how many mbuna for 75g

[cichlid22c]

hey guys the75g tank is 48x18x20 i just counted my fish here they are
1 chipota
2 red zebra
1 powered blue
1 small 1" yellow lab
2 ice blues
2 kenya
1 cobalt blue
1 afra (i think)
1 johanni
2 unknown(hybrid?)

[cichlid22c]

still waiting for fishguy to reply i would like to know what he has to say

[cichlid22c]

i was also wondeing what type of substrate to go with. i know i want an african cichld mix but dont know if i want sand or gavel yet. im planning a 3d background w/ foam and cement and thought about coating w/ the sand for the top coat to give it texture and color and then using then gravel for substrate.then getting some moon rock(calcium carbonate) from a catalog for making rock work and caves

[cocoa_pleco]

aragonite would make a nice substrate

[cichlid22c]

i was wanting to go w/ something darker

[Fishguy2727]

I would go with Estes Marine Sand. It is clean and comes in an assortment of colors. I would do a black and white mix. This lets you make it as dark or as light as you want, while still having that natural mixed look. Gravel and crushed coral will trap debris and are not as natural nor look as good (but looks are a perosnal preference).

For now stock with more than you want. In all likelihood you will have to remove a few that get too aggressive and a few that get beaten up. So if you want to end up with 20, get 30. I think that is a good way to go, 25-30 for now.

What are you feeding? I highly recommend you look into New Life Spectrum. It gives the best colors, growth, health, breeding, and is digestible for them with their specialized digestive systems.

For filtration you definitely want a canister. If you can I would actually go with the Fluval FX5. In general it is more than a 75 would need, but they will like the extra flow and you will need much more filtration than a usual 75. If you get an FX5 I would actually you not use the cartridges for the Emperors. They are expensive, not very good, not re-usable, and include carbon. I would not recommend carbon because it has been shown to cause problems because it removes vital trace elements and micronutrients. In some species this can cause HLLE, in others I believe it causes internal problems that we don't see, so when the fish dies we blame it on old age or some minor change in the tank from recently. I would keep the Emperors on there for their BioWheels, the best biological media you can get.

Are you planning on using the special cichlid lake salts? I would. They don't NEED them, but they do better with them. For pH control I would not recommend a substrate but rather a buffer. I used Proper pH 8.2 and it worked very well for me.

[cichlid22c]

hey thanx! sorry for tracking you down like that fishguy. i use both the seachem cichlid salts and 8.2 but i was going to try to gat away from the 8.2 by using the arfican cichlid mix to help w/ the ph. the magazine i have that i was going to order everthing from says the emperor has a refilable media contaner so i probally can take carbon out and put something else in. i think ill go w/ 30 fish plus acouple of snydonis cats if i get an agressive fish or beat up one i have other tanks to put them in. i was planning on oreding some nls too

[cichlid22c]

is the sand hard to vacum does it cloud the water up when you vacum it i never used sand i just thought it might suck to work with

[Lady Hobbs]

Sand is great. The stuff lays on top and you just hold the vac up from the sand a bit and all the stuff gets sucked up instead of the sand.

[cichlid22c]

ok thanx dont sound as bad i thought. so you dont vacum it down through the sand it dont get dirty underneath?