[DutchAJ]

I set up a standard sized 75g almost a year ago. This is my first experience with African cichlids. After rehoming any outcasts I have : 1m/5f Chindongo saulosi, 3 yellow tail acei (I think 1m/2f, I had 4 over the last 10 months get severely picked on, in hindsight I'm thinking I should have removed the dominant male) and 5 rusties (not much of a clue as to the sex of them).

I was looking at the 75g cookie cutters and noticed saulosi recommended with Aulonocara stuartgranti and Copadicromis virginalis. Any recommendations on the following options?

A. Add one male of each to current stock list
B. Rehome acei and rusties, add 1m/4f of each
C. Add 3 acei to try and keep them happy, possibly rehome the current bossy acei
D. Do nothing, you're good
E. None of the above, I would ____________

 

[DJRansome]

I would not add those particular haps/peacocks with saulosi or rusties. Why do you want to add anything? Just curious what you are trying to accomplish.

More acei should solve any problems with acei. If you just want to add a peacock...I would try 1m:4f of the OB peacocks.

 

[caldwelldaniel26]

Personally, I would not add peacocks with Mbuna because they are on two different levels of aggression. The peacocks being more timid... I know some people have had success with acei and labs with peacocks, but in my experience it turned out to be a mistake to mix them. DJ is right, you should be able to control aggression by adding more of the current species and having proper male to female ratios.

 

[DJRansome]

True. Also the OB is a peacock mbuna mix so may be more aggressive than the usual peacock.

 

[caldwelldaniel26]

True. Also the OB is a peacock mbuna mix so may be more aggressive than the usual peacock.

Good point, and yes OB peacocks do tend to be more on the aggressive side.

 

[DutchAJ]

Thanks for the advice. I had been considering rehoming the acei and adding more saulosi with the hope of having multiple males color up, but I came across the suggestion of those hap/peacocks in the cookie cutter section and thought it was interesting, they're both attractive fish, just thought they would look nice in the tank.

 

[noki]

Generally, "Haps" and Aulonocara do not color up or thrive when kept in a mostly Mbuna tank.

With Saulosi and Rusties, you could try an Aulonocara male, might do okay. One male hybrid "Peacock" should do well, if you want.... as said, they tend to be rowdier and keep some color anyway since they have an unnatural mix of genes.

 

[DutchAJ]

I decided to order some more saulosi and acei. Going to have target numbers of 3m/10f on the saulosi, add 4 acei to the 3 I have now, and the rusties will stay at their 5.