just to add on on here, most dwarf mbuna would still be too aggressive for a 40 breeder. P. demasoni for example, need at least 12F-1M ratio to work out due to female on female aggression and a 75 would be my bare minimum to attempt. Salousi is a little hard to find, but it is one of the most mellow dwarf mbuna out there and would be your best bet if you want malawi cichlids. get a group of 12 - 15 juveniles and remove any males that get beaten down badly. about 8-10 salousis with 1-2 males would be the most ideal mbuna setup. Remeber to scape with lots of decor to break up lne of sight
First African tank
- Thread starter Adamson
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just to add on on here, most dwarf mbuna would still be too aggressive for a 40 breeder. P. demasoni for example, need at least 12F-1M ratio to work out due to female on female aggression and a 75 would be my bare minimum to attempt. Salousi is a little hard to find, but it is one of the most mellow dwarf mbuna out there and would be your best bet if you want malawi cichlids. get a group of 12 - 15 juveniles and remove any males that get beaten down badly. about 8-10 salousis with 1-2 males would be the most ideal mbuna setup. Remeber to scape with lots of decor to break up lne of sight
Is it hard to get dwarf cichlids that aren't blue or yellow though?
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Peacocks would work for the short term, but many of the males will get 6" or longer.
A friend of mine was spawning peacocks. He had a trio in a 55 gallon. Eventualy the male killed off the females.
Point is, a smaller tank is more likely to have aggression problems.
You could do some peacocks, but be prepared to sell/trade them as they get older and bigger.
The plus side is they do get some color when they are smaller.
Have you thought of doing Julies or some of the other smaller Tangs in a tank like that? I think that would be easier.
So I went ahead and picked up some Dwarf Africans today.
I ended up getting 6 Demasoni, 3 yellow labs (which are not the same as Saulosi, though they look similar?), a small peacock, and one other which I can't remember the name of.
I went to a local river and collected a bunch of stones which I stacked so there are a number of little caves. The substrate is Fluorite, will this be okay?
Also in the tank (because they were already there) are about 12 Buenos Aires tetras. Do you think the tetras will act as dither fish or should I remove them?
Is getting Holey/Lace rock something you folks would recommend as well?
Thanks for the help everyone.
I ended up getting 6 Demasoni, 3 yellow labs (which are not the same as Saulosi, though they look similar?), a small peacock, and one other which I can't remember the name of.
I went to a local river and collected a bunch of stones which I stacked so there are a number of little caves. The substrate is Fluorite, will this be okay?
Also in the tank (because they were already there) are about 12 Buenos Aires tetras. Do you think the tetras will act as dither fish or should I remove them?
Is getting Holey/Lace rock something you folks would recommend as well?
Thanks for the help everyone.
The demansoni will kill each other until 1 is left. It may or may not turn on the other fish. They are very pretty and un fortunatly pretty nasty. People have promblems with them in huge tanks sometimes. I would ditch the demansoni. You could do a trio of peacocks 1m2f int that tank which will be fine with the other fish. The only reason I would ditch the tetras is because of bio-load. The yellow labs are pretty mellow espicially for mbuna. The flurite substrate should be fine. Just keep your hob filter intake half way up the glass. My self I prefer gravel over sand or flurite since sand can damage impellars. I jacked up a few nice Aquaclear thanks to sand.
Yellow labs are a large Mbuna some growing to 4-5 in. A Saulosi setup would of been ideal here is mine with sandstone a much more natural rock than Texas holey or Ocean rock which gets used. 
