Questions About Melanochromis Johanni Stocking

[Colin_BC]

I've had my eye's on melanochromis johanni's (sp?) for some time now. I've got a fully cycled 32G (year old) that has temporary occupants at the moment to keep it cycled. One of the LFS i deal with advised me that I could stock about 4 Johanni (1M:3F) in that tank as a species setup. Before I dive to far in though it'd be best to ask here if this sounds feasable....

Colin

 

[Colin_BC]

.....or if not the johanni for a species 32G, perhaps Pseudotropheus demasoni as even the females have the nice blue colouration. Regardless of which, I'd aim for 1 male to several females.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Colin

 

[freddyk]

You can probably get away with one male and five or six female Johanni. Because of the small quarters, it's even more important to have several females. Johanni aggression is not too bad compared to other Melanochromis varieties, but they can be pretty feisty.

Demasoni are very, very aggressive to their own kind. To make it work in that little tank you would probably need about 1 male to 10 females or so.

Either way, lots of rockwork will help, and either way a tank this size is less then ideal, so it will be a something of a gamble.

 

[Colin_BC]

thanks for the reply. I was reading last night and saw the demasoni are always referred to as extremely aggressive. Johanni has been my preferance anyways, however locating females around here is a problem.

Am I on the right track of keeping them in a species setup saying as the tank is only 32G?

Colin

 

[Ethos]

Sure.
Hi colin, My name is also Colin.
I added a speciaes pro, but the mods havent sdded it yet

 

[Colin_BC]

Any plants that will withstand the johanni other than annubias and java fern? Right now I keep live plants in all of my tanks to help complete the waste cycle. It'll be a month or so before I come to any decisions, but I want to be prepared. My other option for the 32G is to continue to use it as a grow-out tank for my apisto's.

Colin

 

[Ethos]

My Johanni Loves to dig and move things, so unless you want to replant it everyday.....
I'd suggest just rock decoration, no plants.
I personally have never heard of a Af. cichluid that does well with plants.

 

[freddyk]

Because they're herbivores mbuna will naturally rip apart plants unless they have thick leaves, which is why plants like annubias and java fern are used. I've heard of Amazon swords working ok too. Because of the size limitation of the tank, plants stand less of a chance of working then they would otherwise, but it can't hurt to try.

And yes, a species tank is a wise way to go for this tank.

 

[Ethos]

Alas! I got my topic posted!
Here she is! Pm me if you spot corrections...Click here!