Adding juvies to established mbuna tank.

[jaimoe]

I currently have a 75 gallon Mbuna tank with 9 nearly full sized Mbunas(between 3-5") and 1 syndontis catfish(6"). I also have a juvie growout tank, which is 30 gallons, which also has 9 juvie Mbunas(1 1/2 to 2 1/2") and 1 juvie syndontis(2"). Right now I have the whole bottom of my 75 gallon set up with alot of caves anhd territories are firmly established. Is there any way the adult mbunas and the juvies could live together in relative harmony? I was thinking of re-arranging the existing rockwork, and adding an extra layer on top, so the cave set up would be both horizontal and vertical. If I added the extra rockwork, would my juvies have a chance of surviving in the larger tank?

 

[Ferris]

I actually found that adding Juveniles was the only way to add fish to an existing Mbuna tank. I tried a full grown Aulonacara and a Venustus, both of which were attacked and had to be returned immediately. Since then I've added 3 juvenile Mbuna with no problems because the others don't see them as a threat. They show a bit of interest at first but soon leave them alone. Of course, I may have been lucky, there's no guarantee with Mbuna.

 

[freddyk]

I agree, adding juveniles would be less 'threatening' to the adults, and adding them in numbers (all 9 at once) there won't be any one new individual to pick on. In addition you can throw them off by adding them in the middle of the night, when they're all asleep. I don't know how you have your tank set up, but the juvi's will likely try to stay near the bottom anyway. The more small hiding spots (the heavier the rockscaping, including smaller rocks) the better they'll do, and the smallest rocks are best on the bottom.

 

[jaimoe]

Thanks for the advice guys! I added the juvies to the 75 gallon on Saturday and it went well. I put a blanket over the tank and left it dark for a day. Didn't lose one fish. Even the little demasoni which is barely 1 1/2" long hasn't been messed with! Now a few days later the smaller fish are starting to establish their own territories.

 

[Angry_Platy]

Well I had juvies and added adult peacocks to the tank...the EYs were bossy for a few days but then calmed down

 

[G_Sharky]

the same goes for my mbuna's as they would pick on the new guys especially my afra for a few days and calmed down. I just added 4 new tankmates and the only one that's doing all the chasing is my red shoulder peacock and the afra....there's 4 fish so one can't be isolated and get all the harasssment...so it's better to add a big group of fish on an establish mbuna tank....

 

[Ferris]

Jaimoe,

Glad to hear that things went well, its always a worry adding new fish to an agressive tank, especially Mbuna.