Stocking 55 Gallon with Mbuna

[CrunchyLobster123]

I’ve been seeing a reading a lot lately about African cichlids specifically Mbuna. I’ve decided that once I move my flowerhorn out of his 55 that I want to turn it into a Mbuna tank, after looking through the hundreds of species of Mbuna I’ve narrowed it down and could use some help coming up with stocking ideas like what species are compatible and male to female ratios etc. The species are:
Metriaclima Fainzilberi
Pseudotropheus Demasoni
Pseudotropheus Ndumbi “Red Top”
Cynotilapia Afra “Cobue”
Labeotropheus Trewavasae

 

[tlindsey]

I’ve been seeing a reading a lot lately about African cichlids specifically Mbuna. I’ve decided that once I move my flowerhorn out of his 55 that I want to turn it into a Mbuna tank, after looking through the hundreds of species of Mbuna I’ve narrowed it down and could use some help coming up with stocking ideas like what species are compatible and male to female ratios etc. The species are:
Metriaclima Fainzilberi
Pseudotropheus Demasoni
Pseudotropheus Ndumbi “Red Top”
Cynotilapia Afra “Cobue”
Labeotropheus Trewavasae

D deeda
Stephen St.Clair

 

[james99]

If you're stocking males and females, I would only pick 2 or 3 species. Have a male and few females for each. 3 of your picks look really similar which could cause conflict between the males. Trewavasae, seem to be a little larger and aggressive than must mbuna and would probably need a bigger tank. I've never kept the red tops but was researching them at a certain time, they seem to be pretty aggressive.

 

[CrunchyLobster123]

Would 4 Metriaclima Fainzilberi 1 male to 3 females, 8 Demasoni 1 male to 7 females and 4 Ndumbi 1 male to 3 females work?

 

[DJRansome]

Fainzilberi are large aggressive fish so I would do 1m:4 females for them...or even more females. The Cobue with 1m:4f might work better in a 55G. Skip the demasoni since they are also blue barred fish. Reports for ndumbi is that they are very aggressive...some say even more than auratus. So I would do them in a larger tank with many more females as well.

 

[TLS70]

Similar question with a slight twist (not trying to highjack the thread), but i'm also looking to start a 55 mbuna tank. 2 questions

1. is it critical to have male/females of the same species?
2. how many total is recommended for this size tank? i've read a lot that more is better, but what is that line?

 

[DJRansome]

Most people don't want hybrids because the ethical thing is to keep them in your home for their lifetimes (8 years) and at 20 fry per clutch every six weeks that is a lot of tanks to devote to hybrids for 8 years. Euthanasia is usually something people wish to avoid. So ideally avoid creating the hybrids in the first place by stocking lots of females per male and choosing species unlikely to crossbreed.

So if you have females, choose fish of the same species. Think in terms of one male and four or more females in the same species for that male.

More is not better. You want to overcrowd to manage aggression, but not beyond the minimum to achieve that.

The total varies by your stock plan. For mixed gender think in terms of 3 small, peaceful species with 1m:4f of each. For all-male think in terms of 8-10 small, peaceful individuals with no look alikes. Small for the purposes of this discussion is a fish that matures at six inches or less. So for example, skip acei for a 55G as too large. Skip auratus in a 55G as too aggressive.