My Lab is NOT a Lab???

**Cichlid_Man** · 04-10-2007, 12:42 PM

Weird.
This fish which I thought was an electric yellow lab up until yesterday, appears to have taken on some strange stripes?

He has always been smaller than my labs, and now, as you can see, he has stripes similar to a P Kennyi.

What is this fish?

If you look close you can see a black line going through his body, sort of like a spine.
Here's a picture from this morning.

**cocoa_pleco** · 04-10-2007, 01:00 PM

electric yellow. Mine looked like yours, and they get those bars

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Labidochromis_caeruleus
Read the first few sentences of the second paragraph on wikipedia

**cocoa_pleco** · 04-10-2007, 01:02 PM

wait, another name for electric yellows are labs... so yours is a lab

**kimmers318** · 04-10-2007, 01:09 PM

Our electric yellows did the same thing.....the one we think is a male got the vertical striping and darker coloring, the one we think is female stayed yellow with just the black fin accents. It is possible though I believe for labs to cross breed so it is always possible that they could be cross breeds, who knows.

**Cichlid_Man** · 04-10-2007, 02:49 PM

Thanks folks!

It happened over night. I know when my other fish developed stripes it was when they were getting angry at something and becoming aggressive, but this fish is a little runt. he never grew and he never bothers any other fish.
OK...I guess he is a Lab. :-)

**Lady Hobbs** · 04-10-2007, 03:48 PM

He's wanting to act like the big boys and coming into his prime.

**Cichlid_Man** · 04-10-2007, 05:10 PM

Hobbs, your probably right.
Poor little guy has to fight for his food every day!

**Coler** · 04-10-2007, 10:39 PM

In a lab those bars are a sign of stress

**Cichlid_Man** · 04-10-2007, 11:50 PM

Thanks Coler...
As I previously posted, he never grew like the rest and remained the "runt".
He is fighting for his food and most likely being picked on.

Either he shapes up or....

**Coler** · 04-11-2007, 12:09 AM

wc :)

I had a similar problem with one. The probable cause in my instance is that they prefer to be kept in groups of themselves, so to speak, and I have just the one. It took him a while to adjust.

My guy made it - he was also quite runty. Used to spend all his time tucked in a corner. I re-arranged my rocks, which calmed the others down a lot, and now he scraps for his food with the best of 'em and roams the tank in the evening. Very much part of the gang.

Try and shake up the mix a bit and he may make it. I take it you can't take him out for a while ?

If you have one or two particularly aggro which are persecuting him isolate them. Even if you can't put 'em in a different tank, get some fish bags from the LFS and put 'em in there for a half hour to an hour. I swear you'll see a different fish when you put them back in. Really takes some of the pep out of 'em and gives the runts a chance to catch up. Just be careful not to leave them in too long; ammonia builds up savagely in there.

Oh - I just remembered another thing I did for my lab. He was hiding out in a particular corner, as I said. So I put some spirulina tablets down there, pressed to the side of the tank at night. I'm pretty sure he was nibbling on them and that helped perk him up, in that he was at least getting some food. Now if you have any e.g syno catfish that won't do much for ya lol

Best of luck with him :)