Stocking For A 55G Mbuna

[Yosef]

I'm setting up an aquarium at school, and since my water comes out at about 7.9 pH, a mbuna tank seems like it would need the least maintenance but still be visually stunning. I have over 4 years of FW planted and SW experience under my belt, but I've never tried rift lake cichlids before. I was planning on getting a 55g tank and stocking it with Labidochromis caeruleus and Pseudotropheus acei to about 10 fish total. Will this work? Are there any other hardy mbuna that would work well in this setup? What about synodontis? I'd love to hear any other tips you guys have or stocking advice.
Thanks!

 

[HappyGeorge]

Well you've already indentified 2 nice fish, lots of others that would sit nicely with those. Im sure you already know the sort of things to avoid stuff like auratus. Pseudotropheus socolofi is a lovely fish as are Labidochromis Perlmutt (although never seen a photo that did them justice, they are very pale mother of pearl colours). I have single specimens of Pseudo Crabro and Pseudo Demasoni in my tank with no aggression from them at all. My only aggressive fish is a Cyno Red Top Afra.

As for Synos, best bet is generally considered a group of Syno Multiplunctus I have 6 in my 100G and they're not too shy, they come out to feed, hold their own if bullied and come out to swim together in the current from my powerhead, beautiful creatures.

 

[Yosef]

Ok, how about this:
4 Synodontis Multiplunctus
4 each (1 male, 3 female) of two of the following (but not with both Labs):
Labidochromis caeruleus
Pseudotropheus acei
Pseudotropheus socolofi
Labidochromis Perlmutt

That sound good in a 55g? Remember, I want this to be as easy as possible to keep because it's at school, so overstocking/crowding would be bad.

 

[HappyGeorge]

Looks ok to me, but good luck sexing that accurately, sexing is not so important with the Caerulius and in my experience the Perlmutt, so unless you're desperate to avoid/promote breeding I don't think aggression is a problem.

 

[Yosef]

Ok great, thanks! I might just cut out the synos and have two species of 5-6 each, IMO less species with more numbers looks more visually appealing and also brings out their behavior more.

 

[HappyGeorge]

Personally I would keep the Synos in the mix, they add variety and as I understand it they don't add as much to the bio load as other fish

 

[Yosef]

Ok. I'm leaning towards 4 each of synodontis sp., L. caeruleus, and P. acei. How can I make sure that the labs are getting the meats that they need, while the pseudos get their veggies and the synos have their share of food too? I was going to feed sinking wafers for the synos, veggie and meat staple foods for the cichlids and supplement with some live foods and lettuce. Will the pseudos only eat the veggies, while the labs will only eat the meaty food? It wouldn't be too good if the pseudos ate too much meat and they all got constipated.

 

[synodontismultipunctatus]

Personally I would keep the Synos in the mix, they add variety and as I understand it they don't add as much to the bio load as other fish

yep synodontis multipunctatus are a brilliant scavenger and dont contribut much

othe cichlids you may want to conside that i think are stunning

pseudotropheus flavus

pseudotropheus elongatus mpanga

pseudotropheus lombardoi

my labidochromis do fine on cichlid staple form hikari... i would worry too much about live food as usualy chaos insues and the pseudos eat it all aswell.. its not the best thing for them .. i mix it up with veggie flakes from jbl its just called novo malawi pretty good stuff...
i feed my synos tetra tabimin without problems