[gliebig]

Now that my tank is cycling, I'm starting to think about what fish I want. I go back and forth between mbuna and peacocks, but leaning towards mbuna. My head is starting to hurt. lol.

My tank is 240gal. 60"x36"x25".
Pics can be seen here: http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/view ... 4&start=60

I'm thinking about an all male tank. I really don't feel like dealing with breeding and I think fish are going to be hard to catch in here.

Short list of fish I like:

Mbuna:
Yellow:
yellow labs
Blue:
Demasoni or Saulosi
Others:
Red Zebras
Cynotilapia afra (Cobue)
Metriaclima estherae (OB)
White/albino:
Albino zebra?( don't know the name.)
Need suggestions

Peacocks: (males)
Aulonocara baenschi
Aulonocara Sp. Fire Fish Dragon Blood
Aulonocara jacobfreibergi "Eureka Albino"
Strawberry peacock - just saw pics, don't know the name

Haps:
Cyrtocara moorii
Placidochromis sp. "Phenochilus Tanzania"

Catfish:
Synodontis petricola or
Synodontis multipunctatus

Looking for suggestions.

 

[DJRansome]

All male tanks will REALLY give you a headache if you have one already. :lol:

You don't have to save all the fry, you can have a mixed gender tank and let nature take it's course. IMO a mixed gender mbuna tank is the easiest.

Read the all-male tank article in the library. Definitely a good idea to have extra tanks since they are a bit of a revolving door (removing fish that don't work out well) until you achieve balance.

It's always a good idea to aquascape your tank so it is as easy as possible to catch fish. Trust me it will be necessary at some point, if only when you need to catch a sick one. I have 3D backgrounds too...they aren't too bad for catching fish...it's the rocks on the bottom that are the problem.

 

[gliebig]

Re: the all male thing, I was just worried about having to catch baby fish. My tank is setup with just a few very large rocks, so maybe it won't be as much of a hassle as I think?
I guess I was thinking all male because I'm not really fond of the female peacocks.

What do you think would be a good mix of mbuna from the list I have?

Open to all suggestions/criticisms....

 

[DJRansome]

You only have 6 mbuna species on your list and you would need five species to fill that tank. Red Zebra and Metriaclima estherae are the same fish. Unfortunately some of them are not the best mix.

The adult fish and the synodontis will eat all or almost all of the babies.

If I had to choose five that would mix it would be:
Demasoni
Yellow Labs
Albino Zebra (Metriaclima callainos Pearl?)
Melanochromis cyaneorhabdos (Maingano) for blue/black horizontal stripes
Pseudotropheus socolofi for solid pale blue

 

[bmweiler09]

I've seen multiple posts on this site stating syno's are great for removing fry. I think one thing you need to decide is if you want species with colorful females or if you are fine with drab females. This could remove a lot of species (basically all the Cyno's).

In a tank this size I think you could easily get away with 4-5 Mbuna species.

For your blue barred species I would go with Demasoni. They are really fun to watch and you could get away with a colony of 25 or so in a tank that size.

As long as you never plan on keeping fry, mixing labs and red zebras won't be a problem, and they would add a lot of color as well.

Instead of Dems and labs you could also do a blue male/ yellow female species like Saulosi or Msobo.

A solid blue monomorphic species like socolofi or callainos would make a great addition, and I've always liked the look of Ngara White Tail Acei. They spend more time in the upper region of the tank then other Mbuna.

Sorry, I'm no help with peacocks or haps.

 

[dielikemoviestars]

Instead of RZs I'd go with something OB. Or greshakei or something. A hint of red/orange rather than big solids of it.

 

[gliebig]

Instead of RZs I'd go with something OB. Or greshakei or something. A hint of red/orange rather than big solids of it.

Is there an ob red zebra? Something like this..
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/s ... hp?id=2316

Thanks everyone for the suggestions so far, it's been extremely helpful.

 

[ridley25]

Other species available in OB are Labeotropheus fuelleborni, Labeotropheus trewavasae, Tropheops tropheops and Metriaclima fainzelberi.

Another common albino is Pseudotropheus socolofi.

kevin

 

[gliebig]

Are ob red zebras readily available? I think the only place I've seen them is in the profiles section on here.

 

[ridley25]

PM sent.

And I know I'm a broken record with this genus, but with a tank like that I'd really go for some Labeotropheus...

kevin

 

[Glaneon]

Instead of RZs I'd go with something OB. Or greshakei or something. A hint of red/orange rather than big solids of it.

I have Greshakei and RZ's... and they're totally different. My dominant male ice blue (greshakei) is pictured in my tanks picture (of the 125)... and definitely does not have the effect of my nice 5 RZ's.

Combined, they look great - especially wth a light less than 10k temp.

 

[gliebig]

I just can't get these names down. I have to google search these things all the time. lol.

Which labeotropheus? I did an image search and there was a huge variety?

 

[cantrell00]

I believe Ridley is referring to Labeotropheus Trewavasae or Fuelleborni. They are the most common. The most common colors of the Trewavasae is OB or Red Top.. I have both.

Their unique characteristic is their underslung mouth..

Here are some links..

Fuelleborni

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/l_fuelleborni2.php

Trewavasae

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/l_trewavasae.php

 

[gliebig]

Trying to get the stock list down. Also I need to start thinking about how many total of each and the male/female ratio.
How about:

1)Demasoni. #'s, m/f?
2)Yellow labs #'s, m/f?
3)Albino socolofi #'s, m/f?
4)Pseudotropheus socolofi #'s, m/f?
5)Thinking about a mix of red zebras and ob red zebras. #'s
6)Labidochromis Gigas
7) Syno petricola or multipunctatus. Would they both eat fry?

 

[Glaneon]

Other than #6, it's a lot like my 125. Check my tanks for specifics.

 

[DJRansome]

With your mix I would watch out for these possible trouble spots:
Labs/zebras crossbreeding
Albino/non-Albino socolofi fighting and crossbreeding
Mix of zebras fighting or crossbreeding
Gigas/demasoni fighting, not sure about crossbreeding

1m:4f should work for all of those except the demasoni, I'd keep about 20.

IME the multipunctatus eat more fry than the petricola (most cats on the market labeled petricola are actually lucipinnis which is a new name in the last few years).

 

[gliebig]

DJ,

What do you think about me changing the blue socolofi to Cyno "White Top Afra" and keeping the albino socolofi?

 

[Glaneon]

I love the look of regular Soc's - but I have too many fish and have to make a choice.

Albino socs look better bigger, so if you can get them at 3" or more, great (or are very patient).

I've been tempted on the Cyno White Top Afra's a few times, but my Ice Blue Zebra are kinda close.

 

[DJRansome]

DJ,

What do you think about me changing the blue socolofi to Cyno "White Top Afra" and keeping the albino socolofi?

I like them better than two socolofi species. :thumb: My Cyno's are only "meh" on coloring up with Demasoni. Note that they are not afra. The scientific name is Cynotilapia sp. hara. Common name is "White Tops" though.

 

[gliebig]

DJ,

What do you think about me changing the blue socolofi to Cyno "White Top Afra" and keeping the albino socolofi?

I like them better than two socolofi species. :thumb: My Cyno's are only "meh" on coloring up with Demasoni. Note that they are not afra. The scientific name is Cynotilapia sp. hara. Common name is "White Tops" though.

Do you have any pics of your 75?