Am I reading this right? Suggestions, please

Wow! Excellent article, Joe. Unlike many articles, which raise more questions than they answer, I truly feel I could achieve such a setup if I were so inclined by following the guidelines set forth in your article.

That being said, it sounds like a much higher maintenance tank than I'm prepared for. My wife recently had twins, so both time and money are in shorter supply than the all-male tank would require.

The only 2 fish whose gender concerned me are the msobo for the orange of the female, and the haps because only the males have the color. But if having only male haps is tempting fate, I'll just go with the 3 groups, each containing 1 male and 2 females, as you suggested in your previous post.

Now that we've got that out of the way, how many mbuna do I have room for? Not necessarily specific numbers for each species, as I can work out the numbers to balance the color...just an overall number, if that's possible. I know with p. demasoni, I'll need at least 12. Assuming there are no other restrictions on numbers of each fish, how many am I looking at?

If you keep the Mbuna population low and load up on male haps, you should be good. ( I think that seconds Joea) Skip the females for the Haps. Peope who tell you otherwise are Mbuna people. Haps, and especially peacocks don't work by this rule. Males will show to themselves and keep their colors nice. Females will add agression to the tank that you do NOT want.

There are some touch peacocks and haps you can put in the Mbuna tank, but they won't show their potential, but if you keep 1 demasoni and some Mbsobo in your 5' tank? That will work.. and I say this because I've done it. (actually, I've found 2 demasoni work in a 6' tank).
As a matter of fact, you're probably chosen two that will actually show their best colors in with a bunch of haps(yellow labs to OK), most mbuna I've tried in with a large number of haps have trouble showing their color.

Of the fish you listed:

c. azuerues, I like them but they need to feel more comfortable to show their best.. so I give the edge to S. Frieri for the blue color.

c. moorii : meaner than you think! I have a 4" guy that picks on a 7" Tyranochromis.. and everything else in the tank.

p. sevenei taiwan: Just beautiful, one of my favorites

p. taeniolatus: You mean Red Empress? Beautiful fish, but can have a nasty streak, I had a hyperdominant one that could take over 2/3 of the tank! meanest fish I've owned. He's been replaced by a more 'laid back' version. Nice fish.. a must have.

a. baenschi: I've never had one that has shown colors like in the pictures, they also don't seem as hardy as other species, I've had a hard time with these. I'd suggest a Flavescent and Blue Neon for some yellow peacock and throw in a nice yellow lab for pure yellow, you won't get that color from this guy.

a. stuartgranti: really like Ngara, Mbenji, Flavescent, Undu(blue neon).. and the line bred 'rubescens/ruby red'

o. lithobates: Nice choise! doesn't get too big either.. mine sort of stays to himself, but surprisingly, he's not the eye catcher I thought he would be in my tank.

p. electra: Deep water hap! cool fish, doesn't get too big.

So I think I agree with your stock list escept for teh Baneschi.. which more power to you if you can make him work.

I'm going to suggest the Huresi(midnight peacock), T. Intermedius(some call a hybrid), Ruby Red peacock.. and I'm fond of Jacoberfeibergi 'lemon jake'. Oh.. and the Placidochromis Phennichilus! LOVE THAT FISH! But you're somewhat limited in size.

I've found A. Banechi(sp) to be one of the less hardy and agressive peacocks... I've had some trouble with them in a variety of setups.

Check out these photos, many of these fish have shared a tank.

http://picasaweb.google.com/stevebarlow4/MyMalawiCichlids

Remember that this aricle is written by a fellow enthusienst, it has a lot of good infomation, but a lot of it I personally disagree with. Your experience may differe than mine and the author of the article, so don't take everything you read there as fact.
Fish have tendancies,l but they're all a little different.. just like people... so it's not hard science, you can only tell from personal experience.

Personally, I would be careful at best on what you choose to mix, if you choose to mix at all, but depending on your tank size, etc... this may change what might work.

Things I disagree with? The agression level of Frieri, which from my personal experience, is moderately agressive, certainly not very agression. I've had Red Empress and C. Moori that put the Frieri I've kept into hiding. Also, Nimbochomis with an agression of 1? Not from my experience... our experiences are all different, trial and error.. use your brains, read many articles, and make educated decisions and enjoy.