jn1981 said:
Thanks for the helping that! So I think I am going to give this combo a shot.
Cynotilapia zebroides Cobue/Cobwe
Msobo
Rusties
.......and 2 BN plecos!
Hoping this mix will work! I will probably buy them all at the same time at the same size so that they can grow up together and hopefully be more peaceful. Fingers crossed!
I have a very high level of confidence that this will work. I have all of these in my tank together, and they get along swimmingly.
Here are some thoughts on the fishes that I've noticed.
Afra Cobue are territorially aggressive. They'll stake out a place and hold it. "Drab" is the word people use for the females, but I don't agree. I prefer interesting. Most of the time, they are dark brown, but they can change their colors and put on and take off stripes faster than any other fish I've ever seen. They can do it right before your eyes, almost as fast as a cuttlefish. The following is not mine, but it's a female Afra Cobue, and it's a really good representation of what they will do in your tank. It's what they do in mine.
Msobos are aggressive towards each other and tend to not really bother anyone else (in my set up). They are really pretty, but as Rhinox says, you may only get one to FULLY color up. By that I mean that the color seems to come out from the inside of the fish, like it's being electrically generated. Non dominant males will get the color but won't shine in the same way. Though they may not "Fully color" you may not need to pull any extra males. Rhinox gives really good advice about when that's necessary, but I contend that many times they'll figure it out and be just fine.
Rusties - Don't have much to say here. My mother saw the rusties and absolutely loves them. She describes them as looking like "velvet." She's decided they need to go in her 125. Along the lines of drab females and drab fish (rusties are arguably drab, eh?) I love them. I like the All-male, all-color tanks, but I really like a tank that can be stared at for a while, and more stuff keeps popping out. When people walk up to my tank (non-fish keepers), they immediately see the dominant males. Msobo, Chewere, Obliquidens, and female Saulosi and Msobo providing the yellow. But then I hear "Wait! What's that?" and "Is that fish Plaid? (Joanjohnsonae females. Love them!), and "Where did that guy come from?" Without some distinction, it becomes less obvious just HOW beautiful your pretty males are.
For many of my fish, I ordered them online and I got the "6 fish packs" where they give you one guaranteed male and "try" to get the rest females. Has actually worked out for me. I have not had to pull any excess males. I believe I have 4? male msobos and have not had to pull anybody though number 4 is still a strangish pink color.
Haplochromine guy said:
I would do just about anything and like my tanks overstocked to about 18-25 fish in a 55 gallon, so... I would keep it sparsely decorated with about 2/6 of the tank rocks. If it were me, I would throw anything in there, and yea, when they're 2-3 inches long. I tried to add all of the most aggressive fish species I could find in the tank with a slightly bigger Jewel Cichlid should work out just fine. I wouldn't do any Demasoni though, those are species only fish in my eyes. If you were looking for peaceful species, I would include the following: Rusties, labidochromis usually does well, labeotropheus, Red Zebra, and perhaps you could do Cobalt Blue... I know of a bunch and if I were every doing a Mbuna tank, I just add all of the fish in at 2-3 inches long, then take out any super aggressive guys at 4 inches long. You shouldn't have too many problems. I could give you a whole list of peaceful fish after three days if you want. I have my own opinions, so don't agree with me about anybody? Go ahead, I think it depends on the personality or size of individuals to go together.
This echoes my thoughts on stocking more than anything else I've seen around here, and I agree with almost all of it (improper fractions notwithstanding
). More or less, out of all the reading and personal experience (mostly reading here to be completely honest. I have lots of fish but none in my house longer than 9 months at this point. It seems that it breaks down 1 of two ways on the stocking.
1. Super high energy, super high thought. Trying to replicate a cookie cutter that has worked out for other people in the past. Lots of extra fish, lots of pulling males, trying to give things away, to accomplish a balance that will go until some point.
2. Mess that thing up with fish. I mean, really crowd them in, most will get along well enough if they're too busy to fight. This requires really good filtration and lots of water changes.
Number 1 is almost always recommended around here. It's what you're talking about doing. There's value here. But understand this - even if you do everything right, the fish are still living creatures and may not cooperate with you. Also, the low stocking numbers that are often recommended in a cookie cutter setup are in and of themselves likely to increase aggression. I've seen this. Take fish that were otherwise getting along and reduce the population and the fights and the nipping and the hiding males came out.
Number 2 is an approach recommended by AquariumScience.org. I love this site mostly because it has recommendations of what to do, but also extensive discussion about the "why"? I'm an analytical person - it's a professional hazard - and I have a really hard time when I'm told things dogmatically. I want to know the whys of it. Here's discussion on the why in the stocking of a Malawi aquarium.
https://aquariumscience.org/index.php/1 ... -cichlids/