Wise words greatly appreciated =)

[YngUrbanCMH]

I had posted earlier about doing a community aquarium with some less agressive Cichlids. Since I've changed my mind, and after a conversation the lfs they're willing to buy back any of my community fish that I used for cycleing... woo hoo!

My water is naturally pretty hard and alkaline (7.6) so I thought it sounded perfect for an African tank. I have a 30 gallon tank, with a power filter rated for 100 gallons... it creates a nice current especially close to the surface. I fully accept that in the future some species would need a larger 75+ gallon tank.... but I'm hoping it would be slow enough that I'd have time to prepare

From what I've read and seen so far I'm leaning towards Lake Malawi species.... Lab's and Johanni are beautiful and seem so smart! I'm having a bit of a difficult time though clearly identifying the pros and cons of Malawi vs Tanganyika taking into account my current set-up size. It also seems like there are a million differing opinions about each, however I've gotten so much fantastic advice from the good folks here I thought I would ask =).

Thanks!

 

[smb]

If you want some fish from Lake Malawi, you could get a bunch of Mbuna's. They are some of the most colorful freshwater fish and very active. Great fish, imo.

HERE'S a link to click and see some of them.

There are a few compatability issues with Mbunas, but the more fish you get, the better they get along.

They get about 4-5" for the most part and like a lot of rockwork in their aquarium. We can go more indepth about them if you decide to get them.

Just stay away from Melanochromis auratus. They are mean as all get out.

 

[YngUrbanCMH]

Thanks SMB!

It just happens that 2 of the varieties of Mawali Cichlids I fell in love with at my lfs were Mbuna... they seem very entertaining and sound like a great challenge. (Do I sound like a fish geek!?) Plus they seem a little more readily available than others.

Would you say that kind of behavior is typical across all varieties of Melanochromis, or just auratus.... I really like Melanochromis johannii. Determining compatability sounds a bit difficult... a few articles I've read suggest that you're better off not combining mbuna's from different parts of the lake... how the heck do you determine that!? None of the fish guide's I've found are quite that detailed

 

[smb]

Thanks SMB!

It just happens that 2 of the varieties of Mawali Cichlids I fell in love with at my lfs were Mbuna... they seem very entertaining and sound like a great challenge. (Do I sound like a fish geek!?) Plus they seem a little more readily available than others.

Would you say that kind of behavior is typical across all varieties of Melanochromis, or just auratus.... I really like Melanochromis johannii. Determining compatability sounds a bit difficult... a few articles I've read suggest that you're better off not combining mbuna's from different parts of the lake... how the heck do you determine that!? None of the fish guide's I've found are quite that detailed

I'll probably get a lot of people jumping on me here, but I think it depends on each individual fish more than it does anything else.

I remember when I first got into Mbunas and I read everything I could get my hands on. I was more confused after I read it than before I started.

After a few months I just said forget it, and bought 15 of them and learned through trial and error. What I mean by that is, if I saw one being too mean, I took him back and got another one. The main thing is to not get 2 males, but then again, when you buy them so small, it's hard, if not impossible to tell.

I've had problems with some that were supposed to be nice and haven't had problems with others that were supposed to be hyperdominate, so to me it's a crapshoot.

One thing to remember is that if you get rid of 1 hyperdominate fish, another one will rise up in a day or 2, so hyperdominance is ok somewhat as long as the aggression is spread around between a lot of them.

Pseudotropheus demasoni is another I've had problems with in a community. Not as bad as auratus, but this is my fav one so I keep trying.

Here's another link to a demasoni pic. They are beautiful. There's also a lot of info at that site.

demasoni.

Others will post here also with their experiences and opinions to help you out also, so if you have any questions, please keep asking.

 

[YngUrbanCMH]

I was starting to think that luck might have alot to do with it. I found this link... African Cichlid Compatability Chart It conflicts with another page I read 5 minutes beforehand, so it sounds like trial and error is probably going to have alot to do with it.

I would definately appreciate hearing combinations others have had success with.