New to cichlids, help!

[Jamesthecat]

yeah I’m a member of 4 or 5 forums (2 specifically for Cichlids) and your question has come up in each one with a dozen different views.

If an experienced fish keeper gives advice you sort of feel obliged to follow it - i played it by ear.
Added a few then left it a month to see how the system was coping and if the fish were okay

 

[itiwhetu]

I have 20 electric yellow young in a 120 liter tank. I hope to house 4 fish in there eventually. But I have a huge rock wall in the tank to keep them separate.

 

[Jamesthecat]

I have 20 electric yellow young in a 120 liter tank. I hope to house 4 fish in there eventually. But I have a huge rock wall in the tank to keep them separate.

nice...the wall is a good idea

Ive always gone by water quality and making sure that you plan for when their at the max size.

So I have 30 ish Mbuna now with a monster plec and ive just added Fred .. But I know I have a 7ft tank coming the start of 21

 

[Colin_T]

1. I recently got a big piece of driftwood for my tank, will it be okay for the mbuna's? I'm mostly referring to their natural habitats and landscapes that they live in. I will have rocks in the tank in addition to the driftwood but I was wondering If driftwood is bad\unnatural for the cichlids.

2. You said I could get a trio of Yellow labs and a trio of Peacocks. Is that 6 fish in total? I got the impression that mbunas need to be in groups of 5 or more of each species. and also, I have friend who works in a fish lab and they have some fish to give away, amongst the yellow labs they also have Demasoni and Electric blue Johannii's. would these 2/3 species be compatible with each other?

Driftwood is fine in a Rift Lake tank and dead tree branches are found in the Rift Lakes. So it's normal for the fish to see the odd sunken tree/ tree branch. Fish are also happy to use any item for shelter. They will make use of bottles, clay or plastic flower pots, buckets, basically anything that offers them shelter and territory.

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You could have up to about 10 fish that grow to 4-5 inches in the tank. This would give them room to have territories and not be in each others face. If you want to breed them, stay with 1 or 2 species and have a male and 2-4 females of each species. If you don't want to breed them, get a male of each species and have 8-10 different species in the tank.

This is also dependant on how much food you feed and how often you feed the fish, as well as water changes. More fish and more food means more water changes to keep the tank clean.

Electric yellows and Peacock cichlids are quite peaceful, but many other cichlids can get really aggressive. If you have peaceful species, you can have 3 or 4 species in the tank.

 

[Jamesthecat]

i have a big piece of bog wood as well it’s fine.

bear in mind if they are not imported and brEd then they wouldn’t know what a branch was if you whacked them with it

 

[Lajos_Detari]

Thank you for the detailed reply.
I have pretty hard water here in Israel with a pH of about 8. I have 2 follow-up questions in light of recent events:

1. I recently got a big piece of driftwood for my tank, will it be okay for the mbuna's? I'm mostly referring to their natural habitats and landscapes that they live in. I will have rocks in the tank in addition to the driftwood but I was wondering If driftwood is bad\unnatural for the cichlids.
2. You said I could get a trio of Yellow labs and a trio of Peacocks. Is that 6 fish in total? I got the impression that mbunas need to be in groups of 5 or more of each species. and also, I have friend who works in a fish lab and they have some fish to give away, amongst the yellow labs they also have Demasoni and Electric blue Johannii's. would these 2/3 species be compatible with each other?

I think Demasoni is more aggressive than Yellow Lab and Peacock Cichlid but I had seen people who mixed them together but I am not sure about their success in the long term.

Demanson's Cichlid | Animal World

The Demanson’s Cichlid is a fish with a curious nature that is sought after for its bright colors and crisp patterning! The Demanson’s Cichlid Pseudotropheus demasoni is an extremely sharp looking African cichlid. It comes from Lake Malawi and is a more recent addition to the aquarium hobby. It...

animal-world.com

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[jigagummyz]

Driftwood is fine in a Rift Lake tank and dead tree branches are found in the Rift Lakes. So it's normal for the fish to see the odd sunken tree/ tree branch. Fish are also happy to use any item for shelter. They will make use of bottles, clay or plastic flower pots, buckets, basically anything that offers them shelter and territory.

----------------------
You could have up to about 10 fish that grow to 4-5 inches in the tank. This would give them room to have territories and not be in each others face. If you want to breed them, stay with 1 or 2 species and have a male and 2-4 females of each species. If you don't want to breed them, get a male of each species and have 8-10 different species in the tank.

This is also dependant on how much food you food and how often you feed the fish, as well as water changes. More fish and more food means more water changes to keep the tank clean.

Electric yellows and Peacock cichlids are quite peaceful, but many other cichlids can get really aggressive. If you have peaceful species, you can have 3 or 4 species in the tank.

I can keep just 1 male members of each species? I always thought that Mbunas required some sort of grouping activity amongst their own kind.

 

[itiwhetu]

I always keep groups of fish and I don't get to hung up on sexes.

 

[jigagummyz]

I always keep groups of fish and I don't get to hung up on sexes.

Is there a downside of NOT keeping species-groups?

 

[itiwhetu]

No I wouldn't have thought so. The only downside if any is that the male fish are usually more brightly coloured and make better show fish than their female counterparts. So it is nice to have more male fish. The males tend to be more active as well.