Potential Mbuna Stock List

[sarahw20000]

Hi i'm new to cichlids and am considering a malawi setup.

I've got a juwel rio 180 which i think is approx 45 us gallons, it's got the filter it comes with and an external filter aswell. My PH is around 8.2 and i don't know exactly what my GH is but i know my water's pretty hard.

I've done a bit of research and i came up with a list of ones i'd like but could you tell me if they're compatible and how many of each i could have?

Labidochromis (Yellow lab)
Iodotropheus Sprengerae (Rusty)
Maylandia / Metriachima estherae(Red Zebra)
Pseudotropheus Socolofi (Powder blue)
Pseudotropheus Demosomi

Thanks!

 

[Ferris]

All good choices but as much as it pains me to say it, i'd drop the Demasoni. They are extremely aggressive and whilst the red zebra's and maybe socolofi may cope with this, i doubt the labs and sperengerae would.

In a 45 gal, i would go with 3 of the other species and have 3 (or 4 max) of each, preferably just 1 male of each species.

Alternativiely you go with 2 species and have 5 or 6 of each. Labs and Sperengerae would be the safest options but any of the other combinations should also be fine.

Hope this helps

 

[sarahw20000]

Thats a shame, i really liked the look of them, the only reason i listed the demasoni was because the website i looked at said they weren't that aggressive and might even get bullied if in with the more aggressive ones.

The others are cool though, would it be possible to have
3 yellow labs (1 male 2 female)
3 Rusty's (1 male 2 female)
2 socolofi (2 female)
3 Red Zebra (1 male 2 female)

that way i've got 3 yellow,3 brown/orange, 3 blue and 2 orange, nice bright mixture!

 

[Ferris]

Yep sounds good, you'd be on the maximum stocking wise but OK if ensure you have plenty of filtration. I'd ignore the website you found by the way, if it says Demasoni are not aggressive....i'd look elsewhere.

 

[sarahw20000]

Ooh would it be possible to add to that my bristlenose or is that too many? If so i'll get rid of the male rusty.

Thanks

 

[Ferris]

No problem with the BN, a nice tank needs a bottom feeder and BN's normally work well with Mbuna. . I run 2 filters on my Mbuna tank just to be on the safe side. I have a Fluval +4, which should be enough on its own but I added a +2 aswell to make sure i am over-filtered.

 

[sarahw20000]

Yay, now all i have to do is wait untill we have enough money to buy the vision 450 for my blokes piranha's so that i can have his tank! (that could take some time, it's £625!)

 

[Ferris]

Not cheap but a nice tank! Good luck with it.

 

[sarahw20000]

Do you know of any the same size or bigger that would be cheaper? The only reason we thought of Juwel is coz thats the biggest one i've seen in any of my lfs's and i like the modern wood look

 

[Ferris]

There are lots of other options like Rena for example but for a tank that size you will pay a lot. I'd check out the prices for your tank online though, you could save a bit that way.