Stocking Help

[The Masked Shadow]

it may be a 55 tall.

 

[Deadeye]

Snails are hit or miss from what I’ve heard, sometimes they do good, sometimes the mbunas will destroy them. Worth a shot though.

Also don’t worry about how fast the fish grow. Mbunas generally pack on an inch per month, slow down at about 3 inches. I got a 2 a week or two ago at an inch, one of them has at least a quarter inch. Zebras are a bit slower but still fast.

Edit on the growth rate. This guy is a little over a week in my tank and already half and inch to an inch bigger.

 

[DJRansome]

In a 48x12 tank you are going to want 12 mbuna. 1m:11f Metriaclima estherae. I would not do two catfish. What kind of snails were you thinking of?

 

[The Masked Shadow]

I would say apple snails would be good.

 

[_bsafarijoe]

_bsafarijoe are you sure that is a 55G tank, it looks shorter than 4 foot long?

It is 55g they are big pots and also it’s pretty tall. I was given it for Christmas three years ago.

 

[_bsafarijoe]

In a 48x12 tank you are going to want 12 mbuna. 1m:11f Metriaclima estherae. I would not do two catfish. What kind of snails were you thinking of?

Really? I don’t like having that many, I was thinking 8 females max and I really want a bottom feeder.

 

[DJRansome]

Aggression is better managed with about 15 usually (depending on species) in a mixed gender mbuna tank.

A group of 5 Synodontis lucipinnis would work well with them.

If the tank is not 48" inches long you may need to rethink the mbuna...especially Metriaclima estherae.

 

[The Masked Shadow]

You always want overstocked with mmbunas.

 

[_bsafarijoe]

It is

Aggression is better managed with about 15 usually (depending on species) in a mixed gender mbuna tank.

A group of 5 Synodontis lucipinnis would work well with them.

If the tank is not 48" inches long you may need to rethink the mbuna...especially Metriaclima estherae.

48 long but that seems like a lot. I have heard good things about a much smaller "breeding" group. I've heard you can do 4 females and one male. But I'm brand new to AF so I just want to keep learning.

 

[DJRansome]

If you want to do a small breeding group you could try a 40G breeder. Then since Metriaclima is a fairly aggressive fish I would do 1m:4f. Probably easier to manage aggression with 2 breeding groups in the 48x12 tank.