New to this type of FW fish - Help :)

Jerzboi

Jerzboi

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Jan 13, 2009
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Pine Level, NC
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Brad
I have always worked on community tanks, but I have really enjoyed checking out African Cichlids. I really like the colors and characters of the africans as opposed to the N.W Cichlids

My tank set up right now consits of two good size peices of driftwood, and sand substrate, working on putting a lot of Java Ferns in the tank.

The temperature of that remains at 79 degrees and the pH is as at 7.2-7.4

My question is what lake cichlid would best do in these conditions, I'm aware that i will need more area breakers for territory and how many would be comforatble in a standard 55 gallon.

I am very fond of Lake Malawi cichlids

I'd love to learn from your expertise :thumbsup:

Here is a good shot of the tank so far (the fish currently in there will be traded or sold to make way for the africans, and the water is due to current water change)

0914090215.jpg
 
I'm planning on raising the pH up to atleast 7.8-8.0, i know that the pH is probably way to low
 
I would stock either peacocks or smaller haps. Both of these groups would do well with the amount of open space in your aquascaping. Make a list of what Africans are available in the LFS of your area and post it. This will make it easier for someone to help you. Most people do ok with a PH in the low 7's for Malawis. Keeping it consistent by doing frequent water changes is far more important.
 
Yeah most def will, planning on going there on Wed since they are gettin a shippment in tomorrow. I am thinking of trading out the dw on the right and stack a lot of slate since it is cheap and not so heavy, also have a lot more java fern on the way...

I really enjoy the Kenyi, Labs, Demasoni, but I'm sure the Kenyi is pretty agressive
 
Demasoni can be really mean if not kept in high enough numbers. They are a beautiful fish and I think a large group of them along with a smaller group of labs would be a great stocking for this tank :)

Kenyis are mean, I think you could find a better suited species that will get along with the other fish better.

Here's the stocking of my 55 gallon. It's best to stick to about 3 or less species of mbuna for that sized tank.
I have :
5 P. Acei
7 OB zebras (extra males are being removed as they color up)
7+ some babies, Cyno White top haras (removing extra males as needed.)
I also have a small group of syno petricolas a demasoni and one cranky female M. greshakei.

Pretty much you want to keep a good ratio of one male to 3-4 females. It helps to buy babies then remove extra males as they mature. With good filtration and weekly water changes, you should over stock the tank a bit to cut down on aggression. Mbuna like rocks with lots of caves, the slate should work out nicely for you. They may find the plants tasty. A lot of people have success with java fern in a mbuna tank but mine didn't fair well. My mbuna shreaded the stuff.
 
haha well i hope there is enough java fern that they won't get it all :grinyes:
that stinks, i really enjoy the Kenyi's color, but I'll settle for other blue fish

Is it pretty hard to determine male and female a. cichilids when purchasing them?
I am aiming for a lot of color variation, but no peacocks (not really my taste)
 
Sexing with mbuna is pretty hard (venting is the only sure way with monomorphic species), unless it's a maturing dimorphic specie. So if you don't wanna pay alot for a mature/sexed group, get a bunch of juvies for cheap, grow them out and then sell or trade the extra males, as blue mentioned above.
 
any other suggestions, expertise is more than welcome as I continue my research on these awesome fish :thumbsup:
 
Go with a lesser aggressive species, you'll appreciate it in a long run, provide alot of caves with rockwork, overfilter, the more water circulation in the tank the better, get mbuna from a trusted source, try not to get fish from mixed tanks. Just general stuff like that, you'll learn as you go, mbuna are pretty forgiving.
 
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