Finally new tank - 120g-450l - 60inch-150cm

[Adam GR]

Hi
I’am really happy to show you guys my new set up.
Finally I have good sized tank, which will hopefully allow to keep all of my big boys. At the moment there is only 12malawis + 9in JD..
My current stock:
3 OB’s
1 Borley
1 Electric blue hybrid
1 Yellow benga
1 Blue sided red peacock (red rubin hybrid)
2 Sulphur head hybrids
2 Dragon blood/Electric blue cross
1 Yellow lab
1 Mr Jack Dempsay
In my 50g grow out there is few more guys waiting for entry:
- sciano fryeri, placidochromis electra, red empress, protomelas ornatus, red shoulder peacock, strawberry peacock, maulana, euraka red jake.
Do you guys think 5ft tank will be big enough for all of them ( JD will probably end up in that 50g - when he become a problem) , I just recently discovered that in US 125g tanks are usually 72inches long.
My filtration:
- fluval 406, fluval 207 + inside filter (comes with tank - 1000l/h - Im planing to take this one out soon)

 

[DJRansome]

For all-male tank that is 72" long I like 18 individuals that mature at six inches or less, no look alikes. So maybe 15 in your tank. You have fish that mature up to nine inches, so maybe 12 isn't such a bad number in your tank.

I would eliminate all the duplicates. I would also eliminate the Sulphur heads.

Then for the ones to add, the empress looks like the borleyi. The fryeri I would expect to be a problem since you have a 1/2 fryeri hybrid already. You also have a red peacock already so the strawberry and the eureka would be look alikes. Never tried the red shoulder and the bi-color together...the fish may view the red shoulder and the yellow shoulder as look alikes.

 

[Stephen St.Clair]

I also have a 120 gal. Long tank. I prefer the boxy shape of the 5 foot 120 over the rectangular, thin shape of the 6 foot 125 gallon
Might be a good idea to remove the JD asap. Sooner or later the JD's fins are going to be nipped, or a tankmate is going to suddenly be missing.
I keep a mixed, mostly male African Community. A couple of predator Haps, a few more docile Haps, two Blue Dragons & Ruby Red Peacocks, Red & Blue Zebras, Trewavasae, Zebra Chilumba, Afra, Chailosi & Kenyi. Probably 30 - 35 fish, counting the five Botia loaches.
You have a lot of options with the bigger tank. If you want to add Mbuna into the mix, maybe add a well constructed rock pile.
In the past, I also included a lot of driftwood into the hardscape of my African tanks. Although it looked nice, something about the tannins made the set up look awkward. Once I removed the DW the fish became more active & colorful. My guess is the DW caused a slight drop in PH.
Your new tank looks awsome.

 

[dr exum]

Nice tank! Like all the different color fish!

 

[Adam GR]

For all-male tank that is 72" long I like 18 individuals that mature at six inches or less, no look alikes. So maybe 15 in your tank. You have fish that mature up to nine inches, so maybe 12 isn't such a bad number in your tank.

I would eliminate all the duplicates. I would also eliminate the Sulphur heads.

Then for the ones to add, the empress looks like the borleyi. The fryeri I would expect to be a problem since you have a 1/2 fryeri hybrid already. You also have a red peacock already so the strawberry and the eureka would be look alikes. Never tried the red shoulder and the bi-color together...the fish may view the red shoulder and the yellow shoulder as look alikes.

Thanks for the tips. I really like my sulphur heads but one of them will probably have to go, electric blue doesn't like him, I hope bigger tank may change this.
My fryeri, eureka and strawberry are about 4-5 inches and already been in main tank. strawberry is fully colored but always being niped by few guys so I gave him time out. Eureka and fryeri are subdominant and lack color. I will probably give them one more go when they gets some colors (after 6 weeks in grow out tank - not much difference in coloration and both are the biggest fish in 50G??) I will probably put in all of fishes from grow out and see what happens and some will probably have to go out.

 

[The Morning]

I love the look of the tank. I think your stocking is fine with the caveat that you may need to move fish down the line. Seems like you already know this so you should be good.

 

[Adam GR]

I also have a 120 gal. Long tank. I prefer the boxy shape of the 5 foot 120 over the rectangular, thin shape of the 6 foot 125 gallon
Might be a good idea to remove the JD asap. Sooner or later the JD's fins are going to be nipped, or a tankmate is going to suddenly be missing.
I keep a mixed, mostly male African Community. A couple of predator Haps, a few more docile Haps, two Blue Dragons & Ruby Red Peacocks, Red & Blue Zebras, Trewavasae, Zebra Chilumba, Afra, Chailosi & Kenyi. Probably 30 - 35 fish, counting the five Botia loaches.
You have a lot of options with the bigger tank. If you want to add Mbuna into the mix, maybe add a well constructed rock pile.
In the past, I also included a lot of driftwood into the hardscape of my African tanks. Although it looked nice, something about the tannins made the set up look awkward. Once I removed the DW the fish became more active & colorful. My guess is the DW caused a slight drop in PH.
Your new tank looks awsome.

Oh man you have a nice selection there, looks like you also like to go a little bit against most common rules, nice to hear that you manage to keep mbunas in there.
I keep a close eye on my JD, he grew up with malawis and he is about 2yr old. 95% of time there is no problems and then you have those 5% when he is worrying me. He hates one of my OB's and when lights go off he giving him a little chase - but it looks like malawis reaction time is like from different planet and they always runs away.
i also likes look of driftwood in a tank, much more then just pure rocks. Tannis is a bit of a problem and PH numbers looks like that : after water change 7.7 and after a week it drops to 7.1

 

[Adam GR]

I also have a 120 gal. Long tank. I prefer the boxy shape of the 5 foot 120 over the rectangular, thin shape of the 6 foot 125 gallon
Might be a good idea to remove the JD asap. Sooner or later the JD's fins are going to be nipped, or a tankmate is going to suddenly be missing.
I keep a mixed, mostly male African Community. A couple of predator Haps, a few more docile Haps, two Blue Dragons & Ruby Red Peacocks, Red & Blue Zebras, Trewavasae, Zebra Chilumba, Afra, Chailosi & Kenyi. Probably 30 - 35 fish, counting the five Botia loaches.
You have a lot of options with the bigger tank. If you want to add Mbuna into the mix, maybe add a well constructed rock pile.
In the past, I also included a lot of driftwood into the hardscape of my African tanks. Although it looked nice, something about the tannins made the set up look awkward. Once I removed the DW the fish became more active & colorful. My guess is the DW caused a slight drop in PH.
Your new tank looks awsome.

Just to add - I honestly never seen even a bit of aggression from any of africans towards JD, no one dares even look t him, they all steeping away from his way. And my africans are not small, borley is about 7-8 inch long and OB's and electric blue above 6in.

 

[Stephen St.Clair]

Just add a Limestone rock pile. That should bump the PH up and buffer against a crash. It also allows for a few choice Mbuna to be added.
If the JD works and you like him, that's a good thing. I kept a Green Terror / Rivulatus in my African community for several months before I finally traded him in.
A full grown male JD not only grows long, but gets really thick. Once they achieve maximum size JD's spend most of their time under a log or big rock. I speak from experience, Lol. It's not that the Africans will fall victim to the JD, its that he has the potential to take up valuable swimming space as well as becoming a huge waste producer. You are a year or two away from that situation.

 

[Adam GR]

Just add a Limestone rock pile. That should bump the PH up and buffer against a crash. It also allows for a few choice Mbuna to be added.
If the JD works and you like him, that's a good thing. I kept a Green Terror / Rivulatus in my African community for several months before I finally traded him in.
A full grown male JD not only grows long, but gets really thick. Once they achieve maximum size JD's spend most of their time under a log or big rock. I speak from experience, Lol. It's not that the Africans will fall victim to the JD, its that he has the potential to take up valuable swimming space as well as becoming a huge waste producer. You are a year or two away from that situation.

i will defiantly consider mbunas if I see any in my local shop, somehow they rear in a place where I live.
My JD is already huge and thick, I measured him 6months ago and he was over 8inches, now he is easily around 9inches.