[monisaab]

I bought some juvenile Mbunas in January, I now have the following fish in the tank:

7 Auratus (2 males and probably 5 females)
5 Yellow Labs
3 Lombardoi (2 males and 1 female)

I have been trying to restock the lombardoi upto 6 or 7 again without any luck for the past month or so. So now I am thinking about swapping the lombardoi with another Mbuna species.

We have a very limited supply of cichlids and the available species are Albino Socolofi and Red Zebra.

What should I go for? BTW my tank size is 48" X 18" X 18"...

 

[DJRansome]

I'd do the socolofi.

 

[monisaab]

thanks DJR...

What number per species would you recommend???

 

[DJRansome]

1m:4f works for this fish.

 

[monisaab]

thanks...

what about auratus and yellow labs? should i bump up their numbers?

would you recommend removing an auratus male?

 

[DJRansome]

Labs are fine. As you have joked about before, IMO the auratus are not a fit for this tank. Didn't want to be a broken record. :thumb: If it's working now, may as well wait and see. If the extra male(s) causes problems remove him at that time.

 

[monisaab]

thanks again DJR. will wait and see...

 

[monisaab]

means RZ and YL are a definite NO NO...

 

[exasperatus2002]

Deffinately Albino Socolofi, the red zebra hybridize with the labs easily.

 

[monisaab]

I was at another forum and they were of the opinion that they will not cross-breed if adequate male to female ratio is maintained... 1m:4 or more females...

 

[dielikemoviestars]

Most mbuna are less likely to cross if they have those ratios. RZ and YL will pretty much ALWAYS cross

 

[monisaab]

IC... thanks...

 

[monisaab]

how many species can I keep in this sized tank???

what numbers of each???

 

[DJRansome]

It depends on the species. If we were not talking auratus and kenyi you could think in terms of four species with 1m:4f of each. That would work for the labs, socolofi and red zebras.

For auratus and kenyi you want 1m:7f and you would decrease the other species accordingly.

Maybe just the three since you continue to enjoy the auratus?

 

[monisaab]

thanks DJR (as always).

No offence its not that I don't trust you or everyone else... but so far I haven't seen anything untoward from these two species...

I am thinking about letting go of the kenyi as I can't seem to find them at my LFS. They have them but with too many bars, may be 7 or even more, which I have been told is not good.

If I keep 7 auratus and 1m:4f then can I go for 4 species in my tank?

 

[Chunkanese]

I have a male auartus no more aggressive than any other fish. Red zebras on the other hand oh man, my arm is proof of their teeth. They are aggressive. Kenyi are very common I usually see them for $2 and look great. I think the more the bars can mean they are an older aquarium generation bred fish. Not sure exactly.

 

[monisaab]

thanks for the input chunkanese...

do you mean the number of bars will increase on next generations when bred in the tanks?

 

[monisaab]

OK folks went to the LFS today and exchanged the excess males.

Gave away 1 auratus male, 1 kenyi male and 1 yellow lab that had no black on it dorsal fin.

Brought home 2 auratus juveniles and 4 kenyi juveniles. Will try and get 2 yellow lab juveniles soon...