Some of the online sponsors have Lwanda for sale at times. Check the "sponsors" link above or the ad box.

As for getting a good deal for a good quality pure fish... good luck with that. If you live near a population center, you may be able to find a local hobbyist who can get you one at low cost. Ordering online you need to pay for shipping, even if the fish is not that expensive. Just be happy with getting a pure fish.

Which is less aggressive? The Bi-color of the Stuartgranti group are considered somewhat less aggressive than the Lwanda. Each male can be different thou.

Which do I like? If good quality, both are very nice. The Bi-color Maulana is much more blue and is more colorful over the whole body. The Lwanda has more unique fins, and a very nice male has a unique graceful look, many really like the Lwanda. Some Lwanda males are kinda dark and less attractive, males vary. The "red top" is a bit of an exaggeration.

 

I should of said this...its going to be in the tank with mbunas. So the Bi-color?

 

Thats the video that got me interested in red top lwandas.

 

Which Mbuna? Aulonocara may not show good color when around more active, more aggressive Mbuna.

 

I at one time was in possession of 25 rtl 3.5-5 inch males super high quality f1s got from a breeder in Escondido paid 160$ for the 25 and sold them for 30$ ea and kept like 4 of the best looking ones

 

Snow Whites, Yellow Lab, Cobalt Blue Zebra, Red Zebra,Regular blue Socolofi. Might add some more mbunas and when I do that I make sure to post it.

 

I know of a FANTASTIC peacock supplier who I get my fish stock from. You will get them via air cargo and I think they always use Southwest Airlines. You may find information on them if you search Facebook for <vendor name removed>, they are located in Missouri. My concern here, though, is that you will be putting very peaceful peacocks with aggressive Mbuna. As Noki stated, the Lwanda, or any peacock for that matter, will not display it's color potential while housed with more aggressive species of cichlids such as mbuna. From my experience, you either have Mbuna, or you have Peacocks. Do not mix the two. I have, however, without incident, been able to keep a yellow lab in with my peacock tank. You will want to have at least a 6 feet long tank since Peacocks love to swim side to side, and also, to afford plenty of territorial space. A long time friend of mine schooled me a while ago on the best practice for keeping beautifully color peacocks and here is what I learned.

Have a male only tank and house one of each variety of Aulonocara mixed with some of the more peaceful haps and protomelas. There some lovely color varieties of aulonacara jacobfreibergi, as well as the Stuartgranti sp. On a regular basis, <vendor name removed> gets the following and they come in at 4-5 inches. One thing to also note about the fish they get in - they are from Pablo Tepoot, the developer of NLS fish food. Here is the most recent shipment they had come in -

Flavecens
Ngara flametail
Red Jacobfreibergi
Blue Gold
Sunshine
Rubecens
Lwanda
Turqois
Mandarina (see Pablo's book volume 2 on amazon and you will see this fish)

The following are Haps/Protemales

Red Empress (beautiful)
Borleyi red fin
Lithobates Sulferhead
Azureus

Again, I wouldn't recommend these fish in with any Mbunas, well, except for a lone yellow lab. If you want some pretty fish that will swim out in the open water of the tank for you to see all the time, go with Peacocks. I myself leave Mbunas alone, got tired of my hospital tank being occupied Best of luck! Also, I realize that this post is a bit dated but maybe you are still looking. Take care!

Jenny

 

Vendor name removed so Cichlid-forum can keep review-type information in the Reviews section and out of the forums.