New Mbuna tank - stocking

SouthernCross

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After nearly ten years of SA/CA took the plunge and changed over to mbuna!

Tank is 4x2x2 or about 450 liters and hasnā€™t 2x Fluval 305s on it.
Is loaded up with some great pieces of holey rock
Got a mariglo blue/white marine light to make the colours pop.

I loved the idea of just a few contrasting colours.

So far I have
3x clown loaches (long term veterans of my old tank couldnā€™t bear to give them up they keep the top layer of the sand kicked up too)
10x yellow labs
10x cobalt blues
6x demasoni and Iā€™m getting another 6 next week to give 12 total.

That gives me 32 mbuna.

They are quite shy during the day and only out and about during the evening so I was thinking about adding some acei as I head they encourage everyone out and also fit with my yellow blue theme.

Although sometimes I wonder if I need another colour contrast in there and Iā€™m open to suggestions
Although I do realise I might be pushing my tank limits once these fish mature.
Auratus would awesome but I realise Iā€™m probably signing a death warrant for the other fish if I try to do that...

Just looking for some thoughts/suggestions!

Thanks

Tried to upload some photos but server canā€™t cope with them
 
Figured it out!
 

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What is the GH (general hardness), KH (carbonate hardness) and pH of your water supply?
This information can usually be obtained from your water supply company's website or by telephoning them. If they can't help you, take a glass full of tap water to the local pet shop and get them to test it for you. Write the results down (in numbers) when they do the tests. And ask them what the results are in (eg: ppm, dGH, or something else).

Rift Lake cichlids need hard water with a GH over 300ppm.
Clown loaches come from soft water with a GH below 150ppm.
Having them in the same tank is going to shorten the life of one of those groups of fish. If the water is too hard the loaches won't do as well. If the water is too soft the cichlids won't do that well.

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Electric blue zebras can get nasty when they mature so you will need to monitor them as they grow.

You could add peacock cichlids (Aulonocara sp) and they would give you blue males and grey females, and they would hang about in mid water rather than near the bottom like the Mbuna do.
 

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