So I have 5 ft 140 gallon Mbuna tank. Lots of rock work all juvenile Mbuna with some synos and Plecos. I don't have any aggression issues right now. I bought them all as juveniles not really knowing for sure what gender they would be and added as best I could. What changes could I make to my stock? ( I know the lab ratio is bad but I've heard m-f ratio isn't as critical for them. Btw I don't care abt fry
Red Zebra- 3 m 6 f
Yellow Lab - 3m 2 f
Blue zebra- 1 m 4 f
Kenyi- 2 m 9 f
Jalo Afra- 4 unsexed
4 Snow White socolofi - unsexed
Syno eupterus
4 syno petricola
2 Plecos
I would rehome the kenyi and red zebras even if only to manage aggression because they are Metriaclima like the Blue zebra. Also 4 species in a five foot tank is the right level of overstocking to manage aggression once you have a good mix of genera and males to females.
If you can sex them they probably are not juveniles any longer.
The ratio may not matter much for the labs but I never heard ratio does not matter for mbuna overall.
For the blue zebra and afra and socolofi I would shoot for 1m:4f. Even if you don't mind dealing with hybrids and there is no aggression, you will still find that the colors are better without extra males.
That sounds about right. You could go up one species if you want to push the envelope and choose a small, peaceful species.
Which blue zebra are you considering? I was thinking Metriaclima callainos, but maybe it is a blue-barred species? If so you may not want to have the blue barred Cynotilapia like the Jalo Reef as well.
Cobalt blue, the Jalo Afra are orange back variety. I thought the idea was to overstock to keep aggression down. 20 seems fairly low from what I've heard about Mbuna in 140 gallons. Can't I keep either the Kenyi or the red zebra? I don't really want to return 250$ worth of fish...
It's not the gallons, it is the length because the fish are territorial.
Oh I thought that was what you were asking, about stocking modification. I would choose one Metriaclima, either kenyi or estherae or callainos. The kenyi are better in a 72" tank with only 3 species and all aggressive like the kenyi.
20 fish is overstocked in 48" and 25 fish is overstocked in 72" when doing mixed gender mbuna that mature <= six inches.
It is always helpful to have rehoming options when working with African Rift Lake cichlids.
All male would be a lower number for overstocking to manage aggression.
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