75gal tank stock

[ruyuna]

Alright, so we've upgraded our tank. We have a Penn-Plax Cascade 1500 as our filtration with spray bar. 2 bubble bars and a ton of rock/plants for the fish to hide/sleep in etc.
The question now is stock, we've done some research, changed our plan a few times, but found somewhere that we can buy juvenile cichlids from and have come up with this new stock plan. Each fish we have selected prefer 1 male to several females so we're thinking 1m to 3f of each, totaling a full 16 cichlids. Could I please get some feedback about how everything thinks this would do, or if you have experience with some of the groups together. We will also have a bristlenose pleco and redtail shark in the tank.

• Yellow Lab aka Electric Yellow - Labidichromis caeruleus
• Rusty - lodotropheus Sprengerae
• Lupingu Ivory Mloto - copasichromis trewavasae
• OB Peacock

 

[Colin_T]

What are the tank dimensions (length x width x height)?

What is the GH (general hardness), KH (carbonate hardness) and pH of your water supply?
This information can usually be obtained from your water supply company's website (Water Analysis Report) or by telephoning them. If they can't help you, take a glass full of tap water to the local pet shop and get them to test it for you. Write the results down (in numbers) when they do the tests. And ask them what the results are in (eg: ppm, dGH, or something else).

 

[ruyuna]

48x18x21 75gal

The water information I can have for you tomorrow when we get our test kit

 

[Wills]

Hi this sounds interesting and glad you are planning ahead

In Malawi tanks there are two main groups Mbuna and Peacocks/Haps and as a general rule its best not to mix them. Mbuna fry and the prey of Pecocks and Haps in the wild so it often leads to conflict, Mbuna are often more aggressive than Peacocks too as their development to live in the rocks makes them a bit more robust and often live in very close proximity. Peacocks and Haps are more open water fish so need the swimming space in our tanks rather than the built up rock scapes we do for Mbuna. The two groups also have quite different diets with Mbuna being 100% herbivorous and Peacocks/Haps being omnivorous (eating small fish, fry, insects and plant matter) - when the two groups get mixed in tanks the Mbuna typically get a disease called Malawi bloat as their gut can't deal with the higher protein diet that the Peacocks need and without the higher protein diet the Peacocks wont grow as well.

On your list you have 2 Mbuna species (Yellow Labs and Rusties) and your OB is a Peacock and the Copasichromis Trewavasae is a type of Hap (or Haplochromis) so I would probably consider choosing between the two groups and they way forward I'd go is to have 4 groups of Mbuna in the sort of numbers you were planning or go for an all male Peacock and Hap tank where you select just males of each species and have about 12 specimens in your 75 gallon tank.

For the Mbuna route I'd go with the Yellow Labs and Rusties that you've already planned and add to a group of Yellow Fin Acei and a group of Maingaino. I'd do groups of 1 male with 4-5 females of each group but I'd do a group of 1 male with 7 females of the Maingano as they are a bit more aggressive and more females will distract the male more. I'd also consider getting a group of Synodontis Petricola (or similar black and white syno) to help keep on top of fry and eggs in the tank (unless you specifically want to breed). I'd avoid the red tail shark as they wont do well in the hard water you need for the Malawis, the Bristlenose Plecos fit in the same group - though a lot of people do use them for algae clean up but a better choice would be a Bulldog or Rubberlip Pleco as they thrive in more alkaline and harder water but... personally I wouldnt put a pleco in with Malawi, I'm not planning to do it my tank. I think the Malawi will probably be too rough on them. Plus if you keep just Mbuna they will do a pretty good job of keeping on top of the algae as thats what they eat in the wild.

Wills