Mbuna Cichlid Advice

[rED O]

i have a 72 gallon tank and i would like to have a large mbuna cichlid tank. its a rock tank with hiding places. how many could i have in a 72 tank.all the fish are around 4 - 6 inchs

 

[dthoffsett]

What fish do you already have, and what are the dimensions of the tank? With mbuna floor space is generally more important than the number of gallons.

 

[rED O]

iam upgrading from my 55 gallon. i have 2 elctick yellows (have bread) 2 red zebras(have bread) two blue mangoins(i forget how its spellit) 2 blue acies yellow tail one mixed mbuna and a pleco, i would like to add 2 blue colbat zebras. also i have a tank of red zebras from breeding.

iam almost thinking of a 6 ft 110, but iam short on cash

 

[dthoffsett]

iam upgrading from my 55 gallon. i have 2 elctick yellows (have bread) 2 red zebras(have bread) two blue mangoins(i forget how its spellit) 2 blue acies yellow tail one mixed mbuna and a pleco, i would like to add 2 blue colbat zebras. also i have a tank of red zebras from breeding.

iam almost thinking of a 6 ft 110, but iam short on cash

Before adding any new species, you need to add females to the ones you have. Mbuna are harem breeders (not pairing fish) where a single male will mate with as many females as he can. To avoid undue stress on the female, there should be at least 3 females to every male. The only exceptions I would make to that are, labidochromis caeruleus (electric yellows) and pseudotropheus acei (blue aceis), they are generally peaceful enough to house multiple males together.

As for your tank of m.estherae fry, you could move over a couple to the soon to be larger tank to up your numbers to 4 estherae instead of two. If you are planning to keep your 55 gallon, you could keep the two adult estherae in it, and move over some fry for a species tank. You'll want to end up with 12 adults, so you'll want to sell off or rehome any extra fry (or males as they get larger, I wouldn't keep more than 2 males in a 55 gallon, along with 10 females). If you set up the 55 as a m.estherae species tank, then you could add 1m/3f m.callainos (cobalt zebras) to the 75gal in the place of the m.estherae, if that makes any sense at all.

So, for example your tanks would be.

55 gal:
2m/10 female m.estherae
2-3 of some synodontis species catfish to help with excess fry.

75 gal:
4 labidochromis caeruleus (electric yellows) http/www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=713
4 pseudotropheus acei (blue aceis) http/www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=1460
1m/3f melanochromis cyanerohabdos(mainganos)http/www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=756
1m/3f metriaclima callainos (cobalt zebras) http/www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=787
1 "mixed" cichlid - if you post a pic we should be able to help with an id
pleco

I'd sell off or rehome any extra red zebra fry, if you don't want keep the 55gal, don't add the m.callainos, and in their place have 1m/3f m.estherae.
In the future if you don't want to deal with a lot of extra fry, let the females spit in the tank, and most of the fry will get eaten.

If you haven't already read it, this article is a wealth of information on sucessfully keeping mbuna.

http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=27706