[DAD419]

currently have a 75 gal all male mbuna with an fx5 filter. the stocking is as follows
2 red zebras
2 blue zebras
2 bumble bee
all between 4 and 6 inches
1 maingano
1 melanochroms joanjohnsonae
1 unidentified (That gets harassed) gray with dark stripes moved him to a calmer tank with 6 yellow tail acei 6 red tail botias, 2 jewels and he became agressive toward them. so back to the mbuna tk (also a 75 )these guys are about 2.5"

any suggestions on adding more mbuna, or is this tank good as is, should changes be made
tanks have been set up for about 1.5 yr. thank you

 

[DJRansome]

If you've had two males of blue zebra, red zebra and bumblebee in a tank together for 1.5 years I'd be afraid to change anything and upset the balance.

Usually two males of the same species in a tank will fight.

 

[DAD419]

yeah that seems to be the case tried adding the acei and they were hounded unmercifully, so i'm kind of stuck with the nine established fish.

 

[esparzar1]

YOU MUST get the numbers of the mbuna males down to 1 for each species. Trust me, all **** will break lose if you don't. Even though you've had this set-up for 1.5+ yrs? Harmony won't last must longer (IMO). Once that is accomplished, I'd say that you have room for 6-8 more males. You have some very aggresive males so I'd stick with getting some more aggressive species. For a 75gal/4ft, I think a safe number would be 12-15 males. But again, with the BB and Joanjohn, you might be limited with your options. If it were me (totally just my opinion) I'd get rid of the BB/joanjohn and keep the blue/red zebras then select maybe 10 different males. You could do a wonderful set-up of males with lots of options if you just got rid of the two mentioned species above......again, just my opinion but I beleive your options are limited due to your current stock. I'd also get rid of the jewels.....Check my sig for a few ideas! Hope this helps :thumb:

 

[esparzar1]

ooops.....I just noticed that you said joanjoahn....for some reason I was thinking johannii. I believe the Joanjohns are now classified as the textillis (someone please correct me if I'm wrong) they are nowhere near as vicious as the johannii......anyway, the only one that id' really worry about would be the bumblebee, I think you could make a sweet looking all-male tank if ya got rid of those two BB.......just my 2 cents :thumb:

 

[RRasco]

I've had two male Hara in the same tank for years. It has worked out. At one point, I had 4 males in there. Moved 2 due to aggression. The other seems to know his place as subdominant and the dom doesn't mess with him at all. There are plans in the coming months to split them up though, not due to aggression, but for a breeding setup.

 

[esparzar1]

I've had two male Hara in the same tank for years. It has worked out. At one point, I had 4 males in there. Moved 2 due to aggression. The other seems to know his place as subdominant and the dom doesn't mess with him at all. There are plans in the coming months to split them up though, not due to aggression, but for a breeding setup.

that's a huge difference. With a all-male mbuna tank, there is no way you wanna keep two of the same species.......