CHoffman

I am wanting to stock our 125gallon tank. My husband and I both love cichlids. I love their personalities and hubby likes their bright colors. We have very high pH in our town about 7.6 to 8. We also want to have slate or similar rock. The Malawi Mbunas seem like a logical pick. If their are other options please share. I want to do this right the first time so any and all advice is great. Right now we have pool filter sand in the bottom and our Rena canister filter and 2 penguin 1140 power heads set up. We have no water in the tank yet, we are waiting to get the stone in there. I would like some suggestions on what kind of Malawi's to get..I'm a newbie when it comes to cichlids so I don't know what can go with what and how many.I do know you can't mix lakes..We wouldn't mind breeding..I have plently of tanks that I could use as growout tanks and my LFS said they would be more then willing to buy them from me..Plus we like babies around here!! We like the blue color I saw a couple of blue Malawi's that had black stripes or checkers and they were beautiful..We are going more for a elegant look then anything. Thanks so much guys I am ready to learn as much as I can about these beautiful fish so all advice and info is GREAT!!

Nick G

Wouldn't say I'm an expert but my Oscars,Angelfish,and Kribs all live in water with ph of 7-8 and are fine. And I also have large slate rocks in my Oscars tank,you just need to make sure they're not sharp. As for the different types of Cichlid, I'll let someone more knowledgable advise you!

Shawnie

ive been researching for my tank also choffman....this link is great and has alot of info on different types of cichlids and has an array of mild to agressive setups
go under freshwater fish then cichlids and you will see tons of suggestions
http://op5.triadinet.com/elmers/nlcatalog.asp

CHoffman

Shawnie..I must be dense..lol...I go to the freshwater fish..but there isn't a cichlid option..There is handbooks and I can see the part for different kinds fo cichlids but no setups??

Angela_96

For stocking a 125g mbuna tank your possibilites are so wide in species.
Just keep to the rule that you cannot mix 2 species like 2 lab species (such as mixing yellow labs with red top hongi or 2 metriclima species such as kenyi and greyshakies)

You also need to keep the one male to 3 females to keep the aggression levels down.

Also you don't want to mix the aggression levels like the polits are very aggressive, and the labs are mildly aggressive they wouldn't make good tank mates.

Heres examples of my stock in my mbuna tanks: 55g has a kenyi breeding group, lab breeding group, and a psuedo flavus breeding group. (I don't personally recomend the labs/kenyi be mixed I had just got into cichilds when I set up this tank, and they were both fry the same size when I started and I have been lucky that they get along)

For my 58g I have a polit breeding group, and a pseudo polit breeding group.

My breeding groups have at least 3 females to 1 male.

Here is the reference page on cichlid forum to help you get started:
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/article...rence_list.php

Angela_96

I will also ad in my 55g I have around 13-15 cichlids and the same in my 58g. (all of my other tanks are brooder tanks where I put my holding mommas and raise fry) My 36g has 2 pairs of malawi peacocks and one breeding group of red top hongi.

You can put around 20 mbuna in your tank at least if you want.

CHoffman

Thanks so much Steveangela for the link..Very useful. I appreciate your input.

I was noticing that some of the cookie cutter allow mixing of the same species...Like the 55 gallon cookie cutter..its says not to mix Labidochromis but nothing about Pseudotropheus...Why is that??

FishJones

Thanks for the link Shawnie, and great info Steve!

Angela_96

No problem,
Lab species will interbreed causing hybrids. Pseudotropheus honestly I wouldn't mix them as well, for the same reason. If you are planning to breed your cichlids you want to keep the species apart.
-
Angela (I am going to ad this to my sig so others will know its me posting).

CHoffman

I see...So really it's not a compatiablilty issue just a breeding issue..I guess i never even thought about that..thanks..We like the Pseudotropheus Saulosi because they dont' get too big and both male and females are very pretty..Do you have any suggestions for good tank mates?? Also what is a good algae eater to have with cichids??

Angela_96

Those are beautiful cichilds. You could ad a met species, like cobalt blues, red zebras (they range from a cherry red, pink, and bright orange just different color forms), cynatilapia of some kind (there are some really bright afras out there), tropheops species, a type of labs

I would stay away from mixing 2 cichilds that look "alike" I def wouldn't put kenyi's in there w/ the saulosi they look very similar. They will fight constantly.

CHoffman

Yes the kenyi's do look like the male pseudotropheus saulosi's...I'll steer clear of anything that looks alike..Also I need to make sure there aggression level is the same right..The red zebras kinda are a bright yellow orange..depending on age I guess( from the pics of seen)..They kinda look like the pseudotropheus saulosi female does that matter??

Angela_96

Some of the zebras do. I have a red zebra that is bright bright orange.
Here is a page that can help you go through the different species. I also usually order my cichlids from aquabid when I buy them. Right now I am looking for a species of tropheops for breeding that is a red color trying for something different.

CHoffman

I went to the LFS and she said even if I got only 1 kind from each species that the different species would still breed..If that is fact why bother with getting different species in the tank??...

Angela_96

The lfs will put them all in one tank calling it a "mixed cichlid" tank. They have a fast turn around with the fish so most will not separate the species out. I would stay away from the mixed cichild tanks myself, there are a lot of hybrids that come from the mixed tanks. Also they will be fine together as juviniles, but when they are adults they get really nasty with each other.
IMO I would buy only from the tanks that have them separated out, or order from the internet.

CHoffman

Sorry I didn't explain myself very well. In my tank I'm only putting 1 male to 4 females of each species..lab, met. etc..because of interbreeding like you explanied earlier in this thread....But the lady at the LFS said that wouldn't make a difference because they will cross breed anyway...example a Met. will breed with a Lab...

Angela_96

No, thats actually not true as long as your cichilds are in breeding groups they will not interbreed. I have breeding groups of met kenyi and yellow labs and pseudo flavus and they keep to themselves, then in another tank I have red top hongi w/ peacocks and they keep to themselves, as well as my afra and polit groups in their tanks. I have fry to show for them as well showing that they are breeding in their own groups.

Hybrids are not as common as you would think with malawis. The only problem would be mixing 2 lab groups, 2 afra groups and so on. The issues are the "mixed" cichild tanks where they are not paired up into breeding groups and raised together.

CHoffman

Gottcha...I know to take the advice of a LFS with a grain of salt but I was just checking..Thank you for the clarification...I appreciate it.

Angela_96

No prob. My lfs told my husband a flame angel (SW fish) would do fine in a 14g biocube, Im glad I didn't listen and let him impulse buy. They are great with healthy livestock, chemicals, etc. And one employee there always has excellent advice, but the rest I would rather go in say what I want buy it and leave.