New tank

[spottedbovine]

I have been given permission to get a new tank, It will be another 4ft, the only condition is that the majority of the fish match the tiles we are putting into mour kitchen/dinning room as this is where we are putting it

I want to go with mbuna but I need some advice, I am going to put crushed coral as the sub, about 20 kg's, we have plenty of rock in the back garden which I will silicone together (doesn't pass the vinegar test but that should be fine)

I am thinking of using my 2000lph internal filter in the mbuna tank from the community tank and replacing it with a lower capacity internal (makes to much current in the community tank) and the putting in a cascade power filter onto the tank after about 2 months will the internal be enough for the time being?

What mbuna would you suggest, they have to be mainly blue and yellow?

 

[TheeMon]

yellow lab/electric yellow electric blue and Desamoni

 

[spottedbovine]

How many of each? for a 55gal?

 

[Exiled]

I have been given permission to get a new tank, It will be another 4ft, the only condition is that the majority of the fish match the tiles we are putting into mour kitchen/dinning room as this is where we are putting it

What mbuna would you suggest, they have to be mainly blue and yellow?

Now This I've never heard before. Fish Matching the kitchen tiles? Who wears the fins in this family?

Give me a few minutes with your wife.....when I'm done with her, she'll wanna turn your living room into a fish room with wall-to-wall double shelved 75 gallon tanks.

OK, seriously... Blue and Yellow is the color of just about every Lake Malawi mbuna available. It's a 55 gallon right? Since aesthetics are a concern-- How about one big colony of Pseudotropheus saulosi? The males turn deep blue and the females a beautiful saturated yellow--- I think that would be striking tank for the Kitchen! They are much less aggressive than other mbuna too.

Very Aesthetic.

 

[thecichlidaddict]

Only get Demasoni if you like very aggressive tanks with the occasional fatality.

Otherwise there are many less aggressive fish that will work.

Saulosi, as Exiled mentioned, are nice.

Pseudotropheus Acei become a nice violet. A group of those along with a group of Labidochromis Caeruleus can make a stunning display and a very unaggressive tank. You can also do Maylandia Callainos with Melanochromis Johanni, or Pseudotropheus Socolofi if you prefer more of a powder blue. As you can see there is no lack of options for blue and yellow.

In the end it can have a lot to do with personal taste as well as what you can get. Browse through a Mbuna Gallery to get a better idea of some of your options.

 

[spottedbovine]

This is what they suggest on my LFS's website for a 4ft

4 Labiodchromis caeruleus ‘yellow’   2 Melanochromis johanni  4 Pseudotropheus elongatus ‘mphanga’                  
2 P. lombardoi (blue)      2 P. socolofi  (blue,black tail)  2 P. estherae (orange)                                              
3 P. socolofi albino (snow white)                            

I think I will try it out, they all seem quite nicely coloured, Do you guys think this would work?
They say these are good to learn the ropes with, can't wait

Should be getting the tank by end of may just waiting for money to come in.......gonna by filters so long and place them in my community tank just to get a jump start with cycling

Yeah Exiled, its amazing how you come up with ways of getting your own way once your married.... but honey, I will get fish that match the tiles and a wooden cabinet for the stand once thats in I am planning on putting together a fishroom in the outside cottage, gotta come up with some sort of idea to sell it to the wife tho

 

[Exiled]

Sounds to me like there's going to be lots of torn fins in that mix. If you only get two lombardoi as juvies, you wont really know what sex they are (unless you or the LFS employee knows how to tell the sex by venting them) and if you get two females they will torment each other---sort of a quirk with Lombardoi's--the females are more aggro then the males. By the way, male lombardoi's turn yellow (another funny reversal in the typical colors of male/female mbuna).
Pseudotropheus socolofi and Melanochromis johanni are also very aggressive.

Yeah Exiled, its amazing how you come up with ways of getting your own way once your married....

all I can say is--thank god I dodged that bullet.

 

[thecichlidaddict]

Here is what I would recommend to avoid some serious aggression issues.

Mbuna do not do so well in pairs, they are best kept as either singles or in larger numbers. Males will be very aggressive toward other males and females, and in some cases, as exiled mentioned, even females can sometimes be nasty toward each other. The best way to deal with this is to spread the aggression among more fish by keeping them in larger groups. The number of fish you are planning is about right for a 4 foot tank, but I highly recommend going with larger numbers of less species.

 

[spottedbovine]

Thanks for the help..........so if it was your tank what would you stock it with? (Remember blue and yellow) I like most of the mbuna I have seen, to me as long as the fish are healthy and happy, and I have some thing to fiddle with during the week and over weekends (going to fish shops and water changes) I'm happy.

I am open to sugestions and I am quite sure I could get almost any mbuna mentioned

p.s. this is where I got the info
[URL=http/www.fishfantasyworld.co.za/Keeping%20Lake%20Malawi%20Cichlids%20(Derek%20Lo).htm

 

[thecichlidaddict]

4 Labiodchromis caeruleus
2 Melanochromis johanni  
4 Pseudotropheus elongatus ‘mphanga’                  
2 P. lombardoi (blue)
2 P. socolofi  (blue,black tail)  2 P. estherae (orange)                                              
3 P. socolofi albino (snow white)  

Is the footprint of this tank going to be 48x12 or 48x16 or 48x18?


An example of what I would do is:

8 Labidochromis Caeuleus
5 Pseudotropheus Socolofi (powder blue)
5 Pseudotropheus mpanga

With this setup gives lots of yellow and a few shades of blue. The fish are in large enough groups to distribute aggression. This will be an aggressive and active tank, but the aggression should be fairly well controlled. These fish look very different from each other, which will also help.

*note: This is based on my recommendation of what is likely to be, there are never any guarantees with these fish. Sometimes a species that should be psycho ends up docile in a certain tank, sometimes a fish that should be easy going can end up quite hostile.

 

[thecichlidaddict]

I just gave that article you mentioned a quick read. The artical itself seems well thought out and fairly accurate as far as generalizing mbuna can go, but as you can see by the following quote directly from that article, the writer agrees with me, and then ends up hypocritical in his fish recommendation.

Malawi  cichlids should never be kept (nor even purchased) as ‘pairs’. The male  will harrass the female to death

Yet then he recommends pairs of fish. Go by the advice in the artical, not the advice on fish selection.

 

[spottedbovine]

The tank is 48x18 1220mmx500mm, might even go slightly longer so I can fit 4ft lighting in. I think I will go with your recomendation of fish to try out, I don't wanna go and buy fish fiends that hunt each other continuousley.

I was reading a forum on a site where the guy is slowley setting up a mbuna tank for yellow labs, thats what I think I am going to do take it slowly, getting a quote from the guy that is doing our kitchen cupboards, the tank stand will be in the same wood and handle, the tank from a great lfs, and then I will take it slowley getting things just right. One problem though, some ppl tried to steal my car and ended up wrecking the car, my garage door, and my main gate and running of empty haned , geeze, idiots, if I went to all that hassle I would have atleast made sure I got the car, I mean all that work for nothing..........lol

Just another day in SA

Thanks for all the help, it is really appreciated, I will keep you informed