I posted a while back about my mom's restaurant fishtank woes (http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=196029) and this is a continuation. Long story short, she's trying to make things work for all of her fish (part attachment, part lack of convenient way to rehome them-over 2 hours from any store that will take them and the restaurant just opened so there's no time for the trip in the forseeable future)...the S.A. cichlids are keeping the 135 behind the bar, and we're setting up a new tank in the back dining area for the Africans. Big issue is lack of space...she has exactly 3' of wallspace she can dedicate to this and I've read that mbuna do way better with 4'...so we're trying to do the best we can. I picked up an awesomely cheap, clean, complete 46 gallon bowfront setup from craigslist and drove it down. I have access to as much free slate and lava rock as I feel like picking up off the ground, so creating caves/territories will be easy...it's the stocking that has me concerned in such tight quarters.
We're starting off with the two she currently has, identified in the original thread as an OB zebra (Metriaclima estherae(OB)) and a yellow lab (Labidochromis Caeruleus). From what I've been reading (and seeing in her tank already) is the lab is a pretty mellow fsh, and the zebra (Mom calls him "Hatchet-head") is a bully, and it would really be better for us if she hadn't picked him up....but she did. We talked about buying 4-5 more labs and 4-5 more zebras, but I think the labs would get wooped on. So I'm thinking/hoping if we get 4-5 more labs and 5-6 of a compatible, relatively peaceful mbuna, and just keep the zebra as the oddman out his terrorizing will be kept to a minimum/disbursed enough to not be an issue...so 10-12 relatively non-aggressive fish plus Hatchet-head would be the complete stock. I know it's not ideal...but we are really way out in the boonies, we're talking an hour drive just to hit a store that sells fishfood, and there's no room for a longer tank. I could really use a few suggestions on what that compatible mbuna would be....preferably in a non-yellow color and as common as possible to make finding them easy as possible in this fish-impoverished area. Any help/input with this will be really appreciated. Thanks!
We're starting off with the two she currently has, identified in the original thread as an OB zebra (Metriaclima estherae(OB)) and a yellow lab (Labidochromis Caeruleus). From what I've been reading (and seeing in her tank already) is the lab is a pretty mellow fsh, and the zebra (Mom calls him "Hatchet-head") is a bully, and it would really be better for us if she hadn't picked him up....but she did. We talked about buying 4-5 more labs and 4-5 more zebras, but I think the labs would get wooped on. So I'm thinking/hoping if we get 4-5 more labs and 5-6 of a compatible, relatively peaceful mbuna, and just keep the zebra as the oddman out his terrorizing will be kept to a minimum/disbursed enough to not be an issue...so 10-12 relatively non-aggressive fish plus Hatchet-head would be the complete stock. I know it's not ideal...but we are really way out in the boonies, we're talking an hour drive just to hit a store that sells fishfood, and there's no room for a longer tank. I could really use a few suggestions on what that compatible mbuna would be....preferably in a non-yellow color and as common as possible to make finding them easy as possible in this fish-impoverished area. Any help/input with this will be really appreciated. Thanks!
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