Stock List

[HappyGeorge]

Ok this is what I am looking at putting in the tank at the moment any comments would be welcome, or any suggestions of substitutions to my choices.

Excuse me not using the correct names for them all but the Latin just makes my brain hurt, Maths/Science I can do, languages are all a mystery wrapped in an enigma.

Scolofi - 1 male, 3 female group
Yellow Labs - 1 male, 3 female group
Zebras (type undecided) - 1 male, 3 female - suggestions?
Bumble bees - 1 male, 3 female
Mother of Pearls - 1 male, 3 female
Rusty cichlid - 1 male, 3 female

Blue Dolphin - 1 male, 2 female
Blue ahli - single male

Syno Multi - 2
Syno Featherfin - 2

Also saw an mbuna in LGS cant recall name, juves are very dark almost black with reddish fins - adults have gold/yellow bodies, blue heads and very pronounced trailing fins? Any ideas? Looking at a group of those also.

Tank is 450 litre and has 8 times filtration

 

[HappyGeorge]

Not wishing to pester anyone but this is my first ever foray into fish keeping, and although my sig says I'm a fish fanatic all my previous posts have been about DIY and Fishless Cycling so would really appreciate somebody confirming if this stock list looks ok from their greater experience. Having tried to do everything right to this point I don't want to get this bit wrong.

Many Thanks HG

 

[dthoffsett]

Scolofi - 1 male, 3 female group (Pseudotropheus socolofi)

Yellow Labs - 1 male, 3 female group (Labidochromis caeruleus) - Sex if very difficult to determine in labs, however, it's one of the few species were multiple males are not a problem. They also do much better in groups of 5 or more.

Zebras (type undecided) - 1 male, 3 female - suggestions? The two most commonly found zebra species are Metriaclima estherae (sometimes called red zebra) and Metriaclima callainos (sometimes called cobalt zebra). M.estherae is known to cross breed with labs, so I'd go with M.callainos.

Bumble bees - 1 male, 3 female (Pseudotropheus crabro) I would suggest just getting one,they are known to be quite aggressive when kept in groups and are best suited in a species tank. Ferris, kj23502 and I have all had good luck keeping a single specimen though.

Mother of Pearls - 1 male, 3 female The only mother of pearl cichlid I could find is a South American earth eater and as such would not be compatible. I know scientific names can be a pain at first, but this is why they are important. Any lfs can name a fish any name they like, so there is almost no consistancy.

Rusty cichlid - 1 male, 3 female (Iodotropheus Sprengerae)

Blue Dolphin - 1 male, 2 female Because of temperment and feeding requirements, mixing haps and mbuna are not for the beginner.
Blue ahli - single male

Syno Multi - 2 I believe both of these would be much happier in larger groups.
Syno Featherfin - 2

Also saw an mbuna in LGS cant recall name, juves are very dark almost black with reddish fins - adults have gold/yellow bodies, blue heads and very pronounced trailing fins? Any ideas? Looking at a group of those also.

I have no idea what cichlid you are describing, any chance you could get a pic?

Over all I'd say you should up the numbers of the species you are interested in (with the exception of the haps and crabro) to at least 8 total per species. You'd still have room for a couple more species.

I just ran across this thread, sorry I didn't catch it sooner.

 

[HappyGeorge]

Thanks a lot, thought it had just bypassed those in the know, hence adding the reply myself to hopefully throw it back up.

All very useful thank-you I have tried to work with the Latin names but I just do not have a memory that works with language at all. Normal procedure is I try and commit as much to memory prior to an LFS and when I get there am confronted with a tank full of grey/bluey grey juves that all look the same, in tanks with the wrong names on the front, there should be a law against it

Am gutted about the Blue Moori, had my heart set on seeing a couple of those beauties gracing my tank, I knew they were the opposite end of the diet spectrum from Mbuna but was hoping to get away with it. I had read that they were perfectly able to cope with the aggression given a reasonable amount of space in a largish tank, and wrongly this had been my main concern.

The mother of pearl I saw was almost definitely a Malawi, same shape, fin colour, and markings as Pseudotropheus sp. "elongatus mbenji blue" except all the markings were shades of white/cream, I will go back there and get a piccy and the latin name, as I will with the other I described.

How many fish should I be looking at in total? I was looking at around the 40 mark as a final figure.

 

[HappyGeorge]

The fish I described is apparently Haplochromis Borleyi Redfin, as for the Mother of Pearl I couldn't get a photo but digging on the web found this Labidochromis sp. "perlmutt,"

http/malawicichlids.com/mw09002b.htm

 

[dthoffsett]

The fish I described is apparently Haplochromis Borleyi Redfin, as for the Mother of Pearl I couldn't get a photo but digging on the web found this Labidochromis sp. "perlmutt,"

[URL="http/malawicichlids.com/mw09002b.htm"]http/malawicichlids.com/mw09002b.htm[/URL]

The perlmutt's should be fine, there is some chance of Labidochromis species interbreeding but as long as the resulting fry don't leave your tank it's not a problem.

The Borleyi wouldn't work in there because it's a hap, it's not impossible to mix haps and mbuna it's just difficult to match up temperment and feeding. With temperment you have to find haps that are aggressive enough to hold their own but don't grow large enough to eat the mbuna. And feeding you just have to be careful that the mbuna don't get too much meaty food while the haps get enough, when mixing the two groups it's best to stick with mbuna that are ominvores (ie, L.caeruelus & Cynotilapia afra variants).

If your tank is a 6ft, 40 adults would be at your stocking limit and you'll want to add a couple of powerheads to bring your turnover up to a minimum of 15 times/hour. If your tank is a 4/5ft or you want lighter stocking I'd go with around 30, adding a couple of powerhead still wouldn't be a bad idea.

If you have any other questions in the next few days (up to a week) you'll have to wait for someone else to answer as my internet will be down while I move house.

 

[HappyGeorge]

My months of visiting LFS as a browser finally came to an end. Lots of beautiful specimens could have come away with many more, and to cap it all their having a 10% sale every Thursday in September.

3 x Syno multis, one about 3 inches, 2 about 2 inches
3 x Lab perlmutt - such pretty specimens I had to have them. Going to pick up 2 from another LFS.
3 x Cynotilapia afra "red top" - Some more nice specimens.
1 x Pseudotropheus crabro.

Bought them home and introduced them to their new home, Synos are busy exploring and the Perlmutts are content to play in the flow.

The Afra have shown me something very strange and amazing. They are all about 2 inches long and were displaying nice colouring LFS believed they were a male and 2 female, as per what I had read one of them has claimed my big rock . He (I assume) has also markedly changed colour he is much lighter blue with a darker vertical stripe, his partner is as per when I picked them up Dark with darker stripes. As for the third one, it seems to have lost most of the marking definition and now has gone very dark and is following the Perlmutts about.

As for the Crabro he decided to find a gap behind my 4 months in the making DIY background and get stuck, thought he was dead, but have had to partly dismantle the side of the background to get him out (the gap was tiny can't believe he got that far up). He is very shaky and a bit grazed, he is being left alone by the others and with only 10 fish in the tank he is ok, just hope he survives it the poor guy.

Gutted just goes to show no matter how much prep, research and time you put into something there is always that odd thing that can go awry.

So picking up some Zebras from Glolite next week and then some extras from LFS on Thursday and another couple of Synos.

 

[dthoffsett]

Sounds like things are going pretty well. Poor crabro, it's amazing what trouble mbuna can get theirselves into, part of the "joy" of keeping them though. Any updates?

 

[HappyGeorge]

Currently have the following which were put in in 2 lots of 7 with 3 Synos in each, a week apart.

3 Labidochromis perlmutt - adding 2-4 more next week when LFS gets new stock, currently have male and 2 females (I think).
3 Labidochromis caeruleus - adding 2-4 more next week, (Male and 2 females).
3 Hongis - sorry can't find the correct name but they are little orange guys male has black top and anal fin same body shape as the Crabro.
1 Crabro - He is absolutely fine after his stuck behind the backdrop ordeal, nicknamed "Ed" as in nearly dead Ed.
3 Cynotilapia afra "red top" - may add a couple more as the male is staking a claim as King of the tank at the moment, chases everyone except the
Hongis and Synos.
6 Syno multis - seem to have a pair that spend their whole time together, they all get brave at feeding time and zip about the rocks and bottom when the others are at the top. All pretty small but very effective every morning the sand is spotless and has little dimples all over it, presumably where they systematically go across the bottom of the tank.

Have been on nights and haven't had chance to sit and watch the tank too much yet but everyone definately pretty happy and no water quality issues.

Considering adding some Demasoni but been put off by the reports of high aggression, still looking to add some Pseudotropheus socolofi or something with a similar colour.

Male Yellow Lab showed this colour change as soon as he went in the bag in the LFS.

Just fed greedy male Afra again amazing colour change from dark to light when put in my tank.

The male was this colour before placed in tank.

Male perlmutt, again an amazing colour change.

A female perlmutt. Very subtle pretty fish all 3 swim together and will latch onto the afra and labs and swim as a big group.

 

[HappyGeorge]

Some new stock today. had a call from LFS and went and got another 3 Yellow Labs, hopefully female and another 3 Perlmutt.

 

[dthoffsett]

Looking good. Love the name Ed.

The only problem I could see with adding the P.demasoni are your afras, dems will typically ignore any fish that doesn't look like them as they prefer to fight amongst themselves. However, since the afras also have the blue/black barred coloration there could be some contention.

The scientific name for hongis is Labidochromis sp "Hongi"

 

[stryper]

Some new stock today. had a call from LFS and went and got another 3 Yellow Labs, hopefully female and another 3 Perlmutt.

Were is this LFS George mate? And were are they getting there stock from any idea at all.

 

[HappyGeorge]

Some new stock today. had a call from LFS and went and got another 3 Yellow Labs, hopefully female and another 3 Perlmutt.

Were is this LFS George mate? And were are they getting there stock from any idea at all.

Swallow aquatics at Gravesend, and no idea, I do know its captive bred stock, and that they have had wild caught before but have found temperament very hard to judge, and that the captive bred are much more stable specimens.

 

[stryper]

Looking good. Love the name Ed.

The only problem I could see with adding the P.demasoni are your afras, dems will typically ignore any fish that doesn't look like them as they prefer to fight amongst themselves. However, since the afras also have the blue/black barred coloration there could be some contention.

The scientific name for hongis is Labidochromis sp "Hongi"

Cheers for the info George mate.