55g Malawi/rocky Setups

[liv4evrordietryin!]

hey everyone!

so, i'm relatively new to malawis, and i have a fairly new 55g mbuna tank. in it so far are 3 auratus (1 m, 2 f), 1 zebra, and 1 socolofi. i'm looking to continue stocking but i was wondering what you guys think would be good fish, and what's the best way to introduce them (like w/out the others murdering them )?

any and all advice would be more than welcome!!!!

Thanks!

 

[adambrum]

You save yourself a lot of trouble by getting rid of the auratus now there killers even the female can take out a whole tank. As for stocking adding 3 more of each of the other and maybe 4 yellow labs or some rustys would look good.

Hope that helps but the auratus should be removed.

 

[Xebadir]

The gentleman above me is right, the auratus most likely need to be sprung from such a small tank: I dont think these fish are safe in anything but a species tank, and even then have to be careful. Perhaps look into some non agressive species as well as the agressors you have, Socolofi can be a bit finicky. Make sure the fish are fed and the light is out when introducing, and the fish have plenty of space to hide too.

 

[liv4evrordietryin!]

ok...so maybe i shouldn't have gotten the auratus in the first place, but now i have them, the lfs won't take them back, and i don't have a disposable income, so i can't get a new tank........so besides getting rid of the auratus, what do you guys think about maybe a zebra? any help would be awesome! plz, i really don't know where i should go from here! Thanks a bunch!!!

 

[BiffMalawi]

I love the auratus they a beautiful fish If I were you I would add 3 or 4 more female auratus and just be ready to rescue the other two when the time comes.

The females are the most attractive (imo) and more than one male will result in death of at least one. Your tank would be a little understocked buit unfortunately you don't stand much chance of adding anything else.

I had a 2" female auratus and it killed evrything that was put in the tank. I gave it away because as much as I loved her, I didn't like the thought of just her in my 70g tank.

 

[Xebadir]

The socolofi should be ok as long as it is equal or larger than the auratus male: make sure you have lots of hiding spaces for all your fish: A auratus tank looks pretty well you best option at this point, and will definitely make for an interesting tank. Make sure you regularly feed and keep a wide and varied diet, as this will keep agression down.

Hope this helps, and good luck

 

[adambrum]

Im still going with what i said even giving the auratus back with no refund is cheaper than adding more fish that will get killed , This is not just my opinion many on here have tried auratus and maybe only one or two with sucsess but even they have had deaths.

 

[Boids-n-more]

See if you can do a trade with them. if not then i would find a different store to do business with. I was just talking to a guy that breeds his fish as a hobby and he trades his babies in for store credit to feed his fish and to buy supplies to set up new tanks and such. Also if you bought those fish there and they won't do a trade with you then there too greedy in my book.

 

[nukeonekitty]

I would think the LFS would do a trade... Mine would!

 

[liv4evrordietryin!]

thanks everyone!!! you all have tons of good advice! so i think i might have to resign myself to the fact that the auratus could be a problem. So i'm looking into either taking them back the the lfs or getting them their own tank. How big do you think the species tank would have to be(keeping in mind that i don't have unlimited money or space)?

also, how does this sound for a setup--
3-4 labs, 2 socolofi, 1 zebra, and 3 cobalt blues?
thoughts? suggestions?

 

[adambrum]

I would go 4 labs,4 socolofi 1m-3f,4cobalt blues 1m-3f add a couple of bottom fish

 

[liv4evrordietryin!]

what kind of bottom fish? like maybe some synodontis?

 

[adambrum]

yep or a bristlenose if your conserned abot algae the other one is a chinese algae eater

 

[BiffMalawi]

I would be careful about the algea eater. Chinese AE grow to about 6" and eventually give up on algea and start on slimecoat. Siamese algea eaters however are OK.

CAE and SAE look almost the same but on chinese the black stripe on the side is broken and on Siamese it is contiguous. Contiguous what a great word. Say it out loud contiguous. I just love the way it sounds.