Electric Yellow Lab

The Yellow Lab is one of our personal favorites! Yellow Labs are almost everything a hobbyist could ask for: a great yellow color, playful inquisitive personality, hardy and good eaters. We keep them in our display aquarium and recommend them to our clients with African Cichlid Aquariums. A very popular African Cichlid that can be found in most pet stores is the Electric Yellow Labidochromis (Labidochomis Caeruleus). Also called Electric Yellow Cichlid or Electric Yellow Lab, they are fairly hardy and easy to care for. They are not as aggressive as some of the other Lake Malawi rock Cichlids. Their bright yellow colored bodies with black stripes along the edges of the dorsal, anal and pelvis fins gives these Cichlids striking color pattern.

All Cichlids from Lake Malawi show aggression and are territorial. This is true with Electric Yellow Cichlids. However they are one of the milder mannered of the African Cichlids. They grow to be about 3 inches in length and can be kept in tanks that are as small as 25 gallons in size. They are best maintained in small groups of about 6 fish and the group should have more females than males.

A good tank setup for Electric Yellow Labs would include some type of rock formation with passageways and caves. The tank should also have a fine gravel or sandy bottom and be well-lit. Use a background to provide additional security to the fish as well as a natural underwater scene. Water should be medium-hard, alkaline, well filtered and have a temperature between 72 and 77 degrees.

Electric Yellow Cichlids are typical mouth brooding Cichlids. A pair will spawn anywhere in the aquarium. After spawning, the male and female can remain together while the female cares for the eggs and fry. Usually the female will choose to incubate the eggs in a cave. Feed baby brine shrimp to the fry for the first couple months after they hatch.

Electric Yellows will eat a wide range of commercial fish flakes and Cichlid pellets. Providing carotene rich foods will help maintain their bright yellow coloration. Because Electric Yellows are fairly mild-mannered and easy to keep they are a very popular African Cichlid.