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mild mannered blue mbuna?

7K views 18 replies 11 participants last post by  fishboy11 
#1 ·
I was wondering if anyone knew of any less agressive blue mbuna that would be small enough for a 55gal? I have two Kenyi i will most likely be ggetting rid of but without them most of my tank is yellow and orange. i would like to add some more colour, any suggestions of what to replace the Kenyi with?
 
#5 ·
TailorO said:
it's very frustrating. all of my LFS just have one tank labeled "African Cichlids" so it is allways difficult trying to figure out exactly what you are looking at much less buying :x
I've gone off on the same rant. I'm in the Bay Area too and have had no luck finding a LFS with a decent selection of purebred, healthy, correctly labeled African cichlids. I hear there's a really good one in the South Bay, but haven't made the trip yet.

P. acei are very mild mannered and a beautiful blue. 50 gal. might be a little tight though. Check the profiles and other peoples' suggestions.
 
#6 ·
Confirm this is the fish list you plan to keep after returning fish?

TailorO said:
2 red zebra
2 ob zebra
1 albino zebra
1 cobalt zebra
1 Labidochromis sp. "Hongi"
2 yellow labs
1 that might be a hongi or might be a rusty, not sure which
3 clown loaches
1 pleco
1 red tailed shark

The pairs are a problem, so next step is to decide if you want all male or male/female harems. myselfdotcom is right, expanding the cobalt group will give you more blue and they are not too aggressive.

But you should decide what else you want to keep first so you can minimize hybridization. Three species in a 55G will give you favorable odds of success.

Best of luck! :)
 
#7 ·
I think you're gonna find that those red zebras will get kinda mean too once they mature. Maybe they are better if you only have one male and 3-4 females of them.
Mainganos aren't to bad and are a pretty blue. They don't get big either

I think a nice looking 55g. tank would be mainganos & yellow labs (keep the pleco and clown loaches too if the mbuna don't bother the loaches). You could add to these as you found them, the mainganos and more yellow labs, maybe a few more loaches too. Keeping singles isn't a good idea unless it's an all male tank and like DJRandome said, they aren't pairing fish either. There should be 3-4 females per male of a species.

I'm in the same boat too. The only thing availible in a 60 mile radius of me is assorted african tanks and then only one per LFS. I bet once I get a bigger tank going, I'll be making road trips looking for fish. I just wish gas wasn't so high :( .
 
#9 ·
You can wait until they mature and remove the ones you are trying to eliminate. But it's good to have a plan so (a) you know what to watch for, and (b) you have a spare tank and used filter to remove fish at a moment's notice.

Are you thinking male only, or mixed genders?
 
#12 ·
Are you going with an all male tank, or breeding groups?

If you wish to breed, I would determine 3 species (no more than that for your tank size) that won't be apt to hybridize and work on the tank from that point of view, rather than seeking out a lone blue fish.

If you go all male, you already have a Cobalt from the list that DJRansome posted...So you might look for a blue barred fish instead.

If you don't go all male and go with breeding groups, you need to pick one of the zebra variants and get rid of the others.

Kim
 
#18 ·
With the species you have, it's not going to be easy.

You can vent them once they are old enough, but they will need to be close to sexually mature before that is an accurate way to sex them.

You'll have to wait it out, if you don't know someone who can sex them for you. You can then remove them as they hold.

You may experience intensity in aggression by trying to keep several male zebras in that size tank, even without the females. I find it's easier to keep a non barred zebra with a barred zebra than trying to keep two non barred zebras or two barred zebras together.

Kim
 
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