Anyone Have An All Male Mbuna Tank?

[Stoty]

Hi,

I currently have a new 60 gallon mbuna tank up and running for a little over 2 weeks. I have 9 juvis (4 generic blue zebras, 2 yellow labs, 2 red zebras, 1 hongi(i think, or possibly a beautiful hybrid of some sort). Kind of a weird selection but i bought what the lfs had in stock and figured i'd build upon it in the weeks to come. I later learned that i shouldnt have reds and blues together. I originally wanted to go all male but i figured it would cost a lot of money going through fish. Then i figured i would have to go through more fish and money to get the proper ratios of 3 species i havent even decided on, so now im back to the male idea. I have been having leveling issues with my tank so i am going to drain it within the next few days and get it taken care of. While im at it i am also going to try and sex the fish by looking at the bottoms of them and see what i got going on. They are 1 - 2 1/2 inches long. I know i probably wont be able to tell with all of them. I already know a few are certainly male, such as the king of my tank (blue zebra).

Any advice,suggestions, or ideas? How many of you have all male mbuna setups? My tank is 4ft long. How many males do you think i could have in there? This is my first mbuna tank. I have been doing research for months but there is still much to learn. Also, bristle nose plecs and sydontis cats are impossible for me to find and do not interest me in the least. I would like to put in a RTBS instead. (a small one once the mbuna get bigger). Has anyone ever done that?

Thanks.

Click image to see video.

 

[rifty]

all male mbuna would seem to be a good idea but i would be concerned with the levels of agression also some may not colour up like an all hap tank. plus buying definate males from lfs would be hard as im assuming they only sell small fish
i would go for big groups of the same type of fish that give great contrast such and yellow labs both m and f look good demonsoni the same acei yrllow tail or saulosi males blue striped females yellow

 

[markandhisfish]

i know of a couple of people on a specialist rift cichlid forum with all male mbuna tanks but i dont think it works as well as an all male peacock tank . male peacocks will colour up regardless of wether or not females are present where as some mbuna may not . also mbuna by nature are more territorial/agressive and imo providing females will give the males , especially the dominant one another distraction to "keep him busy". imo if you want to do an all male tank , peacocks would be a better choice. but even that is not without its problems .

an article about all male tanks

http/www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/all-male_malawi.php

 

[Stoty]

Thanks yall. I've read that article before in the past. I can get bigger mbuna but i would rather not at this point. If i add a 3"+ male to my tank i might end up with some dead juvis. If i do groups i would def keep the yellow labs and blue zebras. Saulosi are real nice but impossible for me to find. I like them because the male and females are two diff colors. Any other fish like that besides kenyi? I think my tank is too small for a group aceis.

 

[Sawdoc]

wish i had all males my cichlids tank due to they breed like hell every 3/4 weeks am getting 30/40 fry and although nature does take place i still have many little uns in tank hiding in rocks but will have to find them a home soon as too many really.