I agree with Blue and Pitt; aggression and small space may be the 2 main issues in this case, with more reasons due to the presence of red zebras. Watch carefully how they interact to each other.
mbuna tank problem.
- Thread starter elmer_fudd25
- Start date
If there are always particles in the water you are possibly not cleaning the gravel enough/properly, and as suggested get some finer filtration media for a start. I would also focus on gravel vaccing during water changes.
I would also change more water - what do your nitrates usually read at and how do you test btw - I would change 50% minimum - should be a breeze in a 30.
Those would address any acute difficulties regarding environment.
Medium term that tank is not going to be big enough for a happy population...I suspect your orange labs are actually zebras...they will kick the labs butts over time..if you're keeping the fish you need to focus on a larger tank - a 40G breeder (three foot long) would be a nice upgrade, a 55G would be even better and you could have a bunch more fish in there which would also help with their sociability. They like a lot of company but your tank is not big enough to support that.
I would also change more water - what do your nitrates usually read at and how do you test btw - I would change 50% minimum - should be a breeze in a 30.
Those would address any acute difficulties regarding environment.
Medium term that tank is not going to be big enough for a happy population...I suspect your orange labs are actually zebras...they will kick the labs butts over time..if you're keeping the fish you need to focus on a larger tank - a 40G breeder (three foot long) would be a nice upgrade, a 55G would be even better and you could have a bunch more fish in there which would also help with their sociability. They like a lot of company but your tank is not big enough to support that.
Thanks to all for the ideas so far. If i was to remove the red zebras what do you think i should replace them with and how many? I would like some thing blue and black if poss.
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I wouldn't your Labs would be enough maybe add a couple more labs of the same size for a total of 6 that will be pushing it and remove any rouge Labs that are causing problems later down the road..
I also agree, no other species, just labs.
If you were willing to remove all your fish are start over I would suggest Ps. Saulosi. They are a dwarf mbuna and would be better suited to the size tank you have. They also make a nice species display since the males are blue with black stripes and the females are bright yellow.
If you were willing to remove all your fish are start over I would suggest Ps. Saulosi. They are a dwarf mbuna and would be better suited to the size tank you have. They also make a nice species display since the males are blue with black stripes and the females are bright yellow.
