I'm thinking about it...

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rich_one

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Nov 7, 2008
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Thinking about turning one of my 125 gallon tanks into a Malawi tank. Still on the fence, but... stocking suggestions? Let's see if someone comes up with a mix that pushes me over the edge! LOL... To help things along, here is what I want: Lots of colors (I'm talking blues... reds... yellows... black... white... is there a purple? How ever many colors that are possible)! Activity. NO BREEDING... so I'm thinking all males here.

Okay, so... suggest away! Hoping you guys stimulate the imagination on this!

-Rich
 

Lab_Rat

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Dec 3, 2009
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All male peacock and hap would be great in a 125g. You can find almost any color between peacocks and haps. Yellow labs can even work in that mix, though I don't typically mix peacocks and mbuna. A mbuna tank would look great too, with tons of holey rock. If you're looking for more fish density, go with mbuna, they do well to be overstocked for aggression. You'd want lighter stocking with peacocks and haps.
 

Pittbull

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Apr 14, 2007
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Yeah but what are you wanting typical Malawi Mbuna where fish only reach the 5 to 6" range or Haps that reach the 15" range..
 

rich_one

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Nov 7, 2008
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Yeah but what are you wanting typical Malawi Mbuna where fish only reach the 5 to 6" range or Haps that reach the 15" range..
How you been, Mike? Man... sorry I have not been around here much... I have been heavy into MFK these days. My tanks have really evolved, man. I now have two 125s, a 55, a 75 and a 33. The 75 is a saltwater tank, if you can believe that! LOL...

Anyway, since one of my 125s is a nice CA community... which was not easy to pull off... LOL... the other 125 has a breeding pair of zonatums in them. But I'm kinda getting bored wtih 'em, honestly. And my 55 gallon is an SA tank. So, since I have one CA tank, one SA tank, and one SW tank, I thought... why not have one Old Word tank? Except this time, instead of doing Tangs... maybe do a Malawi... something with lots of color and activity. So here I am, planning it out.

Okay... backstory done. To answer your question... I do not want monsters in this tank. So any fish over 8" is too large for what I am going for. Basically, I kinda want an slightly overstocked explosion of color and activity... but without the fighting. So I was thinking maybe peacocks and smaller haps? I'm not sure the approximate number of fish I could do, with this in mind. But I want as many colors as possible... blues... reds... yellows... whites... blacks... whatever I may not be thinking of! LOL...

So I'm hoping for some suggestions... ideas... or maybe folks can tell me what they are doing... and I can kind of hodge podge a plan together, based off what would seem to work. This particular 125 gallon tank is next to my saltwater tank, so I thought it'd be cool to have a freshwater tank filled with super color, and a saltwater tank filled with super color, side-by-side! LOL... So, what might you suggest I consider, Mike (and anyone else who cares to jump in)? Thanks!

-Rich
 

Pittbull

ALL BOW DOWN TO THE FIN GODS
Apr 14, 2007
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No problem nice to hear from you again man. Man i am doing a A Hap/Tang/Mbuna 120gal where i have a Large Malawi eyebiter, a larger Tyrannochromis Macro, a large Tang Lemari, and a few other small Haps and Mbuna's, colors look good and their temperament is awesome.. But yep if you stick with the Haps and Peacocks you will get a few interesting colors and behaviors..
 

rich_one

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Nov 7, 2008
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Its gonna take me quite a bit of time to get the money to buy males only, because of the sizes they need to be to be sexed. So I am wondering about the viability of a new plan. What if I get my hap/peacock population as unsexed juvies (way cheaper), and then as males and females become apparent, I remove the females, and replace them with males as I go along. That will allow me to get a population of fish now, and then slowly turn it into an all male tank as they grow, at a more affordable rate.

Does this seem like a sound idea... or a bad idea?

-Rich
 

Lab_Rat

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Dec 3, 2009
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With the peacocks you may have a ton of trouble telling the females of different species apart. When you go to sell them you won't know what species to sell them as.
 

rich_one

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Nov 7, 2008
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Yeah... that idea is officially dead. Made the same post in my club forum at CCA, and was similarly warned. So I am heeding the warning. So now, I see how many males I can snag for $100, and I build from there!

-Rich
 

jpierce3

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Aug 1, 2011
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When I had my 125 as a Malawi tank, I had a large F2 Scianochromis fryeri "iceberg", F0 Copadichromis borleyi, F0 Labidochromis caeruleus, F1 Maylandia estherae, Several Peacocks (can't remember each species right off-hand most F0), and a F1 Lithobates otophyarnx all male. Small group of Syno. multipunctatus, a couple Syno. schoutedeni. Lots of rock and never any issues. Aside from the peacocks, most lived to 12 years old or so. worked out pretty good for me. Added a Polypterus ornatipinnis that is almost 10 now and only remaining from the original group.

So yeah, I would suggest all male peacock and haps with maybe one or two mbuna (generally nice ones).
 
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