[GMnofxpx182]

Hey everyone!
Just set up my first fish tank about a month ago and loving it. I currently have a 65g tank with a 55g hanging filter and a 20g hanging filter on it. I don't have as much rock cover and cave landscape as I would like but I plan on remedying that tommorrow. I wanted your thoughts on what will play nice with the current inhabitants of my tank and how many fish I should put in.

Current Inhabitants:

1x Metriaclima Livingstonii (Livingston)
1x Metriaclima pyrsonotos (Red top Zebra)
1x Metriaclima esterae (A male red zebra who is actually pink)
1x Pseudotropheus crabro (Bumblebee)

1x An unknown peacock which I believe may be a (Sunshine Peacock) Aulonocara "Stuartgranti Maleri" but I'm not really sure on that one.

1x Black Fin Shark

They are all very young and around 1-1/2 to 2 inches. The peacock is low man on the totem pole however he seems to be doing okay. Everyone seems to be holding their own with the Red Zebra a strong dominant figure. I don't know the sexes of any except the Red Zebra who is a male. Any advice or ideas on additional species or amount of fish would be greatly appreciated.

I'll post some pics later.

 

[why_spyder]

Current Inhabitants:

1x Metriaclima Livingstonii (Livingston)

Metriaclima livingstonii is a shelldweller - and not too common I might add. The "Livingstonii" you probably have is the Nimbochromis livingstonii - the cichlid with the brown/white mottled pattern.

And if that is the case - I do believe that your tank will be too small (in the long-run) to house the Nimbochromis and the Ps. crabro. All the inhabitants (minus the peacock probably) will either out-grow that tank - or be too aggressive to "play nicely".

 

[Dewdrop]

Are you sure your livingstonii is a Metriaclima (little brown shell dweller) and not the Nimbochromis livingstonii (white with brown spots)? I don't mean to sound doubting but if it's the Metriaclima, I don't think it's chances are to good with the bumblebee. I could be wrong though lol. I've never had a bumblebee but I've read that they can be wicked mean and probably shouldn't be with a peacock either.

As for future stocking, it depends on what you want from the tank. 3-4 species should be the max. for that size tank and 3-4 females per male of each species is recommended unless you are going for an all male tank, then you should just have one male of each species you want and that is compatible ( I believe). Looking forward to pics. :fish:

 

[GMnofxpx182]

My bad. It is definitely Nimbochromis Livingstonii. I was unaware that they got large enough to outgrow a 65g tank? How big do they get?

As far as the bumblebee he's not been very aggressive since I added the Red Zebra male. Honestly its the zebras that are the fiercest fish in there.

So why is it recommended to have only a couple species? Also I was planning on putting like 13-15 fish in this baby? Is that unwise?

Thank you for the advice!

 

[DJRansome]

What are the dimensions of the 65G. The most common footprint is 36" x 18". A 36" length will limit the species that will have best odds of success at maturity to yellow labs and dwarf mbuna.

Malawi need to either be kept as a single specimen of each species (all male usually) or in harem groups with one male and multiple females. This helps spread the aggression of the one male among a number of females so no one fish is damaged to the point of illness/death.

13-15 dwarf mbuna would be possible if it's a 36" tank (floorspace is the key). You would have better success with 13-15 full size mbuna if your tank is at least 48" long.

The Livingstonii and the Crabro are larger than full-size. For them you would want even a larger tank.

Your fish are juveniles. The aggression problems will start at sexual maturity...2"-3".

 

[GMnofxpx182]

The dimensions are 36x18. I didn't realize the Livingston got so big. I think he may have to go back to the pet store.

I believe I have a Female Peacock, Female Crabro, Female Red top zebra, and Male Red Zebra.

I'm kind of thrown off my game here with having to get rid of the livingstonii. Are there any lists of other dwarf mbuna. Maybe I could get like 10 more dwarf mbuna from varying species? Is that a good plan. I'm really kind of stumped.
HELP! lol

 

[Gibbs]

Unfortunately them fish will outgrow your tank. And a female peacock doesn't really go we'll on her own either. She will be bullied to death basicly.
Checkout some of the Mbuma that only grow to max. lenght of the 3-4 inchs. Cyno's, Demasoni, Ps. Saulosi and others. Check in the profiles section for all the info you need

 

[Mitch101]

Agree with Gibbs....

 

[Dewdrop]

why_spyder and I must have been posting at the same time. His post wasn't there when I started mine (I post slow lol).

Since you've said your tank is only 36" long, I don't think I'd keep any of the fish you have. I'd take them back and start over.

Melanochromis cyaneorhabdos (maingano) like the one in my avitar is a pretty 4" full grown fish. I think they would look really good with Cynotilapia afra (white top) a 3" species. It might not be advisable but if I had that set up I'd try throwing in a female albino socolofi as sort of a centerpiece :wink: . I think it would look really really cool. The socolofi can get almost 6" though so I'd only have the one. I have 3 that are about a year old and they aren't 6" yet so maybe they don't always get that big but I still wouldn't try more than one in a tank that size.

I'm not very experienced with numbers lol but I'd get maybe 8 maingano, 8 white top afra, and 3 albino socolofi. Then as their sex became more apparent, keep a female socolofi (hopefully there would be a female in the 3 and return the rest) and return extra males of the others if there is more than 2 males per species. I'm thinking 2 male maingano and 2 male white tops would be ok if you had 6 females per each species. Maybe I've got that wrong though and someone else can tell you better. Good luck with whatever you choose. I was just giving you an example of what I think would look nice and try myself.

 

[Mitch101]

The foot print of the tank is key. With a tank that size I would only try dwarf mbuna. Melanochromis need lots of territory and proper m/f ratios or there will be lots of deaths, your tank is way too small for them. Check out the cookie cutter section. Good luck

 

[DJRansome]

My favorite mbuna are dwarf! Demasoni for one, of those you would need 12 in that tank. And half dozen yellow labs (a little larger, but the most peaceful) would complete the tank.

Other dwarfs include Rusties, Hongi, Cynotilapia Afra species. Browse through the profiles and look for anything 4" or under.

Zebra species are both full size and aggressive, not a good fit for a 36" tank. You could also keep the peacock with some labs.

Good luck!