55g stock question
- Thread starter LilBabyEmma
- Start date
I have never personally kept demasoni, but it is pretty much agreed upon that it is a risk to keep a group of less than 12. Demasoni are smaller mbuna, but they can be nasty and wipe out a tank overnight if the group isn't large enough. If you want demasoni then I would suggest starting with 15-20 and then cutting down the group (trying for more females than males) to about 10-12 as they mature.
As for your overall numbers, they are pretty good. I would say to try for around 15 fish overall - IMO it gives a nice busy tank without going overboard. I have kept 25 fish in a 55gallon temporarily and would say that is the MAX - but you must have lots of filtration and do water changes every 3-4 days.
If it was me, I would actually not do demasoni and just do acei and yellow labs. Whatever you end up with try for a 1:3 ratio of males to females. Helps spread the mating aggression so the females don't get overworked.
As for your overall numbers, they are pretty good. I would say to try for around 15 fish overall - IMO it gives a nice busy tank without going overboard. I have kept 25 fish in a 55gallon temporarily and would say that is the MAX - but you must have lots of filtration and do water changes every 3-4 days.
If it was me, I would actually not do demasoni and just do acei and yellow labs. Whatever you end up with try for a 1:3 ratio of males to females. Helps spread the mating aggression so the females don't get overworked.
Stock sounds good but instead of 13 acei I would do 6 acei and add 4 OB peacocks
So....
6 Acei
4 OB Peacocks
3 Demasoni
1 Yellow Lab
So....
6 Acei
4 OB Peacocks
3 Demasoni
1 Yellow Lab
acei get pretty big in a 55. Demasoni may not give the acei any trouble but the yellow lab may become vulnerable. Id get 6 demasoni and as you learn their behavior sell off the ones that are picking on the rest.
It sounds like it would be perfectly fine, except I would make the fish ratio more even. It's all about watching aggression issues, if any arise, and making sure there is enough territory for the demasoni, who can be little devils. My 75 gallon tank has very few "caves", unlike the classic mbuna tank, and I've never had any fish lost to aggression, or even had much aggression at all, to be honest, aside from my I very pissy female Melanochromis auratus. P. acei and L. caeruleus are very peaceful, when it comes to mbuna, so the P. demasoni may give them trouble but I've never had issues in the past so it's all up to what you decide. Just my opinion and sorry for all the commas hahaha
i wouldnt go that many acei, they get pretty big for mbuna. you may end up with only one demasoni, most places recommend 1 or 10.
P. acei don't get any bigger than any other non-dwarf mbuna. Where are you getting this info?? Not trying to threadjack or bash, just wondering.
I've kept and bred both yellow tails and white tails. The yellow-tail variety get larger than the white-tails. I have had male yellow tails get up around 6"-7" long. My current alpha male white tail Ngara is about 5" long.
A lot mbuna I've seen in captivity get that big. I've seen several L. caeruleus, M. estherae, L. fuelleborni, and a M. johannii at my LFS that are pushing 6.5". It's crazy how enormous they get in captivity.
Actually Acei get much larger than others and not just in the tank. Most profiles say they will only hit 6 inches, but I often see them at the 6 inch mark and larger. I had a white tail that was 7 inches. You may see other mbuna get over their normal size, but I see far more Acei that do compared to other species. Acei are not like other mbuna, in fact I am not sure why we classify them since their behavior is so different. They school and swim in the open area not sticking to the rocks like others. Genetically they may be the same, but behavior they are different. A group will work in a 55, but I would watch that they do not get picked on over out grow the tank. It will take time for them to get really large. I would not do demasoni in small groups.