rise as the fish get older. Spawning occurs in the typical mouthbrooder fashion. Fry are hardy and easy to raise. They grow rapidly when well fed and when frequent water changes are done.

Rusties are not the most colorful fish in the world. They are a rusty brown color (hence the common name), but males, when in breeding coloration, take on a purple hue. They are really quite nice when in this condition. I think the attraction of this fish is that it makes a great contrast to some of the more colorful mbuna. They don't have to be housed in a terribly large tank so anyone without a whole lot of room might find rusties just the thing.

We keep a variety of African Cichlids from the three main African lakes: Malawi, Tanganyika, and Victoria. We have a special interest in Victorian cichlid conservation efforts. Here you'll find pictures and articles on the species we keep and other articles written by people who share our passion for these wonderful fish.

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