Centerpiece fish for Mbuna tank

[drgold]

I'm in the planning stages of a 90g mbuna tank. I already have 60 pounds of lace rock, sand substrate, a AC110 and XP3 for filtration, powerheads and heaters, ready to go. I also have two dozen med. cichlids that I can pick up when the tank is ready. They're 8 each of p. elongatus, yellow labs, and lab mbambas.

I'd like to have a large hap or peacock as a centerpiece fish. Would Dimidiochromis Compressicep (malawi eye biter) be compatible, or would he cause/receive problems? The breeder who will be supplying the mbunas has a large tank with mbuna and peacocks mixed together, but his fish are mostly male and mostly large adults. Mine will be mostly females (2m/6f) and younger. Thanks for any input!

Andy

 

[~*LuvMyKribs*~]

I think that setup sounds absolutely fine, minus the compressiceps. They can be real nasty little buggers, especially to smaller mbuna. Also the compressiceps are not peacocks...

If you DID want a peacock I would get a large full-grown male, and it should be okay since most of the mbuna will be younger. Just so you know, peacocks are fish only from the genus Aulonocara, and are usually more mild tempered. Putting a large adult in with the younger mbuna would probebly be okay though, its unlikely he would get overly harrassed.

I would cycle the tank well ahead of time, and cycle it by adding ammonia. This way you can prepare the tank for the large bioload by adding lots of ammonia, and thus you may be able to add all the fish at once.


-Diana

 

[drgold]

The AC110 will be taken from another tank (bristlenose grow-out tank) and the XP3 will be hooked to a dual biowheel-pro system with cycled biowheels. Hopefully I can avoid cycling the tank this way...maybe... I might have to add some sponge filters to help out.

Thanks for the advice!

Andy

 

[stingray4540]

that should be fine, just wait to add the filters until you add fish, or else the bacteria will die without food from the fish.

 

[~*LuvMyKribs*~]

Ah yes adding existing filters should work. If the bioload in the new tank greatly exceeds that from the existing tank then you may get a bit of an ammonia spike, which is just something to keep in mind. It sounds pretty good though.


-Diana