MissMTS

Alright all you African Cichlid people.....

I have been doing research to figure out what to finish stocking my tank with, but I keep changing my mind so I wanted to know what your personal favs are and what you think will work with the fish I currently have. I would like to add some blue to the tank (light blue) if possible, and would prefer a species that doesn't have dull females. I currently have:

3 Pseudotropheus Elongatus
4 Yellow Labs
3 Metriaclima Greshakei -albino
3 Astatilapia Latifasciata
2 Synodontis Catfish

The tank is 70 gallons. I thought about adding even more, but I don't want to stock it to tight.

Let me know what you would add. I have been messing around with the stocking in this tank since I got it months ago and am still working to find the perfect mix.

TFA101

My fav, Pseudotropheus Socolofi

MissMTS

I was actually thinking of that for a while, but I am not sure if it will get along with pseudotropheus elongatus, since they are from the same genus. What do you think?

steveangela1

what about female kenyi? I know they are aggressive, but they do work out sometimes w/ the others?

Or a more peaceful cobalt group. Then there is the cynatilapia afras.

Heres my stock in my tanks:
cyn afra hai reef, psuedo polit, met zebras going to ad hongi in when I get rid of the zebras

kenyi, greyshaki (they are going), labs (yellow) going to put the psuedo flavus in when they are of size

then my fry tank is lab fry and kenyi fry (alll one inch size)
I also have an all flavus tank (fry)
and a all lab fry tank

MissMTS

I wouldn't mind doing female kenyi. Would possibly not be as mean without a male? I could probably put a male in, but I am just so afraid of a male kenyi terrorizing everyone else in the tank. Also, its a metriaclima genus, so would they get along with the Greshakei? I think the afras look to much like the elongatus. Dark blue with black stripes, so there would probably be issues there. Maybe I can try the kenyi and see how it goes....

Allie

In 70g you can have 30 fish or more. I would pick 6 species with 5 of each.
Labs can go with almost anything really. I am looking for an afra species, Deep water haps and Red zebra with the blue male.
When I get my 75g I am hoping to keep my 4 labs, 2 blue haps and the other 3 species I want.

Don't add kenyi, you have the greyshakei. Only one species type a tank. Most mbuna species females are dull. You could try some haps or peacocks. If you can find these, they are awesome Deep water haps: I want these again.
http://cichlidforum.com/profiles/species.php?id=1204
Astatilapia Latifasciata aren't even from Lake Malawi and aren't mbuna.
http://cichlidforum.com/profiles/species.php?id=1556

Here's a list of Mbuna species:
http://cichlidforum.com/profiles/category.php?cat=2
Hope this helps.

MissMTS

Thanks Allie I wouldn't mind adding a few peacocks. Haps are so hard to find by me for some reason. I know that the Astatilapia Latifasciata are from Lake Victoria, but I like their coloration and they are compatible with mbuna

Allie

Eureka peacocks are aggressive as heck. Watch out for them, lol Mine terriorize my mbuna when I had them. lol
That's good, they are pretty aggressive and can hold their own. I had hap brownaes, but the males weren't very nice.

FishFolk

I have magunga msobo deeps with my albino greshakei. They are doing well together. He's blue (dark to ligh depending on his mood) and she is a bright orange (sort of like a red zebra).

I had to play with the tank and get it set up with territories they liked. Also the msobo had the run of the tank with his female and 6 albino greshakei females for a month. he was very aggressive to the male alb greshakei when I introduced the greshakei. After 2 or 3 days in time out, I reintoduced the msobo and all is well.

FYI: Allie had some very aggressive msobos and had to sell them.I had some very aggressive greshakei and had to sell them.

I love the look of demasoni but found my msobo first. Also heard that you need 6-12 demasoni ...
Good luck.

steveangela1

I have made the mistake of mixing peacocks in w/ mbuna, and the peacocks are summisive to the mbuna, even when I put 1 1inch fry in w/ a ruben red alone, the fry beat the peacock up.

MissMTS

I have one lone male peacock in the tank right now and he runs things I eventually want to get him a tank of his own, because I know that there can be problems with peacocks and mbuna. I guess it just depends on each individual mix of fish.

steveangela1

it really does depend on the fish, I had a peacock I ended up putting in the mbuna tank until I got rid of it, then I have had the larger peacocks that were mean to the smaller ones.

MissMTS

Yup I've had that happen too. I originally had my German Red Peacock in a tank with a Sunshine Peacock. The Sunshine peacock was so mean I had to get rid of it. Now my German Red Peacock rules the tank, but in a nice way

Allie

My Steveni peacocks and Eureka peacocks ruled my 80g I had to sell them all. I had them in with polits, 1 male saulosi, 1 male red top zebra, labs, red/blue zebra, cobalt, blue and deep water haps(my beginner's tank, oh the mistakes)
Most of the species i had were supose to be more aggressive than the peacocks. My peacocks were devils.

steveangela1

You mixed polits w/ peacocks?? and the peacocks ruled the tank Wow, thats some mean peacocks. I have my tank w/ polits loaded w/ lava rock for hiding spots, and I am def going to have to keep the polits w/ a 1male 4 female ratio (I only have 4 females in the group I bought) They are mean little buggers.

I do remember having some peacocks that were devils as well, when we kept the tank full of the larger sized peacocks there was one red shoulder that ruled the tank.