jri4

Well, my 75 gallon tank is getting sand and water tomorrow and I am almost decided on fish to stock with. I think I'll get Mbuna Cichlids What if I gradually added:

1 Trio Red Zebras
1 Trio Acei
1 Trio Yellow Labs
1 Trio Cobalt Zebras or Demasoni
1 Trio Albino 'variation of something'

Do these all seem compatible? Any suggestions?

MissMTS

Everything sounds good except the demasoni. Demasoni need to be kept in groups of 12 or more or they will be aggressive to all the other fish in the tank despite their small size. Try the cobalt zebras instead. Sounds like a nice tank. How are you gonna decorate it?

jri4

okay, cobalts it is... I'll try and get a pic up later, but the back 8 to 10" of the depth of the tank has a light grey rock wall (flat rocks stacked on top of each other to form caves) that shapes from against one side of the tank sloping down to nothing about 3/4 into the middle, then a separate rock tower against the other side glass. A few (5) fake plants will be smattered throughout, with tahitian moon black sand and a black background, hopefully bringing out more color in the fish. I am really proud of it.

BTW I am also running an Aquaclear 500 and a visitherm stealth 250 W heater, a bubble wand and airstone attached to an air pump

besides a plecostomus, what else should I add to the above list? I know I can overcowd a little...

MissMTS

You could probably add one more trio of fish and be okay. I really like yellow labs. Also for your albino cichlid, snow whites are nice. I have one in my tank Post a pic of your tank. The rock walls sound very cool. Good call on the fake plants because the mbuna will rip up any real ones in the tank. What kind of pleco are you thinking of getting? If you get a smaller one, you may be able to fit up to 3 in your tank.

jri4

i'll check out snow whites. i think a white fish would appear to have a lot of color in a pretty much all black tank. For plecos, I want some sort of albino I think, or else I'll never see him due to the black sand. The closest LFS to me is about an hour away, I am not sure even what they have. So I might be picking up one from the local Petsmart or Petland (Petland has pretty surprisingly nice fish). But all it says is "pleco" How do I know which variety it is?

MissMTS

Common Plecos grow up to 2 feet long that would be stretching it as far as stocking your tank. I would look at some of the synodontis species. I have 2 in my tank and they are very attractive fish with great personalities. Some of them even school with eachother and they get anywhere from 6 to 10 inches depending on the breed. They are the catfish that are naturally found in the Lake Malawi habitat, so they would probably suit your tank best. The snow whites do look really nice in a dark tank. Definetly look them up