hmmm any help??

[nightlife20]

my lfs has got some mubuna... they arnt named well apart from being called mabuna.


i have a 36x18x15 tank and im interested in cichlids... but iv no idea where to start.

the tank is sand substrate couple of oxygenation plants... and 4 light dusky pink large rocks in... oh an one peice of driftwood (wich i understand would have to be taken out?) iv got dannios in there at the moment (3) just to help cycling.


would i be able to have mubuna's? the danios wouldnt be left in there.. but i would be havin a plec.. is that ok?




gimmie all the info u got!

 

[gixer]

that would be a bare minimum for mbuna really but you could manage a few. and you can have an excuse then to buy a bigger tank

depending on the plants they probarbly wouldn't last too long at all..would make a nice snack

i'm always dubious about buying fish from tanks labled 'mbuna' or mixed malawis etc.. they are usually so far interbred that they cant really sell them as anything else.. thats just the case in a lot of lfs round here..it maybe different where you are, but be careful

whats you ph at the moment? what filtration do you have?

 

[nightlife20]

at the moment i have a ph range of 7.5 ( its always been the same no matter how much driftwood i add)

and iv only got a small amount of filtration... but im havin a new filter for the 46 so the one off the 46 will go onto my 3ft


i know what u mean, this lfs where i saw them is iffy anyways... its got ballon mollys labled as large fighters, when i pointed it out he told me that he was correct they are large indonisian (india my spellin crap) fighters.

to wich i walked out

 

[gixer]

lots of rockwork and some coral sand would easily make you water ideal.

seen nything that catches your eye so far? (fish i mean) you could keep about 10 with decent filtration with loads of water changes.

tell us what you like and will try and recomend tank mates for you.

 

[nightlife20]

well i like the looks of kribs.. and i like these electric blue color ones like what fm has got.... blue and black it is


also like fronts as well


i havnt realy thought this out have i???

i mean what could i have in there? i want somthin colorfull but not realy aggressive....

i was gonna convert it into a fully plants (cant see substrate) angle tank.. like the one i saw in staply water gardens.. looked realy nice... but then iv changed my mind again.

 

[gixer]

lol no you havent... reaserch a lot first would be my advice (like you are doing now is a good start)

kribs. even though they are an african cichlid they are not rift lake cichlids, ie. Victoria, Tanganyika or Malawi. Not really compatable with mbuna...infact deffinatly not compatible..sorry.

if you want to go with mbuna...stick with mbuna species (lake malawi)

.. i dont know what 'fm' has so i cant comment.. fronts are not mbuna either they are from lake Tanganyika. they would aslo be too big for a 3 footer.

the powder blue you mentioned are Pseudotropheus Socolofi. lovely fish.. if thats what you want you could also keep red zebras (Pseudotropheus estherae or Pseudotropheus zebra) and maybe some yellow labs (Labidochromis caeruleus)

just a suggestion...have a look and see if your interested.

that would look lovely IMO and great beginner africans

 

[nightlife20]

thanks gixer you have been a great help, ill defo look into that





*edit* looked into it and i like all of these

Copadichromis borleyi
Dimidichromis compressiceps
Iodotropheus sprengerae
Labidochromis caeruleus
Melanochromis auratus
Melanochromis chipokae
Melanochromis sp.
Maylandia/Metriaclima crabro
Maylandia/Metriaclima estherae
Maylandia/Metriaclima lombardoi
Pseudotropheus acei
Pseudotropheus daktari
Pseudotropheus demasoni
Pseudotropheus saulosi
Pseudotropheus socolofi

 

[gixer]

dont forget its only a small tank. i would say you could get away with 3 trios.

a lot of what you mentioned are pretty aggressive.

you did mention the ones i suggested so i would recomend a trio of pseudotropheus socolofi, pseudotropheus estherae and labidochromis caeruleus taking into account you said you wanted colour and ones that are not overly agressive.

that should work ok. they are all pretty good beginner mbuna

try to add them all at the same time if you can...if not add the yellow labs first.