Community Keeper With Mbuna Interest..

[Squid]

Mbuna cichids seem to be something people go for once they have already entered the world of fishkeeping. Someone who could no longer house a tank gave me theirs, and I kept that one for a little while. After a few cleans (because I didn’t know what I was doing at the time), the thing looked like it was going to fall apart, and so I went looking for a new tank. It was at this point that is saw Mbuna in a tank and really liked them. However, at that point I still had a few of the old fish, and the tank I bought was a Juwel, and I was told that I would need extra filtration for Mbuna. This place seems to confirm that as good advice. I have ad this tank set up for a few months now with a mixed bag of community fish. I am enjoying them, but I am still thinking that I wish I had some Mbuna. Especially since I added an external eheim filter, which means the environment would be better for them too..!

So.. This fills me with questions….

When you came to start a mbuna tank did you..

• Buy a new tank
• Use an old tank
• If so, was it empty, or did you have fish in it. If you had fish in it, what did you do with them.. did your LFS take them back or did you find a new home. I’m sure many people have had this problem..

If I was to go mbuna at present, I don’t have the space for a second tank of that would be big enough for mbuna, and so I would be able to use the same tank with a mature filter. If I was to re-home the fish, I would have to put the mbuna into the tank the same day in order retain the bacteria present. Has anyone had to manage this headache. I would want to change the substrate for new, and all of the décor to be suitable for mbuna.

How do people set up mbuna tanks if a filter is not cycled. If they aggressive in under-stocked tanks, how can you add them slowly without chaos. (just out of interest for this one)

I have tonnes of other questions, but will do some more research on those for now.

Cheers
Squid

 

[Ferris]

I bought a new tank for my Mbuna as they should not be kept with community fish, although there are quite a few bottom feeders that are compatible. You can certainly use an old tank but you would need to return/rehome any existing fish 1st and ensure that you have excellent filtration as Mbuna are messy fish.

With a new tank, you need to complete the cycle. You can either go for a fishless cycle adding ammonia or use appropriate fish to cycle the tank before fully stocking it. Fishless cycling is probably the best way to go but to be honest, my common Plec or my hoplo catfish have cycled all my tanks bewteen them.

 

[Ginge]

I started from fresh. I brought my fish in waves e.g. Week1- 6 fish Week2-6fish Week3-6 fish to even out the agression towards new fish also when new fish are introduced you can move around all the rocks so they all ahev to find new territioies. When fish are juvies it matters less i think.

 

[Squid]

I bought a new tank for my Mbuna as they should not be kept with community fish, although there are quite a few bottom feeders that are compatible. You can certainly use an old tank but you would need to return/rehome any existing fish 1st and ensure that you have excellent filtration as Mbuna are messy fish.

With a new tank, you need to complete the cycle. You can either go for a fishless cycle adding ammonia or use appropriate fish to cycle the tank before fully stocking it. Fishless cycling is probably the best way to go but to be honest, my common Plec or my hoplo catfish have cycled all my tanks bewteen them.

dont worry.. i did read the beginner bit on this part of the forum.. so i know the community fish would have to go first.. i would need new catfish too.. my little otos would be horrified at those aggressive mbuna

i have an eheim 2026 which is double the filtration of for a normal tank.. so i am confident that this filter would be ok.

I did a fishless cycle with this one too.. so if i was to get a new tank, i would clone or do another one.. im all up for the fishless route..

Squid

 

[Ferris]

Bristlenose Plecs or many of the Synodontis species work well with Mbuna and Pim Pictus are another option. Your eheim can cope with up to 90 gallon tanks so should be sufficient and your right about the Otto's, they wouldn't last 5 mins.

 

[Ginge]

I think some loaches can go well with africans aswell (please correct if wrong)

 

[Squid]

Ferris... could you tell me what the fish in your avatar image is.. i really like it..

 

[Ferris]

Pseudotropheus Demasoni, be warned though they are pretty much at the top of the aggression scale and either need to be kept singularly or in large groups in an overstocked tank. If not they will pretty much kill each other.

For me they are the most stunning Mbuna going, great fish.

 

[Mbuna Dave]

I agree Ferris in your Demasoni comment but would add the Ps,Elongatus Chewere to the list of all time great Mbuna.

I setup my Mbuna from a community one about three months ago and havent looked back.

My only problem was getting rid of my old fish which i had only bought just before christmas but when i make my mind up i just go for it and went to a LFS and they kindly took them in hand,although i didnt recieve a penny for them which hurt a little but at least i know the fish are fine.

I also bought a stack of ocean rock and threw most of the plants out.And even though the tank was fully cycled i still waited a couple of weeks for the whole thing to settle,maybe it wasnt needed but i didnt mind a small wait.

One thing i will say is that comparing the community setup to the malawi setup i know i have made the perfect choice,the fish are stunning but the tank is still growing in maturity and still has a little more time to go to reach its optimum look.Come autumn it should be at its peak.

 

[mamafish68]

I'm just curious Dave, how big were your mbuna when you bought them and how big are they now?

 

[Mbuna Dave]

They were all juvies about 3 months ago and now they have doubled in size.
They vary though,the Acei are about 4" in length as is the Caeruleus.
The Crabro are about 3" and also the Zebras.

Some are growing quicker than others and not all at the same rate.

 

[Ginge]

Ferris you need to change that pic man you are getting to many new malawi keepers onto Ps.Demasoni and its not good for them

 

[Ferris]

Ferris you need to change that pic man you are getting to many new malawi keepers onto Ps.Demasoni and its not good for them

Very true but he's staying.

 

[mamafish68]

3 Pseudotropheus crabro EXTREMELY AGGRESSIVE I've seen 1 crabro take over a whole 100gallon mbuna tank
3 Labidochromis caeruleus MELLOW
3 Pseudotropheus acei yellow tail MELLOW UNTIL SPAWNING
3 Maylandia greshakei SEMI AGGRESSIVE

THESE LAST 3 RATE ALL ABOUT THE SAME AGGRESSION TO ME, RED BEING WORSE OF THE 3
3 Pseudotropheus red zebra
3 Pseudotropheus cobalt blue
3 Labidochromis Hongi



I've had everything BUT the crabro, I knew that sucker would be evil LOLOL

keep an eye on your little guys for then grow fast and become killers in the blink if an eye, I wish you luck w/ them all.

 

[heads of fish]

3 Pseudotropheus crabro EXTREMELY AGGRESSIVE I've seen 1 crabro take over a whole 100gallon mbuna tank
3 Labidochromis caeruleus MELLOW
3 Pseudotropheus acei yellow tail MELLOW UNTIL SPAWNING
3 Maylandia greshakei SEMI AGGRESSIVE

THESE LAST 3 RATE ALL ABOUT THE SAME AGGRESSION TO ME, RED BEING WORSE OF THE 3
3 Pseudotropheus red zebra
3 Pseudotropheus cobalt blue
3 Labidochromis Hongi



I've had everything BUT the crabro, I knew that sucker would be evil LOLOL

keep an eye on your little guys for then grow fast and become killers in the blink if an eye, I wish you luck w/ them all.

Apart from the aggresion of Mbuna they also need different water quality to that of your normal community tank in order for you to get the best of them. As well as this you need to make sure there is lots of rock work and crevasis in the tank to try and create as natural environment as possible and this also helps to reduce the aggresion in the tank. The filtration must be top notch stuff as with Mbuna you are meant to overstock the tank as this also reduces aggresion.
As the person above said Crabro can be very aggresive although if you set the tank up properly this can be avoided slightly. As another person above said stock your tank in waves with 2 females one male starting with the least aggresive and moveing upwards. One of my personal favourites is the cynotopia afra which is a very rewarding fish to keep. If there is lots of aggresion when you ad a new trio into the tank try moving the rock work about a bit as this brakes up teh existing territorys and makes everything start again.

Sorry forgot to add. i would recomend two decent external filters in the tank