Tank Cycling

[fishboytoo]

Hi
My 90 gallon tank is now cycling and I'm making up my wish list of mbunas. I don't know if all of them are available at the LFS but I know they have a good assortment. I gather, from different sources, that about 24 fish should be good for this size tank.

I have five species picked out:
P. acei
P. saulosi
L. fuelleborni (there seem to be multiple sub-species so I'm not sure which one(s) I can get)
L. caeruleus
Metriaclima sp. "zebra blue"

Is there anything wrong with this assortment together in a tank? I was thinking five of each species. I may end up going with 6 of four species. Do you think this would make for an attractive mix? This tank is in my living room, so I want it to have a WOW factor.

I was hoping to introduce them in smaller batches, say one species at a time, to spread out the cost. I know this is not ideal, but how bad would it be to do it this way? I suppose I could do it two batches if I really need to.

Also, I'm planning on putting some extra valisneria in the tank. Is this going to be a quick salad bar for these guys or will it just be uprooted constantly?

Thanks in advance for your advice.
FB2

 

[mamafish68]

keep in mind that some cross breeding can and will happen if not thought out and your choices are prime for it.

 

[fishboytoo]

keep in mind that some cross breeding can and will happen if not thought out and your choices are prime for it.

Thanks Mama
I assume you mean between the two Pseudotropheus and the two Labeotropheus? Do you have any other recommendations/substitutions in place of one of each of them. Do I need to only have one species from a genus?
BTW, why is this bad? Wouldn't I just have possibly very nice combinations of the two species as offspring?

I promise to still love them, even if they're different.

As to the whole breeding notion, I absolutely do not have anymore room for a grow out tank so any fry would have to make it in the same tank as the adults. Given this, will I have many surviving? I haven't really given much thought to this aspect. I know a small LFS that I can give fish to, it's kind of like a retirement home for fish. They will take in fish that they can't/won't ever sell. I assume they would take cross breeds also. Is the whole cross-breed notion frowned upon, in general? I really don't know if this violates some type of etiquette or something, please tell me.

FB2

 

[freddyk]

two Pseudotropheus and the two Labeotropheus

Acei and Saulosi are very different so as long as you provide females for both they won't crossbreed. You don't have two labeotropheus, caerueus is Labidochromis.

My only warning to you is that labeotropheus are large and very aggressive and could causey you problems.

The only problem with crossbreeds is if you release the fry into the industry - it ruins the lines of Malawis available to those aquarist who enjoy pure fish.

 

[fishboytoo]

Hi Freddyk

The profile I was looking at (cichlid-forum)says a max size of 7", is this too big do you think? If the others are 5", it doesn't seem like that big of a difference to me but I am the noob here.

Are you saying that any Labeotropheus is too agressive for the other species mentioned? I was also looking at L. trewavasae as a candidate. I see that its characteristics are very close to the fuelleborni. Would you have any recommendations for compatible species for the other four I listed? Or alternatively some species that would work with the Labeotropheus. I think I actually like them the best.

Thanks for informing me about the cross-breeding. I would certainly not want to pollute any lines for other people.

Labidochromis, Labeotropheus.... oops )
Why can't they make those names less similar? Confounded scientific nomenclature, we meet again.

Thanks

 

[Exiled]

I agree with what FreddyK wrote. I currently have this problem with my Labeotropheus fuelleborni constantly harrassing my one female saulosi and my female(s) Maylandia callainos (aka Metriaclima zebra "blue".....aka Pseudotropheus zebra "cobalt")

 

[fishboytoo]

So is it just fuelleborni that's not suitable with saulosi, acei, and caeruleus or any Labeotropheus?

 

[freddyk]

Pretty much. The rest of the fish would go in a tank that might be considred 'mildly aggressive'. while the Fuelleborni would really go in a tank that would be considered 'very aggressive'.

 

[fishboytoo]

Okay, concensus says fuelleborni is out.

What do you think of L. trewavasae instead? Is it also too aggressive?

 

[freddyk]

You'd be safest to stay away from labeotropheus altogether in this set-up.

 

[fishboytoo]

I was afraid you'd say that.

I'm slightly dissappointed but I'd rather do what's best for the long term stability/health of the tank and fish.

Thanks for your advice.

 

[fishboytoo]

Okay, The tank is cycled!

I am going to buy fish tomorrow. This is what I'd like to end up with.

5 Pseudotropheus acei
5 Iodotropheus sprengerae
5 Labidochromis caeruleus
5 Pseudotropheus saulosi
5 Metriaclima sp. - i don't know what's available for sure but there are three varieties i like:
"maisoni reef", "zebra gold breast orange", and "yellow belly"
I found these three on google, the rest from cichlid-forum.com.

Does this selection get the nod?

I was thinking of getting them in two batches, 10 at first then add the last 15. Is this unwise?

Are these numbers appropriate-five of each and 25 in total?

Anything else I need to know?