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Aren't these a cool looking little fish! Well... they'll go nicely in my planned Malawi tank.

Anyway, they are quite small right now (<1cm) and i was wondering if anyone might offer some advice to me on general care an maintainance + any experiences they have with this guy. I have read you need to keep the nitrates in check, as they are very sensative, but have found little other info not relating to breading. Mine are to small to sex yet, and apparently aren't at an age where they change colour... so i've read. Both are Blue.

Ahhh... what can i say... i've become a Cichlid junky!! I've been looking at 6'*2.5'*3' tanks (336USG) second hand in my local paper. Seem to be fairly reasonably priced (about AUD$500), not including the filtration!! more fish.. more cichlid fish is what i need

I would be careful with this one. Not only are they very aggresive there coloring is also backwards. Just about all mbuna's have bright males and solid females but the lombardio is switched where the males are yellow and the females are are blue w/ black bars. Use caution when mixing with other species that are yellow so the males don't think the other types of female are really males.

for there care, treat them as you would any other mbuna, with space, rock work and harder water with a ph between 7.5-8.5. They are mouth brooders (which means the female carry's the eggs in her mouth after being fertilized. Once they reach breeding age they should spawn quit frequently. For best and safest results kepp only 1 male to 3-4 females.

Other tank mates might be:

labeotropheus trewavasae
mel. johanni
melan. cyaneorhabdos
mel. auratus
mayl. callainos (cobolt zebra)
mayl. estherae (red zebra)
pseudo. elongatus
pseudo. flavus
cyno. afra

last suggestion is to read as much as you can and try not to mix fish of the group such as tow different melanochromis so you do not end up with cross breeds.

hope this helps

chris

Cheers Chris!

I was actually hoping to move my Cyrtocara Moorii in with them, away from my Oscars. He copes with the oscars, but he's a much more beautiful fish and deserves to have better company What are your thoughts on this move?

I already read about the breeding and male identification, but didn't even think about it being reverse to some other fish i'd like to get when the bigger tank arrives! Thanks for that tip!!

I've copied your list out so i don't lose it, and will certainly consider those fish after the new tank is cycled. I'm really at both of my tanks capacities right now...

good luck with what ever you do. if you have any questions, just ask, and read as much as you can.


chris