Labdidochromis caeruleus or "Lemon Yellows" are a African Cichlids. These are native to Lake Malawi and a mouth brooder. They are easy to keep fit with no difficult needs. They are a bright yellow with black lines on the fins and grow to 4 or 5 inches in length. They are bright enough colored to be confused with salt water fish. There is a rarer white/blue form which an albino form. Personally I find it less attractive but people have different tastes. They are available almost anywhere in the country. I have seen them in Walmart even.

Water: They prefer alkaline water 7.2 - 8.4. If the water is hard it will duplicate native conditions.

Temperature: from the mid-seventies to low eighties. They will survive in both slightly higher or lower condition but do best in the listed temperatures.

Food: Mine never found a food they didn't like. They have been kept for generations in tanks at this point. They like flake food, cichlid pellets. In the wild they eat snails and insects. They like the standard live foods available grindal worms, Daphnia, bloodworms, and brine shrimp (as children).

Tank size: I would say that a group of five need at least a thirty gallon tank but bigger is better. They are not lost in a 55 gallon tank.

Spawning: The way to tell the sexes apart. The female the black on the pectoral fins is more gray than black. The males have black lines on the same place. I have always gotten both gender using this method. Of course if you have a larger group you should get some of each. If you have a choice you want more females than males. The aggression is spread of several females instead of one female and several interested males. This are easy to spawn some people have seen them spawn when they are only 1 1/2 long. The bigger females will have larger broods.  A brood ranges from 15 fry to 30. They need a large flat rock to spawn on. The female will do a courting dance and drop and egg. She will put it in her mouth and the male will fertilize it. She will carry the eggs for four weeks not eating during the process. Some breeder will strip the eggs so she does not get too thin. I can say that it is hard to get a female to spit out her babies. I hold out over a container until she spits them out. It can take a couple of minutes. The babies are bright yellow like the parents. The black lines form when they are older.

I just had a large female spit out her babies. There were at least two dozen little half inch babies. They are a bit shy. They are clustered around the sponge filter. They have remove all the debris. They are eating the small organism living in the muck. I put a tetramin tablet and they eat it all. I have also feed them some Daphnia. In the wild they also eat insect and snails. Care should be given though. Mbuna are susceptible to "bloat". It is a disease from too much meaty food. The stomach swells up and the fish die. Too many worms is a common cause.

Tank Mates: My experience is this cichlid is not overly aggressive. I have kept them with Tiger Barbs without a problem even through they are much larger. They are not meek little lambs either. I have also kept another African cichlids successfully. I had a group of Melanochromis johannii and L. caeruleus together. The males fought with each other leaving the female unharassed. The fighting seem to encourage the males to spawn. I would get fry of both types.

Price runs $6 - $12 each.