What is wrong with you people. STOP MIXING TANGS WITH MALAWI. Geez. You make me sick, the whole lot of you.
what will mix with mbuna?
- Thread starter rallysman
- Start date
My suggestion would be. You have a beautiful selection of Peacocks and Yellow Labs. Both of which are known to be the more peacable of the Lake Malawi Cichlids. Your Selection of Labs appears to me, to be primarily female. If you can identify two male Labs out of the bunch, then my suggestion would be to keep them as they are, and add nothing. If you have no Male Labs (generally males can be identified by the presence of black markings on their anal and pectoral fins), then invest in two male Labs. Labs will start to breed at 6 months and generally will brood 5-10 fry at a time. With your current stock, the fry would have a much better rate of survival. You have a beautiful setup right now. I recommend that you keep it as it is and let the fish grow. Also, FYI, It is not uncommon for two yellow specimins (Labs) to brood both white, and blue variations.what do you suggest?
How about some input?
Mixing Tanganyika and Malawi cichlids isn't a sin and it's really personal preference as to whether it should be done or not. Offering an opinion is a far better option than berating people someone for it.
There are no peacocks in those pictures, there's Sciaenochromis fryeri, Copadichromis azureus and Labidochromis caeruleus as well as what looks to be some hybrid labs of some sort. L. caeruleus cannot be sexed by the amount of black on any fins, it's nearly impossible to determine the sex of them without venting or seeing a holding female. Also, a male female ratio isn't a concern with L. caeruleus as they are quite passive, very social and do well in groups despite ratio.
All that said....
Frontosa will grow too large for your tank. They are best in groups and nothing less than a 6 foot 125gallon is best. I would take a look at some Metriaclima species that will compliment your tank. Metriaclima fainzilberi are a beautiful mbuna with OB females. They can be aggressive but it's mainly conspecific and 1 male and 4 females would likely get along with the others. Some others that would work would be Labeotropheus trewavasae, Melanochromis cyaneorhabdos or Cynotilapia afra.
Good luck.
Thanks for the replies everyone. I added some plants and a red crayfish (i'll keep an eye on him) I'll try to get some updated pictures next time I visit the tank.
As for the fronts getting too large, I would only use that as a growout and them add them in with my current fronts
I'll pass on them for now though
As for the fronts getting too large, I would only use that as a growout and them add them in with my current fronts
I'll pass on them for now though
Crayfish may kill your fish at night and if that doesn't happen, he may end up as food when he molts. Not always the best addition to a cichlid tank.
I agree. You are "rolling the dice". I also second his opinions on the "no peacock in there" and yellow lab correction. I did want to add that two non-hybrid yellow L. caeruleus will not throw white or blue offspring. There are variants of L. caeruleus that are blue and others that are white, but they are extremely rare in the hobby.
Are you Joe from the "big" forum? Your venustus looks familiar
I'd like to know how it goes with the crayfish since I hear it's a bad idea, but I would like to do it, so let me know if you lose any fish.
I would suggest adding a pictus cat or two.
Your fish stock looks good, I think that maybe you need to redecorate the tank, there is a lot of open space on the top.
some nice tall plants, maybe a piece of drift wood, an maybe arange the rocks in less uniform piles. just my opinion.
I would suggest adding a pictus cat or two.
Your fish stock looks good, I think that maybe you need to redecorate the tank, there is a lot of open space on the top.
some nice tall plants, maybe a piece of drift wood, an maybe arange the rocks in less uniform piles. just my opinion.
I disagree with that statement whole heartedly. The overactive nature of the Malawi cichlids causes undue stress for the less active Tanganyikan cichlids. They in turn
I appologise for the incorrect ID, didn't look that closely at the photo.
If you say so, I wont argue that either way. My research and personal experiences indicate otherwise.
I'll agree with that.
