Scotty;1801151; said:
Over crowding is not the problem. As long as there is really good filtration and regular 20% water changes the number of fish is not too many for the tank size. Loads of rocks and I would add in another 10-15 fish. Over crowding tends to greatly reduce any aggression by the males.
I would leave out those indicated in red as they will be bullied by the mbuna, especially the estherae males.
Add in some more estherae females as the male could become a problem.
Rocks and substrate displace water. That is something that should always be considered.
Overcrowding is not necessary.
Proper sex ratios will keep aggression to a minimum in mixed sex tanks.
For any mbuna tank I recommend going one of two routes. Either an all-male display tank or a community of only a few species but proper numbers for each. That, for me, means 3 or 4 species and 6-8 of each with females outnumbering males.
Despite mbuna being gregarious cichlids and ones who seem to benefit from overcrowding is simply not necessary for a moderately peaceful display. While overcrowding may help reduce aggression it also ups the amount of food used, amount of waste put out and the amount of water that needs to be changed and IMO for any overcrowded tank, 20% weekly changes will not be good enough in the long run despite efficient filtration. And, as all the fish mature, space definitely will become an issue. It doesn't seem so bad when the fish are 2.5-3" and seem to have all the space to roam but eventually the tank will simply look like a 75 gallon tank crammed with a buttload (scientifically speaking
) 4-7" fish.
All that said and admitting that I'm no purist by any means and I do have 5 Neolamp. marunguensis in my Malawian tank awaiting relocation, I wouldn't add anything else.
As the OB peacocks mature, remove the ones you don't find very attractive and lower that number.
The dems will work themselves down but should they be unusually polite with one another remove any "imperfect" dems (bad barring) and extra males.
Who knows how the trets will work. I actually think they might be ok with the mbuna despite the fact that they grow slower, but I'd be more concerned with how they act with one another as they are quite aggressive toward their own kind.
Lastly, you may not see a need to (at least not now) but if it was me I'd be doing 50% changes weekly. I do at least 50% changes on all my tanks. My heavily stocked tanks get up to 80% weekly. I don't feel so guilty making my efficient filtration do all the work and sleep better at night .
