Can I Keep Labs? Or Other Mbuna's?

[shadowspar]

i have a empty 30g it seems small but the length is 3ft. so it would give more swimming room. so i was wondering if i could keep labs or any other mbuna cichlids? i want to keep the common africans from lake malawi and always had my eyes on yellow labs.

 

[rocknurworld2006]

i have a empty 30g it seems small but the length is 3ft. so it would give more swimming room. so i was wondering if i could keep labs or any other mbuna cichlids? i want to keep the common africans from lake malawi and always had my eyes on yellow labs.

u could keep caraeleus yes, but 3foot isnt really good for most malawis, really 4footminimum, but caraeleus would be fine.

 

[Ace Of Spades]

I wouldnt really keep a group of Labs in a 30g IMO, 40G minimum. Even though they may be docile by mbuna standards they can get very agressive and 30g just dosent cut it in my opinion. HTH

Ace

 

[darrel69]

What about some small tangs or shellies from Lake Tanganyika ?... they would live in there quite happily

 

[kj23502]

I use a 29 gallon 30" tank for a QT tank and my labs still had a good amount of bad squabbles. Adding 6" won't be enough, imo.

 

[dthoffsett]

i have a empty 30g it seems small but the length is 3ft. so it would give more swimming room. so i was wondering if i could keep labs or any other mbuna cichlids? i want to keep the common africans from lake malawi and always had my eyes on yellow labs.

u could keep caraeleus yes, but 3foot isnt really good for most malawis, really 4footminimum, but caraeleus would be fine.

Been there done that, didn't get a t-shirt, the nasty little buggers shredded it.


















Seriously, I tried labs (labidochromis caeruleus) in a 3ft tank when I started keeping mbuna, all but 3 were killed. The 1m/2f had a couple of successful broods, but juveniles were killed once they reached about an inch, and the 2 females were pretty tattered and constantly holding, which isn't too healthy. Not too surprising, once I upgraded to a 75gal, the former terrors became very docile and were at the bottom of the pecking order.

Your tank would be perfect for smaller tanks as mentioned by darrel.