Lake Malawi Species • 75 gallon mbuna stocking

[CraziiiNinja]

i have a 75g and want to do a species tank. If I do yellow labs how many should i get and what male to female ratio would be optimal? Other option is saulosi what male to female ratio would be optimal?

[DJRansome]

You can shoot for 4m:16f whichever species. It will matter more for saulosi than labs because female labs are just as colorful as males.

[CraziiiNinja]

ok i was gonna start with 8 to 10 fish to start with. I dont feel comfortable putting 20 fish in a newly setup tank. I guess i couple do 2 males and 8 females? Also i read that they breed quite readily so i dont want to start out with too many fish.

[DJRansome]

They do breed readily but they will also be aggressive if there are not enough fish in the tank. Shoot for 20 in a 75G with small peaceful mbuna.

They will also eat their fry so overpopulation is usually not a concern.

I would never do 2 males as they will have only each other to focus on. One or three or more works better.

If you cycled with ammonia, your biofilter can handle 20 fish and if you put in only 10 there will not be enough ammonia to support all the beneficial organisms. They will adjust but why grow them and them not feed them?

Assume you are cycling without fish using ammonia and allowing six weeks for this?