Need some pointers.

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Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Dec 16, 2006
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Hello I have never kept africans before and finally broke down and I am going to be set up a Mbuna tank hopefully. The tank I'm going to be using a 40 gallon breeder 36"X18"X14". So what species of Mbuna would be alright for my tank. Also give me some tips on what to feed them to bring out colors and stuff like that. Also is there a general way to sex Mbuna. I was thinking on Demasoni and electric yellow labs or some johannii. Thanks for advice!:)
 
Great choice you have made to stock your tank with mbuna. You can stock around 20-30 fish in that size tank. Make sure your filtration will pump atleast 3x the water volume per hour.
The fish mentioned are great and you could add in some Cynotilapia, Labeotropheus, Melanochromis, Metriaclima or Pseudotropheus species. Be sure to have 2p-3 females for each male.
The only real reliable way to sex the fish is to vent them, that is, by catching them then turning them over to look at the reproductive hole. Males have two small holes whilst the females back hole is quite big in comparrison. With some fish though the males change colour when they become mature, but, if not the dominant they might still look like a female in colouring.
Spirulina based diet is the best as a big killer of these fish is bloat. Too much protein rich food will result in this.
I have been talking to a guy in the USA about the possibilty of importing their food into the country as the results of the enhanced colouring is something to be seen. Name of the food is "DAINICHI".:naughty: :ROFL: :headbang2 :nilly:
 
Also 20-30 fish is way to much. I was thinking a max of 10 fish maybe a little more. Even ten seems alot to me. Maybe I'm just stuck in the whole CA scene were you can barely squeeze 3 FM in my tank. I know it's not a bad thing to overstock Mbuna tanks as long as you keep up on maintenance because the more fish you have the more targets in which will reduce aggression but 20 or 30 is ALOT.
 
If only going with ten or fiften fish .. My opinion would be a Sp. tank Breeding group perferred. Demasoni Awesome.. Stay small And I would look for a group more around 15-20 For the tank size stated.

And remember Bigger is always better :) Personal opinion :)
 
I agree that 20 to 30 Mbuna is way to much for this tank.

I suggest 11 Demasoni and 3 yellow labs. If you want Demasoni, you should go with either 1 or at least 11. Any number in between, the dominant one will kill the others. I love the color of Yellow Labs and Demasoni together. Yo should go with that.

All you need for food is New Life Spectrum. You could feed some spirulina flakes as well.
 
Angler;979096; said:
I agree that 20 to 30 Mbuna is way to much for this tank.

I suggest 11 Demasoni and 3 yellow labs. If you want Demasoni, you should go with either 1 or at least 11. Any number in between, the dominant one will kill the others. I love the color of Yellow Labs and Demasoni together. Yo should go with that.

All you need for food is New Life Spectrum. You could feed some spirulina flakes as well.
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Thats why I picked the Demasoni and yellow labs because I like the combo very much. I also like Johanni if I go with them how many should i get with the yellows. I'm doing probably a 2 sp. tank.
 
johanni are like demasoni.. one or 11...
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I have never heard that about Johanni before. I always thought that they were like most Mbuna- 1 male kept with at least 2 females- ideally, 1 male kept with at least 3 females.
 
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