90 Gallon Malawi stocking options?

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babarian16

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jun 16, 2011
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Canada
HeLlO friends,

Im planning on scrapping my kinda boring SA/CA tank and switcing to a more lively african tank. I like the colors they have and the fact that i can have alot more than just 5 of them..
I have a 90 gal that ill be using. Im new to afrcans so have been doing alot of research but i find them a little more complicated than americans as the names all sound the same haha.

The idea for the tank is to have the largest color spectrum; blue,yellow,orange, red, etc. I would also be interested in knowing if there are any africans that can go in my mix that would also hunt my juvi platies if i threw them in there. I would hate to lose out on that thrill by switching tanks..
Here are some of the fish i stumbled across that caught my eye over the last couple weeks as i scoured the web.

Red Zebra *
Afro Jalo reef
Melonochromis Johanni*
Nimbochromis venustus (Giraffe cichlid) *
Labidochromis sp. "perlmutt" pearl lab
Cynotilapia sp. Hara
Pseudotropheus sp. "Acei"


I would like to know what my possibilities for combinations are and if they are all compatible. The ones with the stars are the ones i would like to have the most if they are compatible with eachother.
 
Everything on the list is mumbuna except venustus which is Hap. Venustus can get quite large that 90G might be too small when fully grown. But if you want venustus.. I'd suggest just 1 male. Make sure you provide plenty of hiding places w/ alot of rocks and they should be fine.
 
The johanni and zebras would probably be the most aggressive. Acei's are on the more docile side (as far as Africans go), but they can hold their own.
Just get a bunch of them (couple dozen) and that should keep the bullying/aggression to a minimum.
And I wasn't sure: you WANT them to eat your platies? No problem! :) They'll be gone in a matter of days!
 
Im thinking ill do 1m:4-5f of Red zebras, afro jalo reef, Cynotilapia sp. Hara
and yellow labs, with one redtail shark. Any thoughts?
 
Yea when i was new to the i as sold labs to put in with my swords, they were fine for months but then i realised they werent suited for my tank or the diet so i sent them back. Im looking forward to having them again in proper conditions with proper tankmates.
That said, what are some good single fish i can throw into the mix mentioned before. I would prob cut down on the number of afros as the the females are drab and perhaps the labs too.
things like acei's or haps that you guys find attractive as I still hvent even skimmed the surface on all the different ypes of fish.
 
In stead of a red tail shark, you can put 3-6 Syn. Petricola there. They are outgoing and peaceful; but the cichlids don't bug them.

From experience, I suggest you either do 2-3 species with one male - 4-5 females OR all single males. What you don't want is a couple of species of breeding groups and a lot of single males of other species because since they can and will interbreed, extra males will mess up and M/F ration and will cause you to have hybrids in the best scenario and in the worst, cause the death of females for too much male attention.
 
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