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Mbuna Tank Mates

2K views 12 replies 4 participants last post by  ashifpa 
#1 ·
Hi all, I am new to this forum and new to african cichlids too. my tank is almost cycled with three cichlids in it. One red zebra, one female kenyi and one yellow lab. my tank is 46 gallon bow front with gravel substrate and rocks with several caves. temp is set to 79F. good aeration and waves from the filters. It has really good filtration as well. one regular aqueon filter which can do 250 gallon per hour, two internal canister filters with lava rock as bio media and polyester mechanical media which can do 320 gallons per hour each. So in total 890 gallons per hour filtration.

I am planning to have an Mbuna tank. currently my kenyi is chasing the yellow lab a lot and yellow lab is always hiding. zebra is also aggressive but not as the kenyi.
my currrent plan is to have the following.

2 red zebras, 2 yellow labs, 2 electric blues, 2 socolofis, 2 acei, 2 kenyi (one male and female). I could get rid off the kenyi if he is going to be too aggressive. i am planning to have 2 each because if they are 2, chances are they will be either 2 males or 2 females or one male and one female. if I go 3 or more, there could be a chance of getting one female and 2 males and i dont want that to happen.

please let me know your suggestions.
 
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#2 ·
A 46 gallon aquarium is too small for most of the species that you've chosen. The minimum tank size I could recommend for many of the fish kenyi, socolofi, red zebras, acei... would be a four foot long tank, and they would be best in a 75 gallon aquarium or bigger. Second, these fish are not pairing fish. If you keep two, you will either end up with one male, one female, two males, or two females. If you end up with either of the first two, there is a good chance you will end up with one fish.

What most people do, is get six to twelve fish, depending on the species, with an aim of keeping one male, and three to six females, depending on the species.

Recommendations that typically work for a 46 gallon bow front.

one male four female PURE Yellow Labs, and a single demasoni.

15 demasoni and a single Yellow Lab.

Chindongo saulosi 3 males, 6-8 females.

Note, there are many hybrid yellow labs out there, as they easily cross breed with red zebras... these have the potential to be too aggressive for your aquarium.. Make sure you get pure strains.
 
#5 ·
The only one I would recommend is this one. The tank size is limiting. The stocking Fogelhund provided above already reflects the appropriate level of overstocking. It also does not lend itself to substituting other species.

Chindongo saulosi 3 males, 6-8 females.
 
#7 ·
Since you were asking for more opinions after fogel's suggestions I will go ahead and let you know that nobody on this forum will recommend anything else for your tank for mbuna (other cichlid tanks - sure). Which one of his three you select depends on if you like the blue/black more or the yellow and if you really want high numbers of fish.
 
#8 ·
Thanks Aaron S. I decided to go with Fogel's suggestion. saulosi 3 males and 8 females. but one issue i have is, my local pet store dont have those sexed. they have juveniles. So how old should they get in order to distinguish male and females with their blue or yellow coloration?
 
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