Malawi sugestions?

[cichlidiot]

First let m introduce my self. My real name is Carl. I'm from North Carolina and have been keeping aquariums for around six years now and cichlids for four of those.(mostly CA/SA) I recently started a 75g mbuna tank. It has plenty of rock work for hiding places,(almost piled to the top in one corner),crushed coral/sand for substraight, is filtered with a fluval404 an an AC300(2 sponges), and is heatedwith an ebo 300w heater. My ph is 8.2 and I leep the temp set at 77. The tank currently houses 4 cobalt zebras(1m/3f), 5 red zebra(1m/4f), 1 Auratus(f), 1 M johanni(M),and one albino red-top zebra(?). My question is what else would work in this setup and how many should I stock to comfortably overstok thist tank to minimze aggression.

Sorry for the long post just wanted to provide as much background info as possible.

Carl

[scholar]

These are fairly aggressive mbuna's in a 75G tank. I would not add any excepta rubberlip pleco (Petsmart).

Zebra's grow too big, and are not colorful and peaceful enough for me. I have reveiwed 200 african cichilds and I like the following for great color, smaller size, and better temperment:

- Electric yellow's 1m/3f
- Sayulosi's 1m/3f
- socolofi, 1m/2f and one albino female
- 1 rubber-lip pleco

you can add one or two more fish to it or leave the room for the babies. Super red empress 1m/2f would add the red color to themix. :)

By the way, that's my set up with a couple tropheus in a 135G tank. I think I need to go to an eight footer, 180G plus.

[JSchmidt]

If you're looking to overstock, I'd consder adding a few additional fish of a non-zebra species. You have several varieties of zebra already, and you should expect them to interbreed. You'll have to figure out what to do with the mutts; don't sell them back to your LFS, please!

I'd consider adding a sextet of some other type of mbuna: maybe some Labidochromis, or Labeotropheus. I'd try to stay away from Pseudotropheus species, as they'll possible interbreed with your zebras.

You might consider something like Labidochromis sp. pearlmutt; they'd be a nice addition.

Just be ready to do lots of water changes...

Good Luck,
Jim

[cichlidiot]

JSchmit, how often do you suggest I do water changes. I do 75% twice a week while I'm doing my daily changes for my discus/rams.

What about a good cleaning crew?

[Firsttanks]

For a clean up crew I would look for one of the Syndontis species, maybe petricola or multiplicatus.

[JSchmidt]

I don't think there's any rule of thumb that should guide the frequency of water changes. Other factors will have an influence: feeding schedule, number of fish, amount of mechanical filtration and frequency of cleaning it, etc.

I shoot to keep nitrates in overstocked african cichlid tanks below 40-60 ppm, but my tap water often contains as much as 20 ppm before it ever gets to the fish.

HTH,
Jim