Hi all was hoping for a bit of help please with changing out some of the fish in my tank
I have a 4' 68g
Current stock is
5 x ps. acei itungi
5x yellow lab
1x sc. fryeri iceberg - male
1 x proto. Steveni Taiwan reef - male
1x Stuartgranti Chilumba - male
1 x Aulonocara Lwanda red top - male
1 x OB Peacock - male
1 x Dragons blood - male
3x syno petticola lucipinnis
All the fish are about half grown so about 2- 3.5" The tank is "working" fish are colouring up nicely no nipped fins or serious Fighting. Only battle was between the Dom yellow lab and Acei. The Acei won and that there has been no further attempts to be "boss" . He's not aggressive and doesn't chase other fish around he just commands the respect of the tank.
So my problem (s)
The Dragons blood is a wuss and spends half his time behind the power head. No body seems to chase him, and his colour isn't great - he will likely be going
My Lwanda has stopped eating, When I bought him his blue was very greyed out but he had good orange colouration, his blue started to improve until he stopped eating a few days ago. He is currently in the hospital tank, he is swimming around fine no obvious signs of being ill he does have some slight damage to his scales but still not eating. Will have to see how this goes in terms of illness and colouring up. When he was in the tank he was fairly high up the dominance pyramid and wasn't being hassled. It is possible that he made a bid for the top job ( noting slight damage) and failed hence his current predicament.
So nothing of any major issue so far.... which brings me to my main problem the yellow labs. I started with 7 in hope that I would get at least 1 female. 2 obvious males have already gone and the remaining 5 are looking to be male. There is no sign of breeding activity ( one of my acei who is smaller has spawned twice since the yellow labs have been in)they just chase each other for territory and dominance, having kept Mbuna for a while their behaviour seems very male like. My other issue is that they are not great quality fish either missing black bands or showing barring. This is where I would be great full for some opinions. I like the yellow of the labs and they contrast nicely with the yellow in the acei.
Options
1 - try and find some better labs and hope for some females this time
2 - a group of metraclima msobo Magunga ( I can get some F1's which further appeals) this is the option I really want to work but fear they are too aggressive to go with Haps and Peacocks? If this can work What ratio m-f would you recommend?
3 - ps. saulosi? Not so keen on the females vs yellow labs and the msobo
4 - add more Haps and peacocks, Potentially Otopharynx Lithobates, Aulonocara Baenschi,chiwindi, Maulana, would these work with my current fish? Would there be trouble with so many males and a breeding group of Ps Acei?
5- switch back to a Mbuna tank, OB and sc fryeri would need to stay but could do msobo, room for another? Probably not.
And just to curve ball it slightly I am in negotiations for a bigger tank and hope to win that battle in the next 6-12 months. The new tank will be 6' 120gallon the old tank will be sold and that will be part of the deal ( non negotiable). My wish list for this tank includes the haps peacocks mentioned above plus some bigger fish such as Placidochromis Milomo, and Electra so what I chose now would need to work in the new tank which will probably be more hap peacock bias.
Thanks for reading and in anticipation of some ideas
I have a 4' 68g
Current stock is
5 x ps. acei itungi
5x yellow lab
1x sc. fryeri iceberg - male
1 x proto. Steveni Taiwan reef - male
1x Stuartgranti Chilumba - male
1 x Aulonocara Lwanda red top - male
1 x OB Peacock - male
1 x Dragons blood - male
3x syno petticola lucipinnis
All the fish are about half grown so about 2- 3.5" The tank is "working" fish are colouring up nicely no nipped fins or serious Fighting. Only battle was between the Dom yellow lab and Acei. The Acei won and that there has been no further attempts to be "boss" . He's not aggressive and doesn't chase other fish around he just commands the respect of the tank.
So my problem (s)
The Dragons blood is a wuss and spends half his time behind the power head. No body seems to chase him, and his colour isn't great - he will likely be going
My Lwanda has stopped eating, When I bought him his blue was very greyed out but he had good orange colouration, his blue started to improve until he stopped eating a few days ago. He is currently in the hospital tank, he is swimming around fine no obvious signs of being ill he does have some slight damage to his scales but still not eating. Will have to see how this goes in terms of illness and colouring up. When he was in the tank he was fairly high up the dominance pyramid and wasn't being hassled. It is possible that he made a bid for the top job ( noting slight damage) and failed hence his current predicament.
So nothing of any major issue so far.... which brings me to my main problem the yellow labs. I started with 7 in hope that I would get at least 1 female. 2 obvious males have already gone and the remaining 5 are looking to be male. There is no sign of breeding activity ( one of my acei who is smaller has spawned twice since the yellow labs have been in)they just chase each other for territory and dominance, having kept Mbuna for a while their behaviour seems very male like. My other issue is that they are not great quality fish either missing black bands or showing barring. This is where I would be great full for some opinions. I like the yellow of the labs and they contrast nicely with the yellow in the acei.
Options
1 - try and find some better labs and hope for some females this time
2 - a group of metraclima msobo Magunga ( I can get some F1's which further appeals) this is the option I really want to work but fear they are too aggressive to go with Haps and Peacocks? If this can work What ratio m-f would you recommend?
3 - ps. saulosi? Not so keen on the females vs yellow labs and the msobo
4 - add more Haps and peacocks, Potentially Otopharynx Lithobates, Aulonocara Baenschi,chiwindi, Maulana, would these work with my current fish? Would there be trouble with so many males and a breeding group of Ps Acei?
5- switch back to a Mbuna tank, OB and sc fryeri would need to stay but could do msobo, room for another? Probably not.
And just to curve ball it slightly I am in negotiations for a bigger tank and hope to win that battle in the next 6-12 months. The new tank will be 6' 120gallon the old tank will be sold and that will be part of the deal ( non negotiable). My wish list for this tank includes the haps peacocks mentioned above plus some bigger fish such as Placidochromis Milomo, and Electra so what I chose now would need to work in the new tank which will probably be more hap peacock bias.
Thanks for reading and in anticipation of some ideas
