My new 55 gallon Mbuna setup. [pics]

[Razzo]

Tank looks great - congrats!

Ditto the Maingano suggestion (both male and female are blue vs. Johanni).

A steady/consistent pH of 7.5 is fine (no need to buffer).

 

[Big Mike]

Nice tank! :clap:

 

[RDTigger]

nice tank, love the smooth round rock.. wish i could find some like that..

The zebra's will get aggressive as they get older...more labs/acei

 

[efors]

The tank looks great, but I'd revise the stock and keep 3 groups of 5-6 fish instead (labs, acei, 3rd specie OR zebra, acei, 3rd specie), with a small group of syno cats, like petricola or multipunctatus.

Hey, the stock plan suggested here is a classic. Even though I have 4 groups of different species in my 55gal, time has taught me that 3 groups may work better in a tank this size. IMHO, I would do labs, acei and rusties (you said you want them) as the 3rd species...rusties are great! I would add 6 of each and if you like the syno cats, 3 of any of both species suggested by ibr3ak.

 

[Winterymix]

Thanks for all the suggestions guys! I really want the final species I add to have a good bit of blue in it. Even though I love the look of Rusties, I'm afraid my tank would have a very orange/yellow look to it with the zebras and yellows already in there.

I was considering Metriaclima Callainos (Cobalt Blue)

What do you guys think of that? I really like the Maingano, and would really rather do those, but I'm afraid it's going to be really tough for me to find them. Local stock is pretty limited and Bluegrass doesn't have them. Any suggestions for where I could find them if I decided to go that route instead?

Thanks again!

 

[ibr3ak]

If you intend on keep estheraes, stay away from other zebras, they'll show extra aggression toward each other. Also if you're thinking of bumping the numbers of your existing species, I'd stay with that stock without adding the 4th. Both aceis and red zebras will grow large, aceis around 6" and zebras 6"+. And as mentioned above would not distribute the fry.

 

[justinf67]

I stand by the crossbreeding of the zebras and labs. the problem even with good ratios(even though it does help) is that male red zebras who are sexually mature are WAAAYYY more aggressive than yellow lab males. they tend to dominate and take over the more docile labs...

If you cant do maingano, maybe demasoni? same colors and you could add a lot since they are dwarf mbuna. they do need numbers of at least 10-12. I actually have demasoni, red zebra and msobo in my 55. Love the combo, but the demasoni are a handful. they take a little while to get their hierarchy set, and they are aggressive, although only to their own species...

Also, socolofi are blue and gorgeous. they are pretty aggressive though

 

[blue2fyre]

If you removed the red zebras you could do some cobalt blue zebras. They are really nice looking, I have a picture of one I use to have in my avatar. Other blue options are many of the cynotilapia species (I keep white top haras myself), socolfi are usually pretty easy to find and they are a nice powder blue. I would avoid demasoni because they need to be in such large numbers. You could have a single one though. I have one lone demasoni in my mbuna tank and he does fine. Also I would avoid Kenyi, they are a nice blue color but are killers.

 

[Winterymix]

Thanks for all the suggestions guys. I actually found a couple Pseudotropheus socolofi at my LFS and bought them. They are really beautiful. LOVE the black border on the dorsal fin when they flare. When I first introduced them, my acei, which is about a 1/2 inch bigger than they are, tried to push them around. That lasted about 30 seconds before the socolofi turned things around on him, haha! They have not been pro-actively aggressive since that time, but do hold their own. Their aggression level seems to be about perfect with the red zebra and the acei. The labs are a little more mellow, but no one picks on them yet. They have been in the tank the longest and it seems like the rest of the crew respects that.

Neither of the socolofi really have egg spots. One of them has like half a spot on the distal part of his anal fin. Is it likely I have two females? I hope not.

Another question, my LFS also has some electric blue johanni. I've read they are extremely contraspecifically aggressive, but I love their coloration. Would it be ok for me to have just one in the tank?

Thanks guy. I'm cichlid hooked. Setting up my little 10 gallon with a pair of julidochromis ornatus tomorrow.

Thanks!

 

[Winterymix]

Oh, and since it's been about 2 1/2 weeks. Tank update: Everyone is healthy and aggression seems to be at an equalibrium. Water perimeters remain stable. Added a bristlenose pleco which is keeping my algae nicely in check (with a bit of help from the mbuna). Lost both my amano shrimp, which I suspected would happen, but they weren't eaten. They both took their own life by leaping from my tank to escape the Malawi mafia.. This happened twice, and on the 2nd occurance, neither survived Wish I'd had somewhere else to house them. Should have taken them back to the LFS I suppose. Anyhow, thanks for reading my rambling thoughts. Good fish-keeping everyone.