Half & half biotape? Mbuna | planted community

[mr.bigglesworth]

I was wondering, provided the tank is VERY big whether you could take lots of rockwork on the right side of a tank ONLY and if the mbuna would stay on that side. Then on the left side a HEAVILY planted peaceful community tank. With extremely fast swimming fish like danio. Without a divider. And white pool filter sand on mbuna side, black planted substrate on the other. I'm thinking maybe 10ft long by 2ft wide by 2ft tall which is a 300. Bigger if needed, smaller if still ok. Would this work? This probably wont happen until I get my own house or apartment or something so maybe 10 + years away .

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[mr.bigglesworth]

Remember I'm talking about mbuna, like yellow labs which get like 6" so that's 4X the width of their body, that's A LOT of width for their body and 5ft of length.

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[Rafini]

Would never work because Mbuna will destroy all but most plants. and even the hardy plants get slowly destroyed over time.

It's a really cool Idea but most fish will use all of the tank that they are given and not cram into one half. especially territorial fish like Mbuna.
You could try this experiment with Tangynikans though. the shelldwellers and julidichromis species tend to not venture far from their shells or rock outcrops

Edit - Don't get me wrong I'm not saying its a bad idea and it won't work, I just don't think it will work how you explained it.
It's an awesome Idea but you need to refine it to species that will stay within certain boundries, like shelldwellers. I can't imagine half tangynikan half planted community that would have shelldwellers in the planted part.
also you would want to choose planted tank species that will not leave the refuge of the plants and BAM. your idea works. like I say just needs refining. I just didn't want you to go out and buy lots of plants to heavily plant one side and have them all get eaten.

 

[mr.bigglesworth]

Would never work because Mbuna will destroy all but most plants. and even the hardy plants get slowly destroyed over time.

It's a really cool Idea but most fish will use all of the tank that they are given and not cram into one half. especially territorial fish like Mbuna.
You could try this experiment with Tangynikans though. the shelldwellers and julidichromis species tend to not venture far from their shells or rock outcrops

Ok that makes sense BUT what about some kind of natural deterrent to prevent them from crossing WITHOUT a divider. Like they have for dogs. No boundary zones.

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[Source310]

Just Put Two 55's Next To Each Other

 

[krylos]

My two mbuna stripped my plants
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[Rafini]

When I first strayed into africans I was told valis or anubias would be tough enough and it was gone in a week... they are bastards when it comes to plants, but what do you expect they are vegetarians

 

[mr.bigglesworth]

When I first strayed into africans I was told valis or anubias would be tough enough and it was gone in a week... they are bastards when it comes to plants, but what do you expect they are vegetarians

Thats because vallisneria is not a herbivore plant, they are very tasty, humans actually eat them in the some countries. The anubias is definitely a tough as nail plant and in MOST cases it should work BUT the most important thing is to buy ALL the plants at once and stick them in (expensive i know..). This tells the mbuna that a large plant bio-mass... well I cant remember what i was reading everywhere but I know hundreds of people that did it all at once and it worked and also hundreds that failed miserably one at a time. And im not making this up I just have a bad memory and I cant remember the whole story. lol. Sticking them in 1 at a time is practically GUARANTEED not to work. I have never heard of a case of this working 1 plant at a time.