How Many Mbuna In A 125gallon Tank

[kj23502]

The biggest tank I've ever had is a 29 gallon and recently i've acquired a 125 gallon. I've never had african cichlids before, but decided I would love to try the Mbuna group. I read the mbuna aquarium article and am now wondering how many fish I may keep and what kinds you'd reccomend. I'm going to run an Eheim 2028 canister filter that's rated for up to 159gallons. is this enough? I read that the space on the bottom of the aqarium is important so I'll let you know that it's 5 feet long by 18 inches front to back and 26 inches tall. I would like at least one genus/species that has blue, as blue is my favorite color! Any input is greatly appreciated!

 

[darrel69]

Well your tank size certainley gives you plenty of choice !! Im not to good with stocking at mo though. Also, i think you may need to have extra filteration along with your Eheim 2028, when your fully stocked, you'll need to turn your water over at least 10 times an hour. In your case, you'll need 2 or more filters that together turn over 1250gph. Mbuna are pretty messy fish...

Good luck

 

[caboose_122]

the filtration should be around 10x turn over so about 1250 gph like darrel69 said but more is better. i would go for 25 mbuna but dthoffsett or ferris would correct me on the amount of fish to put into it (there smarter then i am )

 

[kj23502]

thank you for the info. I'm now cosidering a fluval fx5, which cycles 900 gph. i'm nervous about the strength of such a pump, though. Would it turn my tank into a whirl pool, or have an effect like that?

 

[dthoffsett]

the filtration should be around 10x turn over so about 1250 gph like darrel69 said but more is better. i would go for 25 mbuna but dthoffsett or ferris would correct me on the amount of fish to put into it (there smarter then i am )

We're not smarter than you, just have a little more experience (Ferris' has far more experience than me).

thank you for the info. I'm now cosidering a fluval fx5, which cycles 900 gph. i'm nervous about the strength of such a pump, though. Would it turn my tank into a whirl pool, or have an effect like that?

The Fluval FX5 is an excellent filter and would work great on your tank. And IME mbuna are fine with current, the juvies might get a little blown around, but I think you can turn the current down a bit, or aim the output towards a corner to cut it down a bit.

I'm thinking you could aim for a total of 30-35 adults. In larger tanks like yours, I usually recommend keeping at least 1m/4-5f per species since you get more interesting behavior with larger groups. I'd avoid metriaclima lombardoi & any of the melanochromis species due to aggression. Other than that, you can keep pretty much what you want. Try going to your LFS and writing down all the names of the fish you like, then post on there and we can help more.

Oh, and if you like blue, and can get them locally, check out metriaclima callainos (commonly found as powder blue zebra, blue zebra, or cobalt zebra), although there are many blue mbuna, I really like this species.
<a href="http/www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=787" target="_blank">http/www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=787</a>

 

[kj23502]

OK, i bought a book...Back to Nature Guide to Malawi Cichlids by Ad Konings. It seems to be a pretty good book! There are soooo many fish in it!

The fish I like from it so far are...

Metriaclima Greshakei AKA Pseudotropheus Ice Blue
Labidochromis Caeruleus AKA Lab. Tanganicae, Lab. Yellow, Lab. White, Electric Yellow
Pseudotropheus Acei AKA Yellow Tail, Yellow Fin, White Tail
Pseudotropheus Crabro AKA Ps. Chameleo, Melanochromis Crabro
I also plan on a type of Synodontis catfish!(my husband likes the cats) I haven't researched the cats yet but heard this group may work well w/cichlids.


That's what i've picked so far....I'm willing to change my list if anyone sees one that won't be good. I'm not afraid to order from the internet, so I figured I might pick a bunch of fish and then see what I can get locally and from the internet and for what prices.

Another question...petsmart said they keep ALL their tanks a PH of 7, including their cichlids. Isn't that really bad? She said even their 90 gallon cichlid show tank is 7. If it would be alright to buy fish from this extremely low PH, how would I best be able to adjust them to about a PH of 8 without killing them?

I'm planning on putting 2 300 watt heaters in the aquarium. Would that be enough?

Thanks everyone for all your help....it's really great that their are people out there willing to help like this! This is a very awesome website!

 

[Ferris]

Some nice species you've picked out there.

I can see that mix working quite well together. The Crabro would almost certainly boss the tank but with Mbuna - 1 fish or 1 group will always do that anyway so nothing to worry about.

Crabro generally have a bad "rep" when it comes to aggression but i've kept several examples over the years and never experienced anything out of the ordinary. Yes they are aggressive but nothing like Melanochromis Auratus for example and are well-suited to an Mbuna community tank.

Most Mbuna are tank bred these days and will therefore survive even a neutral Ph. However IME if you want to see the best out of them - you should make every effort to replicate thier natural environment - a Ph of 8 - 8.2 and plenty of rockwork is ideal.

Check out the members aquarium pinned topic for pics and ideas.

 

[jgray152]

10 Cycles per hour? 1250 GPH? YIKES! Thats a bit much. Maybe if your filter had a surface area the size of a sode can.

The Fx5's PUMP output is 900+ GPH. Thats not the FILTER output. Its more around 550GPH which is more than enough for a 125 gallon tank.

Mbunas do not come from a river or stream. Their natural water current is almost nothing. If you have to much circulation you will stress the fish.

I have a Fx5 on my 55, if I allow the filter to flow at max flow, the fish get pushed around like a whirl pool. This would be 10x the tank size. 55 gallon, 550 gph. A little to much.

2-3 times the aquarium size is better.

 

[Ferris]

2-3 times the aquarium size is better.

Only for general community tanks i'm afraid - the issue here is not flow but biological and mechanical filtration. 10 x tank volume per hour is the norm for Mbuna tanks due to the heavy stocking and the subsequent waste produced.

2 or 3 times tank volume in an established adult Mbuna tank is nowhere near enough and will lead to major problems.

My 150 gallon (not an Mbuna tank) has approx 1200GPH filtration turnover and all the flow is directed at the surface of the water to aid aeration. The output from the filters themselves (3) is not that stronng and they are all on full pelt. My Mbuna tank has a turnover of 12 x tank volume (65Gal - 3 filters) and again, the filter output is no problem. I suspect the ouput from 3 medium sized filters is less obvious than 1 large one.

 

[jgray152]

If you have enough surface area, you won't need that much flow. That is just insain.

 

[Ferris]

If you have enough surface area, you won't need that much flow. That is just insain.

Absolutely agree - this has nothing to do with flow, that's the point. A high turnover of tank volume has absolutely nothing to do with water flow.

 

[jgray152]

I see your point.

2-3 does seem low for over stocked mbuna tank and mine is more around 5-6 cylces per hour. I need a flow meter to be sure. Still, 10 cycles per hour seems like to much unless you are able to disturb the current in the tank so the fish don't get pushed around by the water flow.

 

[Ferris]

Still, 10 cycles per hour seems like to much unless you are able to disturb the current in the tank so the fish don't get pushed around by the water flow.

I think that's where the brand/type of filter makes a difference - most filters, even big ones have a very moderate output. My Fluval 305/405 and Eheim Pro 2 2028 for example certainly won't blast fish around the tank (well maybe neons ), the only filter that springs to mind that might do that is an FX5 on a smallish tank. There are also several outlet options like spray bars which diffuse the flow without reducing the filtration.

 

[kj23502]

I think that's where the brand/type of filter makes a difference - most filters, even big ones have a very moderate output. My Fluval 305/405 and Eheim Pro 2 2028 for example certainly won't blast fish around the tank (well maybe neons ), the only filter that springs to mind that might do that is an FX5 on a smallish tank. There are also several outlet options like spray bars which diffuse the flow without reducing the filtration.

I can get 2 Eheim pro II 2028's for half price....but they are previously used and were used for saltwater. would they be alright? it's from my brother in law (not someone that I don't know).

 

[Ferris]

I'd go for it - they are fantastic filters. I'd have pro II's all round if they weren't so expensive.