New african tank :)

[Mirabelle.Stark]

New member here, and going to be setting up my first African cichlid tank. I've had several tanks in the past, but I have a few questions and some selection assistance. Although I have done quite a bit of reading on them, I'm still a little over whelmed with the amount of fish to choose from. So many conflicting information on compatible mbunas, and I don't want to end up with super aggressive fish. I prefer vertical stripes to horizontal and a big fan of blues and green. I don't have plans for a planted tank. And even that doesn't narrow things down much. I'd like to get a group of 5-8 depending on the fish. I know to stock on the heavy side, but I have a large surface area. So is stocking a matter of water quality or space? Another issue is adjusting ph, typically I don't even bother with it. Is it really even necessary? I often do large water changes and I don't want to worry about wild fluctuations in ph.

My setup will include:
70-74 gallon tank, it has crazy odd measurements. 19 wide x 17 tall x 51 long. And that's rounding down, none of the measurements are in whole numbers.
I've got a pair of eheim pro3 2080, with plenty of extra seeded media
I've also got a couple of power heads I'd like to use.

So any help with the above questions and stocking suggestions would be welcome

 

[evojoey]

Welcome to MFK.

Mbuna will do well in a tank that size. Just make sure you have a lot of rock work in the tank. You'd want way more than 5-8 fish. Should be more like 20+. The heavy stocking is good for evening out aggression. I have 12 african tanks and I don't adjust for ph. Whatever comes out of the faucet is what goes in the tank. I have no issues, plenty of breeding and all fish are healthy. When choosing mbuna, just make sure that the females of each specie is different looking. That'll prevent crossbreeding.
Here are a few species to look into.

Cynotilapia zebroides (Cobue)
Melanochromis auratus
Yellow labs
Pseudotropheus sp. "Acei"

 

[Ash]

+1 to what was stated above.

Yellow labs are docile as well as peacocks (if you want to look at non-mbuna options), and they have beautiful colors. These ones you wouldn't really need to overstock so much for aggression as they are not really aggressive fish. I like all male peacock show tanks with yellow labs mixed in. (That was my favorite set-up that I had so its a biased opinion) =)

I never had great luck with mbuna other then the labs and acei

 

[Mirabelle.Stark]

Thanks for the replies. Good to know about the ph, won't bother with it. Also about the stocking, guess I didn't realize how little footprint they have. I have looked online and most places sell sexed fish for like twice the price, plus I want the fish when they are little Is making sure I have the right m/f ratio really so important if I have 20 fish? Given I have enough visual barriers and cover?

I did consider getting a couple peacocks, but didn't want a huge bio load. Now I'm thinking I could get a couple and still have 15 mbuna.