[xltom]

Can any one give me a good idea for a 38 gallon tank? I currently have malawi mbuna in it but the aggression is high. I'll list what freshwater fish I'm keeping now to give you an idea of my tastes and maybe a starting point.
4 demasoni
1 yellow lab
1 unknown peacock pair
1 acei
3 afra
I'm not set on any one species or type of fish but this tank is in my living room so I'd like something very showy. Thanks......xltom[/img]

 

[Joea]

Your best bet would be to add another 10 Ps. demasoni and another three or four L. caeruleus (Yellow Lab) and remove the rest.

Ps. demasoni are best in groups of 12 or more and four likely won't stay four for long. The peacocks will not fare well with the more boisterous mbuna and shouldn't be kept in a pair anyway as the male may harass the female to the point of death. The Ps. sp. "acei" and Cy. afra are simply the "odd men out".

 

[xltom]

Joea,
Can I keep demasoni/labs in a 3ft tank? They are large. I haven't had much success adding smaller specimens. Thanks

 

[Joea]

I have about 20 in mine. Ps. demasoni aren't large, they're a dwarf mbuna and dominant males shouldn't get much more than 4 inches. They also aren't overly territorial and don't get fiercely protective of their area. L. caeruleus shouldn't really get any larger than 5 inches.

 

[xltom]

Joea,
I checked out your tank. Very encouraging. Could you tell me how long they have been in there? Have you had many losses. How often do you rearrange the rockwork? Thanks.......xltom

 

[Joea]

I've had that setup for almost three years. I've had a couple of jumpers and one male that I found belly up about a year ago, I'm not sure why. The rest have been fine. They breed regularly and I rearrange the rock work anytime I want to remove a holding female. The picture in that profile is quite old and there is a lot more rock work in the tank now.

 

[xltom]

Do you think I should keep the adults I have or start from scratch? Could you send me a private message with a good source for stock? Thanks for your help, I was about to scrap the tank and switch to SW....xltom

 

[Joea]

As long as you don't add very small fry, anything over an inch should do fine with the adults. Add them all at once, the large group makes it nearly impossible for dominant fish to chase and catch smaller fish. I've never had any problems adding 1 inch juveniles to a tank with 4 inch adults.

As for stock, I wouldn't know of anyone in your area but there are several online sources that are sponsors. I would recommend any of them as they all have good reviews.

You can check out their links here.

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/links.php

 

[xltom]

Joea,
A lot has changed since my last post on this thread! I bit the bullit and bought a 75 gallon. Today I bought 15 1 inch Demasoni allegidly procured by my local LFS from the man himself "Demason" in Florida. I guess we'll see if they really can make it with the big boys! I'm a little worried they might fit in the peacocks mouth but at the first sign of trouble I'll move all the juvie demasons to the 38 gallon to grow a little more. It's up and running with some convict fry in it. I'll just use them as feeders some where else. Think I should remove the peacock now?.......