do demasoni cichlids need colorful gravel like flowerhorns or can i have dark brown natural gravel just makeing sure i dont want there blue to be "washed out" aslo how many demasonis and yellow labs cichlids could i have in a 55 gallon with out them killing eachother
gravel for demasonis?
- Thread starter Ghost01
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Ghost01;4145733; said:
Mbuna like sand as the sift through it. Gravel will hurt their gills. Demasoni are best kept in a group of 12+ less than that and they will kill each other off. for a 55 gallon I would recommend 15 or 16 with no labs. Demasoni are mean.
If you want a yellow blue combo go for Sauloisi Males are blue and females are yellow you could get away with 17-20 with enough caves as they are dwarf mbuna.
Get some dark colored sand and they will really pop.
As for stocking I would say 15 demasoni and 6-7 labs and you'll be set. Just make sure to have plenty of filtration and keep up on the water changes. A lab/demasoni tank is one of my personal favs
As for stocking I would say 15 demasoni and 6-7 labs and you'll be set. Just make sure to have plenty of filtration and keep up on the water changes. A lab/demasoni tank is one of my personal favs
I have sand in my mbuna tank and I find it easier. You can hover the vac over the sand and suck up the poo and debris on top. You can also put in a power head to help move stuff towards the filter intake.
The mbuna will dig in the sand which will keep it stirred up. If you are worried about gas pockets then add some malaysian trumpet snails to keep it stirred.
The mbuna will dig in the sand which will keep it stirred up. If you are worried about gas pockets then add some malaysian trumpet snails to keep it stirred.
I have black gravel with red lava rock. My tank is a mix of demasoni/labs, but I regret not using sand from what I've heard. The black gravel I have is nice, but it's definitely more of a chore to completely move around all the lava rock to get to vacuum the gravel.
From what it sounds like, you can pretty much just siphon over the sand and pick up the waste? I also hate when cichlid pellets get lodged in between the gravel chunks... but for now the pictus snatch those
From what it sounds like, you can pretty much just siphon over the sand and pick up the waste? I also hate when cichlid pellets get lodged in between the gravel chunks... but for now the pictus snatch those
Definitely go with sand, so many benifits with sand, its cleaner, easy to clean, african cichlids prefer it, adds to your viewing experience while you watch the cichlids move the sand around, live sand keeps ph up for africans, and it simply looks better. syphoning sand is way easier then gravel, here is a quick video on it, he uses the wide gravel vac but I take that part off and just use the hose, I feel theres more suction that way.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-yUhK7U--o
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-yUhK7U--o