Hey guys.

Decided to try my hand at keeping an african cichlid tank.

I picked up 3 pairs of juveniles, and plan on modifying the ratio of males to females and species as they grow or as issues arise.

They all came from a mixed "african cichlid" tank at the LFS... so I'm not entirely sure what I have.

One pair are yellow labs, and the others are the ones pictured. I'm assuming the orange ones are red zebra cichlids, and the blue ones are zebras as well? They're probably too young to sex, but any tips towards that end would be great too.

And before anyone comments on the plants, I understand it's typically a no-no.. but I've got some pretty huge amazon swords and java fern. I'm thinking they will be hardy enough to survive at least until the cichlids are fully grown.. plus the mbuna love scraping the brown algae off of them. We'll see how the experiment goes.

Here are the mystery cichlids:

Pseudotropheus Lombardoi- Kenyi
Pseudotropheus Estherae- Red Zebra

If you will look closely at you red zebra there you will see what looks like an egg spot on his anal fin that is how you tell the males from the females. this also works for the yellow labs. I have cichlids in most of my tanks and they are very active breeders