I've been wanting to make my 55 gallon tank into an African Cichlid tank. I only had two fish in it for about a year, but now I finally decided to actually do something with it. I have two kribensis, a small golden shark, and a tinfoil barb. I know I'll have to move the kribs eventually, and I have a tank for them. Today at the pet store I purchased six baby Kenyi cichlids that are about an inch long. The lady that was working there told me I'll have to move the kribs, but the other two fish will be ok. I've had the tinfoil barb for about a year, and it's only about 5 inches long. I'm not sure if the shark will get any bigger, but do you have any suggestions on what I sould do with the other them? Also, it would be great if you could give me some suggestions on other species of Mbuna I should get. I was thinking a couple red-finned cichlids that I would have to order online, and they had some Pseudotropheus socolofi at the pet store that were pretty...Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!

This post has been edited by Hannah92: Jul 15 2007, 02:14 AM

You'll need to move all the fish but the kenyi's. While they may get along now, once the malawis reach sexual maturity they will most likely kill the shark and tinfoil barb.

As for tank mates, you'll want to aim for around 12-15 adults total, the p.socolofi should be fine, you may need to return multiple males with the kenyi's they are really aggressive and multiples will constantly fight, my suggestion would be to write down what your lfs carries, or what you can order, then research them, and post on here and we'll help with compatability.

Thank you sooo much!! I was planning on returning those two, after reading a bit more. I just thought they really wouldn't "mesh well" with the other fish. I was also looking into ordering some Labeotropheus trewavasae online, sinch the selection is so poor up here...what do you think about ordering online?

Will Johanni work? What about Melanochromis auratus?

This post has been edited by Hannah92: Jul 17 2007, 04:52 AM

I ordered most of my mbuna online, so I think its a good idea if you can't find what you want locally. Johannis are pretty boisterous, but so are kenyis and trewavasae, so you'll have a nice aggressive set up. I'd avoid the auratus though, they are extremely aggressive, and IMO should be kept in a species only tank.

Cool! Thanks for all your help!

Ooh what about some cobalt blue ones?

And yellow labs? Would they be alright, or are they not aggressive enough?

Or P. Demasoni?

One last thing, at our lfs, there were splotchy-looking things they called "orange mutts, and blue mutts." Does anyone know what they might have been?

From what I have seen (and I haven't seen everything) the "splotchy things" are usually some sort of peacock hybrid... which would have much different feeding requirements for a smaller tank.

The orange and blue blotched could have been peacocks or there are some mbuna that have that characteristic.
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=2316
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=2305
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=1694

IMO I would pick three species and have 1 male to 3-4 females for each, you're going to want to have plenty of females with the more aggressive species so an individual female isn't picked on a lot.

That said, cobalt blues (metriaclima callainos) would work, IME yellow labs (labidochromis caeruleus) are usually left alone by more aggressive speices, I would avoid p.demasoni, they can definately handle themselves, but they seem to be delicate health-wise, and I think would be better in a species only or demasoni/l.caerules tank.

Ok cool! Thanks sooo much for all your help!