Getting my 29g water right for mbuna

Yellow labs were my first choice. Acei are on my list as well. I hear of overstocking the tank as being a good idea in the sense that it spreads aggression. How many of each are necessary to accomplish this? I was thinking 5 labs, 3 acei, nothing else. I have an Aqua Clear 70 for filtration. Keep in mind the longest I plan on keeping these fish together in the 29g is about a year, maybe less.

Is Prime the only treatment (aside from baking soda, epsom salts) that I need to treat the "ammonia" in my tap water? Is a product like AmQuel necessary?

6 months from now puts me in the middle of racing (autocross) season, so my head may not be in the water at that time. ;) I'll play the upgrade by ear. I look at my tanks now and I wish I had larger ones, but I've only had them two weeks!
 
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Either of those two products will work fine, I'm not used to having to de-ammonianize my tap water so I've never used them and dont know what else there is out there.
I do know this product though: http://www.pondliner.com/AmmoLock.htm. I've used thier dechorlinator for years and they give a lot of bang for the buck. Thier dechorinator goes farther than the ammolock (1 tsp per 100 gallons), but both a still a pretty good deal. You can use that to remove the ammonia from your tap water.

You probebly wont need to upgrade in exactly 6 months (also depending on how old your fish are when you get them), but I would aim for around there.

As for stocking, its a little more tricky to stock africans than community fish. The principle of overstocking really only works in tanks that are at least 4 feet long... nothing smaller. The reason is that the idea behind overstocking is for an aggressive fish to get distracted by other fish while giving chase upon a 'victim'. In a crowded tank the aggressor will easily get distracted by other fish. But also, you need the length of the tank for the victim to outrun the aggressor in the first place. In a small tank, that just cant be done. The aggressor will just chase the same fish round and round, because he wont be able to 'loose sight' of him.

So for your tank, I would stick to a trio or quad of yellow labs. Acei are pretty mellow, but they are more open water fish and like to swim (hence why there is debate as to whether they should be classified as mbuna or haps). It sounds like you want to upgrade, so it would probebly be okay if you got three of each fish (making an attempt to get 1 male w/ 2 females, although both those species are hard to sex). But, I always feel nervous stocking tanks which will 'rely' on getting an upgrade, because you never know what might happen down the road.

:)
-Diana
 
Thanks, I know they'll all outgrow the 29g eventually. The fish at the LFS are only about 1.5 - 2" (labs and acei). I may upgrade sooner rather than later if I find someone giving away a 55g or 75g for cheap.
 
Just following up...

2 days after my last post, I bought a 55g w/stand and equipment for $50. :D So far it's doing well, though water changes are still harming my fish (see my other thread on that).

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My 29g now has my angelfish, pleco, cory, and 2 silver dollars.
 
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