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Hello Everyone,

I have a 55 gallon that is currently cycling and I've decided to stock it with Electric Yellows. From what I've read in other posts, I should stock a harem with one male and a number of females. How many females are adequate?

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55 gallon built into basement wall

If your only going to do electric yellows you could have quite a few in there. I would say 10-12 would be a good number. You could have more then one male in that big of a tank. Just make sure there is enough females to go around.

Thanks,

That's kind of what I was thinking. I'll probably add 2 or 3 males with 8 or 9 females.

your honestly not gona be able to sex small yellow labs. they are pretty much identical. When picking out your fish try to go for the ones with the least amount of black on their bottom fin. this is not perfect so you will end up with males in the mix but should help cut down on your total amount of males.

After they mature you will quickly be able to tell whos male and female by the amount of black on their fin but mainly by their attitude. They will chase allot more then females and of course never hold eggs.

speaking of eggs you might want to think about just getting a few really good looking fish and let them fill the tank. Really easy to breed these you just need a touch of courage. After you see one holding you wait 3 weeks then prepare a small bucket. I use tuperware , a shallow wide bowl. then useing something NOT sharp, i like bobbypin hair clips with the plastic tips. just bent a end out. net the mother and hold her with the net showing her face and dunk her into the bowl of tank water. easily pry open her mouth by catching her bottom lip with the plastic end of the hairclip. all the babies rush out. repeat as needed till they are all out. place in a 10g and grow out

after they get bigger you will you need to cull some uglies. deformaties, really bad colors. not the fun part of the process. you will need to mve them to a larger tank when they get bigger. can use walmart totes for this as its almost free lol. after they become a few inches add to the main tank and sell off the males and extras you dont like the colors on.

good luck with your addiction...err hobby

oh one other thing. those shelves look far from stable and could fall over. also yellow labs perfer caves instead of passways. might try some flow pots cut in half or real rocks spaced out some for the natural look.

to explain what they like, its usually a cave with entrances far apart. make the entrances different sizes on each cave. they like ones are as tight to fit in as possable so they can stick their head out and defend themselves without the agressor being able to find a way in.

Thanks for all the info! I'll have to see what I can come up with for some aquascaping. I really like the way this tank looks but you're right, it is a bit unstable.

I seriously wouldnt reccomend even the most experienced hobbyist stripping fish. This can lead to LOTS of stress that isnt needed, and also a posibility of not wanting to breed. The fish will eventually spit out their fry, thats how it happens in nature. If you have other fish, it'll prolly take you a few spawns to know when she is going to spit, if you really want to raise all the fry just stick a divider in so the holding female will spit, then remove her and feed her up again.
Stripping a fish is just a silly thing people do when they dont want to spawn their fish properly. It really worries me that you're telling people this is the way to spawn fish. No, it isnt.
James

If they spawn, I was planning on letting them do it themselves anyway. My tank is now cycled and I'm going to pick up some fish tomorrow. I'll likely get half now and half in another week or so. I've taken out most of the rock shelves and replaced them with clay pots. I'll post some more pictures when I'm done. Thanks everyone for your input!

Dwayne

sorry i didnt think i was telling him how to spawn fish. i was explaining how to strip a fish. the fish usually take care of the spawning part of themselves very well lol.

when they spit in a full tank the fry will be lunch quickly. usually the idea of spawning fish is to get living fry to adulthood. i have a 75g tank full of acei and yellow labs. they have been going strong for about 5 yrs now. only once have i had a successful spit in my tank and fry live for 2 days. they vanished after that. i got about 15+ very healthy fry from an acei mother who i had striped and raised the fry myself. they are full grown now and doing very well and the stripped female still holds every month like clock work.

if you go at it with a plan and just do it instead of fussing it should take you all of 30 seconds to grab strip and release. yes there is some stress involved but how stressful you think it is to not eat for 20+ days compared to 30 seconds.

Anyway its a hobby people have different methods. Dont knock me for mine and i wont knock you for yours.