MbunaFan Posted June 12, 2006 Report Share Posted June 12, 2006 Those of you with some experience with this, what have you had in your tanks and how did it work out? I realize it depends on the temperament of each fish as well, but if you had a 90g with a couple C. borleyi, P. Socolofi, an electric blue S. fryeri and a Red Empress (and 2 BN Plecos), possibly some Saulosi, what, if anything else would you add? And WHY? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nevchewy Posted June 12, 2006 Report Share Posted June 12, 2006 What i have found with all male tanks... You may never see the true colors with your fish. If i take away my Male saulosi and just put him on his own or in my bigger tank... he doesn't color up half as much as he does with his girlfriends (he has 3 right now;)). It can be done, and would probably look awesome... i'd give it a go! nev Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RD. Posted June 12, 2006 Report Share Posted June 12, 2006 In a 90 gallon I would limit the mbuna to yellow labs. I'd look for young male haps that are showing good color at a small size, and add as many as I could find, then thin them out as they mature if things get too cramped, or if the odd one doesn't learn to play nice. It's a juggling act at best, and the larger the tank the easier it is to pull off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MbunaFan Posted June 14, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 14, 2006 It can be done, and would probably look awesome... Are you talking about the all male tank or the almost all male tank? I'm going to try to add male/female mbuna and leave the habs all male except if they get too aggressive...then I might add some women for them to distract them. So far, the habs/mbuna pretty much keep to themselves. I'm expecting to do some juggling at some point, but maybe I'll be lucky. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RD. Posted June 14, 2006 Report Share Posted June 14, 2006 Just a FYI .... but adding female haps to calm the males down, will have the opposite effect. When the males go into breeding mode, they will become twice as aggressive. Best to leave females out of the equation if you want multiple male haps in a 90 gallon. It really depends on what you are attempting to achieve, and the individual personality of each fish, hence the reason I suggested starting with young males and thinning things out if/when the need arises. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nevchewy Posted June 14, 2006 Report Share Posted June 14, 2006 Are you talking about the all male tank or the almost all male tank? The all Male Tank... Just Take a look at Pop-eye's (Gina) tank. Only Males and they are colored up all the time! I'd be leary about adding females with the Mbuna... They can get very aggressive when the spawn! if you want to breed these guys... i would stick only to a couple of species and no more... if you just want to enjoy these fish... get an all male tank going... IMO/IME nev Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MbunaFan Posted June 14, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 14, 2006 Thanks for the input guys. I'll do that and do a just male tank. Okay, besides electric yellows, what other fish would you suggest to add some yellow into the mix? Maybe I should have gotten Gina's red zebra males. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RD. Posted June 14, 2006 Report Share Posted June 14, 2006 I suggested yellow labs for mbuna for two reasons, 1 they tend to mix well in almost any cichlid set up, 2 both sexes have good color. With yellow labs you don't have to be concerend about the male/female ratio, and even the adult males will almost always be fine with haps. The same cannot be said about other mbuna species, and depending on your choice of haps they may or may not thrive in a 4 ft tank with some of the larger more aggressive mbuna. As it is you're going to be limited to the number of adult male haps that you can successfully keep in a 90 gallon tank, so I wouldn't push the issue with adding too many mbuna, and I would still recommend sticking to just yellow labs. There's a big difference between thriving, and just surviving, your goal should be the former of the two. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MbunaFan Posted June 14, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 14, 2006 Just thought I'd check cuz I don't find yellow labs all that interesting. Thought maybe there was something different out there..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RD. Posted June 14, 2006 Report Share Posted June 14, 2006 It's not that it can't be done with other species of mbuna, just be prepared for potential problems as the fish all mature. There is no definitive answer for the questions that you are asking, as it's always a crap shoot when setting up a tank full of male African cichlids. Sometimes it works, and sometimes it doesn't. You also can't rely too heavily on the behaviour of the various species that you read on various forums, or in books. As an example, one of my most recent additions to my 125 was an adult male O. lithobates ( a supposedly fairly non aggressive hap), that in less than 24 hrs took over the position of 'king of the tank'. I doubt that he will hold his current status in the hierarchy of this tank forever, but I was surprised to see not only a newcomer, but a fish that is known for being fairly passive, ruling the roost within 24 hrs of going into this tank, that already contained haps that were equal to him in size. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vallisneria Posted June 15, 2006 Report Share Posted June 15, 2006 I"ve had success keeping yellow labs, Lab perlmutt, Rusties and Ps. acei with haps in my 90g. Right now i have a 8 yellow labs and 8 Ps.acei in with red empress and P.pheno. It really depends on the individual fish though as i've heard of other people having problems keeping mbuna and haps together. I've also found that it is kind of hard keeping too many adult male haps in my 90g. There is usually a king and a second in command but any other males really take a beating. Of course my tank isn'ta all male tank so that might have something to do with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MbunaFan Posted June 15, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 15, 2006 Thanx again everybody for the input. I'll let you know how it works out. Right now, no problems, but I'll have to get rid of some fish and add others still. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sammyswife Posted June 16, 2006 Report Share Posted June 16, 2006 We just recently sold off all the fish from our all male show tank. We had a mix of Peacocks/Haps, a couple of tangs, some catfish and bristlenose pleco. There was definatly a pecking order but for the most part with the exception of a couple peacocks all fish coloured up beautifully. When we first got into the hobby we started with mbuna and slowly added more peacocks and got fewer and fewer mbuna... We (ok maybe just me) could not stand how violent the mbuna were to the peacocks and Haps. Eventually we were down to what a coincidence, Borleyi and Socolofi and had to eventually give them back to the pet store. Mbuna IME are a more violent type of fish and do not do well in a mixed all male show tank. I would say if Mbunas (with the exception of Yellow Labs) were dogs they would be pitbulls and Haps are more like Labs where if they attack a lab will generally not kill you. A pitbull on the otherhand....well I wouldn't want to find out really. But, it is hard to say your fish could have been different than our fish and if you do want to add some more Haps I would suggest a Yellow Chin and Azuras. Haps grow faily fast so they are a good fish for a show tank and very colourful. As with any show tank adding new fish can be a blood bath. I would suggest adding more than one fish at a time. Hope this helps. Amy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jvision Posted June 16, 2006 Report Share Posted June 16, 2006 I would suggest adding more than one fish at a time. And rearranging the decor to break up established territories would help, too. I think it was dunl who said once that he rearranges decor, feeds, then shuts the lights off when he added new fish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MbunaFan Posted June 16, 2006 Author Report Share Posted June 16, 2006 When I added the last fish, I specifically waited till I had 2, not just one. Then I rearranged the decor and added them. I was pleasantly surprised at the lack of aggression (none whatsoever) even though I still have my socolofi in there. Maybe because the fish I added were the same size or larger and quite different from the others. Now I'm waiting for Gina to get back from Calgary so I can maybe get some more from her! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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