New Mbuna Tank

[Lady10Godiva]

I am going to start fishless cycling tomorrow for mbuna cichlids. The tank is somewhere between 70 and 75 gallons and I will be running a fluval 405 and an aquaclear 70 on it.

I have been looking at 75 gallon setups andre is a big difference in number of fish suggested.

one is 10 yellow lab, 8 johanni, and 10 cobalt zebra. Another is 8 yellow tailed acei and 10 yellow lab. The one we like the best is 4 johanni, 4 cobalt zebra, 4 bumblebee, and 4 yellow lab.

The tank is only 42 " long but is 20 " front to back.

We dont want haps or peacocks. my husband likes the auratus, but from what I have found you cant keep them with the johanni...and I dont want an all yellow tank. I dont know if I am overthinking this or not.

The setup will also have about 22 medium and large cichlid stones and 1 giant. I have black sand substrate.

[Old Marine]

Welcome to the World of Mbunas, I just love them , I have a 75 gallon with 6-Yellow Labs, 6-Yellowtail Aceis and 6 Orange Zebras They get along as best as Mbunas can, They will still get after each other once in a while. I have had 3 of the five Female Yellow Labs spawn allready, and just set up a 75 gallon grow out tank. They are fun and exciting to watch. Good luck and i hope you will share some pictures with us.

[junkers12]

In your 75 gallon tank remember to slightly over stock if you are going to have johanis in it they can get fairly aggresive, same with the bumble bees I have seen a few fish get into it with the bumble bees. In my 90 gallon I have around 50 fish in it now and I am a little overstocked and the aggression can now be spread out instead of one fish getting the brunt of the abuse. So in your 75 gallon you should be able to keep around 35 to 40 fish in it. Put lots of hiding places for the fish too. To have the Haps in a tank that size will reduce the numbers of fish you can have in the 75 gallon.
In my 90 gallon I have yellow labs, bumble bees, colbalt blues, blue dolphin, yellow tailed aceis, red zebras, white socofi, ice blue aceis this makes the colors pop when they are all swimming about. In my small 46 gallon I have around 30 baby yellows. I have had pretty good luck with this set up so far.
Good luck with your new tank and cichlids, you will have fun with these lively fish.

[escamosa]

Old Marine's set up is great one. A combination of Yellow Lab, Red Zebra, and Acie is a really good start for someone who is just beginning to get into cichlids. Steer clear of adding the Bumble Bees, Auratus and Johanni to a 75g tank containing the three species of cichlids mentioned earlier. Bumble Bees, Auratus and Johanni can be really nasty at times, and will make life miserable for the Labs, Acie and Red Zebra. If you would like a splash of blue in the tank, then you might like to have a look at some Kingsizei. I keep forgetting about Kingsizei, when someone wants a blue cichlid. They really are a great cichlid. They're classed as a dwarf cichlid, and mostly grow to around 4", but I have seen bigger. I used to have some of these, and they were great with the Labs.

[Lady10Godiva]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. The only problem we are having in the planning phase is how to do get the correct number of females. The stores by me only carry tiny mbuna. I also looked online and it seems like buying sexex mbuna there is pretty hard too.

[Northerly]

I have had alot of luck with LiveFishDirect.com, i got alot of my stock from there. They have a large selection of pseudotropheus and melanchromis species. I would suggest to you a mixture of 4-5 species with a 1:3 m:f ratio of each. This would be a very interesting stock for you i believe. I would steer clear of things such as Auratus, Johanni, Pseudotropheus Elongatus (chewere), and the like. To my knowledge the other PS Elongatus species are less aggressive but the chewere are fairly aggressive, sometimes close to an auratus in their temperaments. I would say an interesting stock would be Red zebra, Acei, Maingano, Yellow lab, and something else like rusty's or socolofi (socolofi being about the most aggressive i'd recommend to a beginner). You could stick with that stocking and once you're more experienced you could maybe get some afras or something a little more difficult and interesting to keep.

[IanR29]

I normally go to davesfish.com for mine. All excellent. Personally I wouldn't put Bumble bees any where need most other mbunas. They grow to a size of around 8-9inches and if there is a mix of male and female, the males will just about kill what ever it can get its mouth on. For 3-5 bumble bees i believe it's best to keep them by themselves in nothing less than a 75g. Now adding Bees, auratus and Johanni in with each other is a recipe for disaster. All you have to do is YouTube. Bumble bee cichlids and you'll get the picture.

[Lady10Godiva]

I just started fishless cycling so it is going to be awhile before there are any fish. I want to try and not get this tank full of pond snails.....and I am sure I have snails eggs in all my other filters so I am not fully seeding it. When my ac 70 gets here I am going to put some bio stars in it to help it out.

[190MPH]

In that tank I would do 3 groups of mbuna, 22-24 fish total. The length is more important than the depth for mbuna, and a 42" tank is shorter than a standard 75g, so you lose some footprint. If you're not ready to deal with the more aggressive types' behaviors, which means removing either the beat up fish or the aggressor, than stick with ones lower on the scale. It's almost a cruel joke by nature that some of the more popular looking species are among the meanest. This includes the Auratus, Kenyi, Chipokae, Johanni, Bumblebees, and even Demasoni to name a few. It's not to say they can't be kept, but it requires some work and dedication to make it right. And realistcally, only the Demasoni would work in a tank that size. Any of them can become mean at any point, it's just a level of meanness! Even Yellow Labs can get nasty at times! If it were my tank, I would consider a mix of something like Labs, a dwarf Afra type, and one other, maybe Rusties. Start with 10 of each and whittle them down to the m/f ratio you want. Sell or trade the rest. They are all on the smaller size and will be a better fit for your tank. Even consider adding a group of Synodontis catfish later on, to clean up uneaten food, and for fry control as well. Either Multipunctatus or Petricola. Davesfish is an excellent source, and there are a few others out there. Local hobbiests and clubs are a good source as well.

[escamosa]

100% totally agree with 190MPH. It sounds like we're on a similar wave length here!