Fish selection for my 125g tank

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NormDawg

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Apr 17, 2011
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Wisconsin
Alright im making a change with my larger tank. It's a 125g and currently has 3 blood parrots that are each the size of your fist. I've had them for 8 years or so now and I will be moving them into a 55g tank I just picked up.

Question is I'm looking at making my 125g into a lake malawi tank. I've already picked up 25 or so of those chiclid rocks. Ceramic looking stones with holes in them. I'm doing a very thin layer of black sand on the bottom of the tank.

I'm basically going through livefishdirect website and selecting a couple of each one i like. I'm looking between 25 and 30 fish. I figured I have 25 of those rocks so each one could have a home at least :)

I thought about an all male tank but I would like to have some babies and I don't care if they hybridize at all.

Do you think if i grab 3 each of about 8 - 10 different types that'll give me what I want?

What else should I look at getting for my tank to try to make it more like their natural surroundings? I thought about some more rocks. I picked up 2 heaters and 2 bio wheel filters as well.

Next thing I was thinking about was lighting. I have the two lights i've been using but I want a light that will help show the colors the best. Any suggestions?

I need help to say the least.

Thanks in advance.
 
For stocking I would suggest trying to do species groups with a ratio of 1:3 (Males:Females), but it is usually best to keep 2:6. I have a 125gallon and I have 5 different species of mbuna and recently added three species of haps. I really like mbunas, but I also wanted to have a size difference by adding the haps.

Also, I understand you don't really care about hybridization, but I would still try to shoot for species that don't easily interbreed. A lot of hybrids don't look that great so by trying to avoid hybridization through good stocking you keep your tank vibrant.

One other point on stocking is to try to get species that have similar temperaments. This website is a great resource for choosing fish and giving you the best chance for success (http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/category.php?cat=2). What I mean by temperament is, for example, you will likely have aggression problems (and injuries) if you do yellow labs (one of the least aggressive mbuna) with kenyis (one of the most mbuna). You will likley have injured fish and probably even deaths.

About your aquascaping, you can never have too much rockwork for mbunas. I have never used the cichlid rocks you mentioned, but have heard pretty good things. One thing I have heard people mention is that you want to make sure food and fish waste isn't just sitting in those rocks and you want to keep the water circulating in and out of them. What I have read is to just dump them out every now and then, preferably when fish aren't inside of them.

About lighting, I don't really know much. The only lights I have ever used are the ones that came with the tank - and all of my tanks were bought used. On my 125gallon the lights give off a blue tint which I like very much because it enhances my rusty cichlids and cynotilapia afras. When these lights eventually need to be replaced I will probably try to go for something a bit more natural, but I have no idea what that would be. One thing I do know is that my current lights were used for a reef tank, if that helps at all. I have included two pics of my tank, hope they help.

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Why put those large blood parrots in the 55g? You can leave them in the 125g and they should be fine with the africans. I've seen many people have BPs in with africans and had no problems. Even I have my BPs in with africans with no problems. :)

Oh and I wouldn't suggest an all male tank...you'll need some females to lessen the aggression between the males
 
I disagree CLOWNKNIFE. Provide people with options that have a high success rate over a long-period of time.

Rift cichlids have their own set of social rules and structure - and these are quite different than any cichlid that comes from the Americas. The majority of mixed continent cichlid setups end with someone dying. This is not how we should be instructing future cichlid keepers IMHO.

wrslrcichlid has the right ideas, I would follow the advice given.
 
I would agree with what wrslrchichlid has posted. If you want to mix in females you are going to have aggression issues so giving a ratio of each species such as 1:3 + is the best way to go. If you have to few females per male you will end up with aggression issues as the males fight over the females (which is why all male tanks are recommended). Also it is extremely important that you pick species on the same aggression level as stated otherwise you will end up with injuries and deaths. Sometimes its unavoidable no matter what you do, but again the best way to avoid it is to get species with similar aggression levels. As for rock work - you can never have to much the more the better. The rocks will also help break up the tank, territory areas and aggression over them. As for lighting - go with what you like - some lights bring out colors better than others just go with what is best for you. I have had many different types of lights on my tanks, so it should not make a difference (or I have at least never notice a differences other than some show colors better than others).
 
Thanks everyone!

wrslrcichlid - thanks for the link. I'll be checking it out for a while im sure. I cant get enough information about these fish. I find them so interesting and I don't even own them yet. I'll be getting more rocks then. If I go with more rocks will that allow me to have more fish because they will have so many different areas to hide? How many fish would be recommended for my setup?

C L O W N K N I F E - I always like hearing from another badger :) I already have the other tank so I'll be putting them in there but I was trying to think of another fish that would work with them in the 55g tank. I have been thinking about a ray or a fire eel. Doubt the tank is large enough for the ray and I don't know enough about the eels yet.

why_spyder - sparta now that's pretty close to me. Thanks for the heads up. I need to learn more about the different levels of aggression for the different varieties. I have been told to only keep mbunas with other mbunas.

Ash - I do like the idea of those ratios. The only problem is when i'm buying them i'm buying small fishes and I don't know what sex they are yet. When buying a group of these, 4 of each kind what are my odds of actually getting more females than males?

I'm trying to buy the small ones because the big ones are so much more expensive and my wife isn't thrilled that i'm spending all this money on changing up my tank. Has anyone ever purchased mbuna's from livefishdirect.com? Is there somewhere better I should be looking?
 
NormDawg said:
why_spyder - sparta now that's pretty close to me. Thanks for the heads up. I need to learn more about the different levels of aggression for the different varieties. I have been told to only keep mbunas with other mbunas.
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You'll have to let me know how close you are - I can try to help you find cichlids if you wish.

As for keeping mbuna only with mbuna - it is good advice for beginners, but with a larger tank and some simple guidelines you can easily mix mbuna with peacocks or haps (haps are a better choice of the two).

Mbuna tend to be aggressive feeders, which many times allows them to out-compete more docile species at feeding time. Peacocks usually have to fight for scraps unless they are bigger than mbuna. Depending on the hap species, it can be the same way. More predatory haps that grow larger will be more aggressive feeders as well - but utaka-types (like Copadichromis species) usually scrap too until they can push mbuna out of the way.

If someone wants to mix mbuna and non-mbuna, I highly recommend feeding heavier or feeding at opposite ends of the tank (or both).
 
I have between 30 and 35. I think the total for fish I bought and added is 31, but I have at least two babies in the tank (probably more). Almost every week I see some little guys swimming around, but after a few days I don't see them anymore. So either they are really good at hiding or they become a free snack.

Also, one way I have found (actually a friend found and I adopted the policy) that keeps the baby population from getting too high is to not feed the fish for a couple of days. This gets them a bit hungry which stimulates them to find new sources of food, or babies. I like having the babies, but if I let them all survive my number of fish would quickly outgrow my tank.
 
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