[Peacock88]

I found someone selling these fish and I really like them. Want to know about them before purchasing :thumb: Smart huh?
In my 90g tank I'm going to have cyno. white top galireya, aulonacara jacobfreibergi, pseudo saulosi, and maybe Labidochromis caeruleus (Nkhata Bay), psuedo. acei, Melanochromis cyaneorhabdos, and Iodo. sprengerae. I'll only have 5 species with one male of each and 3-4 females.

The first 3 are def. going into the tank and I want to know if these elongatus will get along.
Are they friendly (not too aggressive to stress out my peacocks)?
How big do they really get (the profile says 3.5")
Will they get along with all the species I've listed?

Basically I want to know if this species would be a good fish to put in with the other species I've mentioned. I'm planning on breeding but mainly want a stress-free tank.

 

[eL Chupy]

beautiful fish.. I originally bought 5... hoped for a good ratio, but that didn't happen. wound up with 3 males and 2 females. the dominant male took out the first male to try and show his colors. 2 males and 2 females.... when the females are holding he harasses the heck outta them. one female has swallowed 3 times, and the other female was found one morning dead on the bottom.. not sure the culprit, but I think it was him... so now I'm left with 2 males and 1 female. and now they get along great :roll: . looking for more, or hoping to get a long term hold and save some from it..... the dom male stays on his side of the tank and the sub-dom on the other... not as colorful when in view of the dom... with the girly going back and forth

i got em with yellow labs and acei.. not sure about the other fish.. especially the stripey guys you've mentioned...white top and saulosi, but they all look rather different so it may work... from what I've noticed they don't bother nobody but eachother. and size wise mine are about 3.5 inches right now, so not sure if they're gonna get any bigger, they seem to have slowed growing the past few months too... mine don't add any stress to the tank except to eachother... and stress free tank with mbuna is a very delicate thing to acheive..

good luck, I love mine!!!!.. even with my backwards ratio

 

[DJRansome]

I don't think elongatus (or maingano) are generally classified as "friendly" among mbuna. If I were looking for stress-free, I'd look at the Labs, Acei or Rusties on your list.

 

[Peacock88]

Well I know stress-free is almost impossible, unless you get those three species. Originally that's what I wanted, but after doing more research and finding out about different species, other fish have interested me.

I want a tank with good ratios (1M/4F) and 5 species that won't kill each other or stress out too much that it bothers their breeding patterns. With only one male of each group, this should work out, as long as I don't get a hyper aggressive fish. The peacocks I've chosen are large and robust enough that they will hold their own against these mbuna... Which leads me to one of my questions, will these elongatus harass the peacocks to death??

eL Chupy, the same thing happened to me. Bought five lab. sp. "Hongi" and three were males.
No deaths yet but they get big and aggressive so i'm getting rid of them.

I've already had and bred acei and even though their nice fish, I want to move on. The rusties are nice too but they've been bred for a long time in the hobby. I love yellow labs and like what they contribute but they have also been bred for a long time, that's why I like the blue labs, more color difference with the same fish (well genus anyway).

So for sure I'll be getting the peacocks (btw I'm only getting 4 of these 1M/3F), white tops, and saulosi.
The ones on the bubble are the blue labs, rusties, and elongatus.
If I got the blue labs and the elongatus, would there be any hybridization issues with any of the five fish? I'm kinda worried about the elongatus and saulosi. Will those two have problems?

 

[Gibbs]

I would be worried about the Elongatus and Saulosi conflicting.
My Elongatus are aggressive towards each other, not to the point were females are spitting fry however. I have 2 males and 5 females which actually seems to be working. No one is hiding at the top of the tank or behind filters and no torn fins, most of the time.
It's only around breeding that the dominant male becomes extremely aggressive to all fish in the tank. He dominates a good 18 inches and not a single fish is allowed any were near his kingdom. Duing this period is the only time i worry about finding a dead fish in the moring but so far that hasn't happened.
To other fish they are slightly aggressive, to there own type, more agro then most
I would advise against housing them with peacocks. Stick to the more peaceful fish as DJRansom suggested

 

[wakko]

hey chupy have your chailosi mated again?

my male gets bullied by my females, and i don't think they're ever going to mate...

 

[nick a]

So for sure I'll be getting the peacocks (btw I'm only getting 4 of these 1M/3F), white tops, and saulosi.

OK so far. Slight chance of the saulosi/Cyno sp. 'hara' males having issues. You'll just have to watch the two for a while and see their personalities.

The ones on the bubble are the blue labs, rusties, and elongatus.

Metriaclima sp. 'elongatus chailosi' are predominately a yellowish/black and should have no issues--aggrowise of Xing wise. They are relatively peaceful in my tank with labs,rusties & Cyno afra.

I've never had the Nkhata Bays & the only pics I've seen show no barring--which may work out perfectly. The rusties should be well suited also.

So any 2 of the bubbles should be fine.

 

[why_spyder]

When I had Ps. elongatus chailosi - I had no problems with it mixing with my Cynotilapia sp. hara.