Mbuna & Haps

[rl1oyd]

I have a relatively large tank by most people's standards. 5ft, 85 UK gallons.
At the moment I only have a mix off 9 mbuna.
Obviously im after some more, the shop were I get them from are very knowledgeable and have been breeding and selling mbuna for 20 year.
Some of the fish are fighting (as they do) and they have suggested when I put some more in to put in a couple of the bigger open water species (are these Haps?)
To distract the little vicious ones.
I was wondering if anyone has this combination and what it is like (more chilled out?)
Cheers Guys.

 

[freddyk]

The best way to control aggression among mbuna is to add more of them. Load 'er up! In a tank this size you can have all sorts of species and lots of females in the harems. Mbuna are aggressive--sometimes downright nasty, and this can't be changed. In a crowded tank there are more targets for the fierce guys, and the targets can quickly 'get lost in the crowd'. Essentially we're not reducing aggression, but we are reducing damage and stress.

With haps in the tank, there's no room to overcrowd the mbuna, and in my experience they'll mostly ignore each other. There are other issues too.

Check this out.

The clear warning against the combo is good advice, but there are always exceptions to the rule. Check out the two charts indicating their diet. Larger haps labeled 'micro-preditor' will generally do well with the mbuna labeled 'omnivorous'. The cynotilapia will probably prove too aggressive for the lower stocking levels though.

 

[rl1oyd]

Cheers for takin the time to reply.
Thing is id already bought them after id read it.
Now iv got £200 of chaos
All my mbuna are atacking my haps, not nice!
One of my haps Livingstoni, has eaten a Yellow lab for its breakfast?
Any advice? Thought maybe i should move the rocks around that the mbuna have set up home in? Or would this make it worse?
Cheers

 

[freddyk]

Take them back - it's really the only solution. If they refuse, explain how you received poor advice. If they want your business they won't give you a hard time. Unless the hap was large and the lab very small, the lab was probably dead before the hap dove into it.

 

[Talleyrand]

I purchased a Livingstoni on a whim as I thought it looked cool. It managed to grow nearly twice as large as its tankmates in an incredibly short period of time. After it consumed two mbuna from my tank I managed to pass it off on an unsuspecting friend.
Also, more females might reduce the tension level, but from experience many(most?) mbuna can be terribly hard to sex and the people who work at my lfs seem unable to tell any better than I can.