My Final Choices and want 2 of some

[purpleangel]

O.Kk.
I have narrowed down my choices as long as they are either Mbuna's or will be ok with Mbuna's. Please let me know. I can't afford to make any mistakes on my part.

PSEUDOTHROPH GRESHAKEI
PSEUDOTROPHEUS SOCOLOFI (Thanks to my only friend)
PSEUDOTROPHEUS AURORA
AULONOCARA STUARTGRANTI
COBALT BLUE ZEBRA
Could not find the Fuelleborni


MY MACHINE HAS GONE MAD,WON'T LET ME DELETE MISTAKES. SORRY


tcobalt blue 'nt einda







NARROWEMbuna'si i HAVE D

 

[Coler]

That's a pretty good list with just a couple of things to think about.

Are you going for Pseudotropheus Socolofi Albino ? I wouldn't mix the blues with the cobalt blue zebra.

All those need to be stocked with 1 male to 2/3 females, if your are mixing genders. In other words, if you put 2 males in you need additional females. If you don't have sufficient females, the famales will be harassed to the point of death and beyond. Also, with no or insufficient females, the males will likely kill each other.

You have some aggressive Pseudotropheus there, so it'll be important to manage agrression with correct gender ratios. Equally with that size tank and those mbuna, the Aulonocara may find the going tough.

I'd probably lose the Aulonocara (the females are so drab anyway) and stock 1 male and 3 females of every thing else, if I could get them as young uns and then see how everything pans out...in about 6 months you'd likely have a couple problem fish (maybe one is too aggressive, one or two are not thriving) that you might shift out.

 

[purpleangel]

I so vaule your opinion.

O.K. I'm going to take the Aulonocara off my list and the Cobalt Blue Zebra.
How many of each should I get of the other's? I'm asking because I don't know what the chances of getting the female to male ratio would be.

How many can I put into my 55 gallon tank along with the other's I already have ?

Where do you buy your fish from? I hope none of these will be hard for me to find.

Thank you very much

 

[Lexi_D]

How many can I put into my 55 gallon tank along with the other's I already have ?

Which others do you already have?

Where do you buy your fish from? I hope none of these will be hard for me to find.

Check out all of your local fish stores to see if they have any of the fish. If you can't find them, you could try an online dealer such as www.DrsFosterSmith.com or www.aquabid.com

 

[Coler]

Just to be clear - the cobalt blues are a problem only if you are doing the blue socolofi...no prob with the albino socolofi....do those website not let you order by gender ?

If you can't get a male/female mix...best is an all male collection, with just one of each species that you keep, and avoid similar colourations.

 

[purpleangel]

Thank-you
Do you know of any websites that will let you order by sex?

That would be really great for myself and other's.

I'm sure of it.

Didn't finish reading the last of your post about where to try ordering.

 

[Coler]

Nope sorry.

 

[kay-bee]

Just to be clear - the cobalt blues are a problem only if you are doing the blue socolofi...no prob with the albino socolofi....avoid similar colourations.

I've not seen a cobalt blue zebra/blue socolofi problem in my 3 years of keeping both species in the same tank. They actually don't interact at all in my tank. But no two tanks are alike.

With the list you have provided...
PSEUDOTHROPH GRESHAKEI (actually metriaclima greshakei)
PSEUDOTROPHEUS SOCOLOFI
PSEUDOTROPHEUS AURORA (actually metriaclima aurora)
COBALT BLUE ZEBRA (metriaclima callainos)

....you may want to eliminate one or two of the metriaclima species, either the greshakei or aurora due to vaguely similar females and the aggression levels of each.

In a 55gal, I'd probably go with 4-5 socolofi's, and two of the above metriaclima species in groups of 4-5 as well , for a total of 12-15 cichlids.

 

[Coler]

I've not seen a cobalt blue zebra/blue socolofi problem in my 3 years of keeping both species in the same tank. They actually don't interact at all in my tank. But no two tanks are alike.

....

Fair enough - I should have said I was going on a but of advice given me, and some supposition based on colour.

 

[kay-bee]

That can be the case with very conspecific aggressive species (i.e., p. demasoni w/other vertically striped black/blue fish) or hyperdominant species (certain male melanochromis species w/other male melanochromis'), but socolofi's and cobalts don't usually fall in that catergory....usually...