Electric Yellow? What A Fancy Name! Fish Profile About Labidochromis Caeruleus

Labidochromis caeruleus

Labidochromis caeruleus photos “Electric Yellow” pictured.

• Common Names: Electric Yellow, Lion’s Cove, Lemon Yellow, Electric White.
• Locations Collected From: Yellow Labidochromis Caeruleus are collected just south of Lion’s Cove and the white varieties are collected from a wide area in the lake.
• Approximate Size:  4 inches with females smaller.
• Food: Won’t hesitate to eat any type of food offered.  I have read that feeding them freshly hatched brine shrimp when they are young tends to bring out the yellow color.  They also will scrape algae off of the rocks in the aquarium.
• Water Conditions: Fairly tolerant of conditions ranging from 7.5 pH – 8.5 pH and a temperature range of 75 – 82 degrees F.
• Breeding Behavior:  Mouthbrooder.   Males are somewhat aggressive towards females.  As with most Malawi mouthbrooders, the more females the better.  Usually one of the more peaceful Malawi Mbuna species.  They have small spawns usually between 20 – 25 fry per spawn for an adult female.  I have heard of a few instances where up to 57 fry have been produced.   Fry can eat crushed flake food when released.  All the females that I have had have looked identical to the males. This includes fin markings (eggspots and black stripe), the shape of the head, and the intensity of the yellow coloration.  The only reliable way to sex this species is to vent them.
• Tankmates:  This species does well with peacocks, Utaka, and some Victorians.  Tends to get picked on by more aggressive Mbuna. 
• Additional note: With all of the recent discussions concerning whether or not the black/brown mask and bars on the Labidochromis caeruleus Yellow is a naturally occurring characteristic and with the majority of people thinking that this is natural we took this question to Ad Konings.  Here is his response:  The Yellow Labidochromis SOMETIMES shows a black/brown mask but barring is not natural.  There is a caeruleus from Tanzania which shows vertical barring.

Further Reading

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