New tank for Mbuna need advice

[m1ste2tea]

okay, I'd really suggest against getting pseudotropheus sauloci, there are more colorful fish that you can get that wont be so aggressive as these. I had a few in my mbuna tank and after about a year they dominated every corner of the tank and I sold them.

-the labs are perfect for your future tank. the females tend to have more yellow than the males which have more pronounced black tripes on the dorsal fin and the anal fin.

-another good contender would be female kenyii. these are blue with thick black vertical stripes, look almost like mini frontosa. the males are the same color when young, but turn yellowish-brown when sub-adult. so if youre going to get these, get them at a 2+ inch size to make sure you dont get males.

-pseudotropheus acei are pretty as well, theyre mostly purple which complements the yellow labs, although these are harder to sex. that being said they are pretty docile for mbuna.

-avoid bumblebee cichlids as they tend to be more aggressive and get pretty big, and will probably morph into pretty dark shades against the black substrate.

-demasoni are hard to sex, the males tend to be with more vivid colors. these are also very aggressive from my experience, so if you do have these, keep a close eye on any that may turn out to be a dominant male.

 

[malawidave]

dont worry about the Demasoni mixing... they should be kept in large groups (12-15), as long as their colony is large enough they will not interbreed with other species. The m/f ratio tends to not apply to these as much because of the large group and the monomorphic coloring, though you should be on the look out for a sub-dom male getting harrassed too much. Then there are 2 main type of demasoni as well, the pombo rock, and the Mozambique. Pombos are usually Black/Powder blue and have 5 bars, whereas the Mozambique are Black/Purple with 6 or 7 bars, both extremely beautiful. Also as long as they live in that large group aggression is more inner species that towards others.

And with an 80 gallon, with 2 "dwarf" mbuna it should be ok to house up to 25 - 30 individuals with sufficient filtration, rockwork, and aeration

 

[cantrell00]

A word of caution about Demasoni... Be ready to pull subdominant fish often when they are fully mature... I had 35 in a 180 & after 6 months was down to only 16.

If it were my first mbuna tank in a 4' 75-90 gallon tank, it would be the following..

Cynotilapia sp: 'Hara' - 3M/6F
Psuedo Saulosi - 3M/6-8F (blue/black males, orange/yellow females)
Iodotropheus Sperengae (Rusty) - 1M/4F
Psuedo Acei 'Ngara' or the Tanzanian Black - 1M/4F
3-4 Dwarf Syno Petricola..

A few labs with this group would work also. I excluded them because you are getting a lot of yellow/orange with the Saulosi females.

That is a good color spectrum with little risk of cross breeding. Labs X Saulosi being the biggest risk. The Syno will eat a LARGE % of the fry... In all likelihood, the Hara will be the dominant fish in the tank.

 

[ice blue]

yellow lab males have black pectoral and anal fins, while the females have no black on theirs' except for their dorsal fins.

 

[cantrell00]

yellow lab males have black pectoral and anal fins, while the females have no black on theirs' except for their dorsal fins.

This seems like a safe assumption but I have seen Yellow Lab females that you would have sworn were male had you not seen them holding. Very difficult fish to sex without venting. NO way to know absolutely until they hold. Well, at least i have never been able to anyway..

 

[malawidave]

yellow lab males have black pectoral and anal fins, while the females have no black on theirs' except for their dorsal fins.

not true, Labs are monomorphic, (no difference in M & F coloring)