New To Mbuna

[karawr]

Hello,

I'm setting up my first cichlid tank and really don't know much despite doing a lot of reading, it's pretty overwhelming.

So I was going to do 50-60g (small size I know, but all I can fit in my house...).
All the species we have locally are:
- pseudotropheus demasoni
- pseudotropheus sp. acei
- labidochromis caeruleus
- metriaclima lombardoi (I believe that's the scientific name, they call them "kenyi african")
- Melanochromis auratus

Now I like all of these but I don't know how many I can have and in what combination, or which to avoid.
I know the kenyis and demasoni are quite aggressive. Don't know if I could work around that...
I was hoping maybe if I did 1 demasoni (or maybe a group?) it would work.


As a side question (and a different tank!) I know that kribs shouldn't be mixed with angels, but if I just got 1 krib do you think he wouldn't be as aggressive towards the other fish? I also have bolivian rams don't know if that would mess things up. Would like to get more than 1 krib if possible, its a 120g tank.

 

[Dieses Madchen]

You could do 6 each of the Labidochromis and Acei. Metriachlimas are great fish too. I personally would stay away from the Demosanis unless you want to do a species tank only. You could easily do 12-15 Demosanis in tank that size. The reason why I say species only of those is they can be highly highly aggressive.

 

[karawr]

Well I was hoping for a mixture so I guess I will stay away from the demasonis.

If I did 6 labs and 6 acei would I still have room for the metriaclimas? I would like to include some of those for some different blue colouring with the females.

 

[Dieses Madchen]

i would say no, but you may want to pick 2 of the 3 and have 6 of each. They will all be okay together but they do like to be in same species groups. Although my labs and blue zebras seems to shoal together

 

[Malawi MaD]

Could have 3 smaller species in your tank no problem but the acei and labs get quite large. Agree with Dieses though, could have 6 of each of the 2 species recommended. Although if you wanted more of a variety you could go with the smaller species.

 

[Dieses Madchen]

Some great dwarf mbuna sp that would look great (not to mention you could add more to the tank) is Cyno afra (white top hara) which are stunning, ar ps. saulosi, also a stunning fish.

 

[karawr]

Unfortunately what I listed is all we have locally. We've got a really, really poor selection.

I guess I'll stick with two groups of 6. Thanks.

 

[karawr]

Sorry to bump this back up, I've got another question.

Could I do 6 auratus and 6 kenyi (1m:5f for both) in a 50g? Can't find any conclusive answers on this.