Who Gives A Fish Forums

I still remember the day I fell in love with African cichlids. I was 17 and browsing through the "Assorted Cichlids" tank at Walmart. That's where I saw them - a stunning white and black fish, about 2 inches long, and a slightly smaller dark blue one. I already knew a thing or two about Africans, and my 20-gallon tank at home was pretty bare, with just a paradise gourami, a bristle nose pleco, and a few corydoras.

Fast forward, and I decided to bring those two little fish home. One of them, a Livingstonii cichlid, is still with me today, and I've got a 55-gallon tank to show for it. I've also got a dozen other cichlids keeping me company, along with a couple of bottom feeders.

Here's a fun comparison - my original Livingstonii cichlid, then and now.

Then

Now

As for my current tank, I've got 14 cichlids, including six from my first batch of fry. The list includes: two male yellow labs, a female Livingstonii, a female blue zebra, a male bumble bee, a male something elongatus, a female peacock, a female Fluxeon's blood peacock, two male yellow lab/peacock hybrids, four female yellow lab/peacock hybrids, an albino bristle nose pleco, and a lace catfish.

I know, I know, it's probably overstocked, but I've got a plan - I'm going to sell the two yellow labs and maybe the blue zebra.

Time for more history. When I upgraded from the 20-gallon to the 55-gallon tank, I had four cichlids and an albino bristle nose pleco. Later on, I added a blue zebra and a female peacock. That's when things got interesting - the male yellow lab spawned with the peacock, and I ended up with 10 little fry.

I had no idea what to expect from those fry, and a quick internet search didn't turn up much. So, for anyone curious, here's what a yellow lab/peacock hybrid looks like.

Male:


Female:

These fish are only about 8 months old and around 3 inches long. The two males are already showing breeding colors, and one of the females is holding her first batch of eggs. I'm pretty sure the baby daddy is one of her brothers, but I'm okay with that.

My next post will be all about how these hybrids came to be, with pictures of their growth and development.

I remember watching my male yellow lab take an interest in the female peacock, so I kept a close eye on them. I got to see the actual spawning process, which was pretty cool. After about 10 days, I took the female out and put her in a 20gal tank. A couple weeks later, she had 10 fry and I let her care for them for another week before returning her to the main tank.

I fed the fry micro worms, crushed flakes, and algae wafers. At first, they were all yellow with no markings.

2.5 months in, they were about an inch long. One fry started showing black stripes on its fins, just like a yellow lab. This same fry also had an egg spot on its anal fin. The dominant fry was a richer yellow, and all of them showed gray bars when they were "sleeping" at night.

A month later, they were 1.25-1.5 inches long. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of putting them in the main tank too early. The 4" Livingstonii picked off four of the fry. I had to take her out and put her in a hospital tank.

By 5 months, they were 2-2.5 inches long. Some of them were showing egg spots, and more had the black stripe, but only partially down their dorsal fin. I felt safe adding the Livingstonii back in at this point.

A couple months later, at 7 months, they were 2.5-2.75 inches long. Two of the fry started showing blue coloration on their gill and throat area. One of these fry was the first to show black stripes on all fins and get an egg spot.

Now, at 8 months, they're 2.5-3 inches long. The two males are showing breeding colors and behaviors. One of the females has spawned, and two others are looking ready to spawn.

While doing a water change in the cichlid tank, I figured I'd play it safe and strip the hybrid female - first spawn and all. Netted her and put her in a bucket, and she made things easy by spitting out the eggs on her own. Only 6 eggs, and to my disappointment, they were discolored - some clear, some dark orange. Doesn't look like they were fertilized. Oh well, there's always next time.

That yellow lab/peacock hybrid is really something, gorgeous fish.

Yeah I'm pretty happy with how they turned out. I was surprised to find that there's hardly any info online about what these hybrids look like. I did find one pic that kinda matched, and I've added it below for comparison - the second pic is my actual hybrid.

UPDATE TIME:
I recently had three of my females lay eggs - two peacocks and the Livingstonii. I stripped the eggs from one of the peacocks and the Livingstonii, but the fluxeon's blood female just dropped hers. The Livingstonii had around 105 eggs, while the peacock had 53. I just counted them and then let the other fish have a snack on the eggs.

One of the hybrid females is probably going to lay eggs soon, but who knows if they'll be fertilized. I'm considering getting a male peacock since this isn't the first time the females have spawned alone. The dominant male yellow lab only seems interested in the blue zebra. She spawned once before, but ended up eating the eggs. I have no idea why the fluxeon's blood female hasn't spawned since then. It's weird that the yellow lab doesn't seem interested in the peacocks, especially since he's the father of the hybrids.