Tank Mates?

[minterno]

hi guys,i am just starting an african setup,i have been keeping various fish for about 4 or 5 months ie guppies, various tetras, angels,dwarf gouramis and some more and really enjoyed it but i have decided to try a mbuna setup and could do with a little advice regarding compatable tank mates,i have read up a lot on the subject for a few weeks and have a fair idea and understanding but would like to hear of some tried and tested mixes which were successful,i have got 3 yellow labs and 2 zebras{cobalt blues}which i put in during the week and would like to put some more in as soon as i spot some compatable fellows,the tank is a 350litre trigon corner job with 2 externals on it which are cycled a few weeks now,filters are a jbl e1500 and a tetratec ex1200 and the substrate is coral sand with plenty of sandstone rocks and some texas holey type rocks so enough caves i think,amm and nitrites are zero and nitrates are 40ppm,and the ph is 7.8,the coral sand only went in yesterday so hopefully it might help with the ph,im looking for solid coulours as i dont like some of the mottled fish i have seen in the lfs and anything above 6 in would prob be too big for my tank.so if anyone has any ideas please fire away,cheers

 

[Squidward]

You have quite a bit of choice:

Labidochromis "hongii" were one of my favorites
sp polit "lion's cove"
some forms of elongata
trewavasae
sprengerae

Just off the top of my head.

 

[minterno]

thanks squidward i shall have a gander at those fish,cheers

 

[minterno]

i have had a good look arond at the various sites and have come up with a mix that i think will work,if anyone has had any negative experience with this mix they might let me know,regards

i forgot the list so here goes,cheers
4 pseudtropheus saulosi 2m+2f
4 pseudtropheus acei(tellow tail)2m 2f
3 rusty(Iodotropheus sprengerae) 1m 2f
4 Labidochromis caeruleus(yellow labs)1m+3f

 

[Squidward]

i have had a good look arond at the various sites and have come up with a mix that i think will work,if anyone has had any negative experience with this mix they might let me know,regards

i forgot the list so here goes,cheers
4 pseudtropheus saulosi 2m+2f
4 pseudtropheus acei(tellow tail)2m 2f
3 rusty(Iodotropheus sprengerae) 1m 2f
4 Labidochromis caeruleus(yellow labs)1m+3f

Looks ok. I had all these in my tank.
Though the species you list where you want multiple males could cause problems at a later stage, especially when they start trying to breed.

 

[minterno]

yep,i was thinking that but wanted the males as they are great to look at,would their be probs with interbreeding if i stuck with just male aceiwould the acei try to breed with any of the other types,cheers

 

[Squidward]

yep,i was thinking that but wanted the males as they are great to look at,would their be probs with interbreeding if i stuck with just male aceiwould the acei try to breed with any of the other types,cheers

Interbreeding is always going to be a risk in a mixed Mbuna setup.

Have you thought of having a male only Haps/Peacock tank?

 

[minterno]

i havent really but perhaps i should,i will give it some thought all though i allready have some females so i might carry on as i started and see how it goes but i will keep the ratios to the recomended rates ie 1m to 3+ females,should make it more peacefull,i have 2m labs and 1fem and there is a bit of argy bargy going on,i will try to swap the male for a female as soon as i get the chance thanks for your thoughts,regards

 

[I Keep Fish]

Yellow labs, start of with a trio of 1 male 2 females, in my experience you'll have several hundred within the year once they start breed.
Pseudotropheous are nice little fish, look for Demasoni, stunning when they mature. Also, Acei like listed above are nice, as with the Labs only one male should be kept with Pseudo's.
Pseaudotropheous saulosi are nice, but adult males are near identical from a distance.
Why not go for just Pseudotropheous? Saulosi,Demasoni,Acei,Socolofi,Estherae are all very nice species, i'd go for this personally, and fill the tank with tuffa/ocean rock, Tuffa is extremley easy to break up though so be careful when aquascaping.

If you want catfish, a few Syno. Petricola would be ideal, quite easy to breed IME too, the Mbuna may eat the young though, but im sure a few will survive.

There are hundred of different ways you could go about Mbuna to be fair, but its obviously your choice.

Hope this helped. Johm

 

[minterno]

Yellow labs, start of with a trio of 1 male 2 females, in my experience you'll have several hundred within the year once they start breed.
Pseudotropheous are nice little fish, look for Demasoni, stunning when they mature. Also, Acei like listed above are nice, as with the Labs only one male should be kept with Pseudo's.
Pseaudotropheous saulosi are nice, but adult males are near identical from a distance.
Why not go for just Pseudotropheous? Saulosi,Demasoni,Acei,Socolofi,Estherae are all very nice species, i'd go for this personally, and fill the tank with tuffa/ocean rock, Tuffa is extremley easy to break up though so be careful when aquascaping.

If you want catfish, a few Syno. Petricola would be ideal, quite easy to breed IME too, the Mbuna may eat the young though, but im sure a few will survive.

There are hundred of different ways you could go about Mbuna to be fair, but its obviously your choice.

Hope this helped. Johm

 

[minterno]

thanks john. i took the p-lunge and started adding a few fish over the last week,i now have 4 yellowlabs 2m and 2f,i will swap out the extra male for a female when i find one,pity as the b male is nicer than the alpha,i put 2 Pseudotropheous in during the week but they look like cobalt blues so im not sure of id but i have been told they prob are cobalts.i have some type of catfish but the name escapes me,i will ask the fella i got it off tomorrow for an id on it.i put 3 Metriaclima estherae in today,they are very lively and have woken up the other fish who have been very shy up to now and i ordered 4 pseudotropheus acei this morning,i read that the Demasoni can be head bangers unless you put in about 8+ and id say im near full.i might put in another 2 cobalts to give me 4 and might help with the male and female ratios,id say i ended up fairly close to your list and i also will be putting in an order for 3 or 4 rustys,i was in ordering today and could not remember the rustys so will get the order in tomorrow,regards noel