Couple of Mbuna questions

[DanW0007]

Starting up a new tank, Mbuna are my first choice so far while I do my research.

Anyway, first off, how the hell do you pronounce Mbuna? Is the M silent? I've never wanted to say it as my LFS out of fear of looking like an idiot, lol.

Onto the more important questions. The tank is only a 29 gallon, but within 6-8 months the family will be getting a 125 bow for the basement (cant wait). In the meantime though I decided I'd take a crack at them in my little 29. At the LFS they have tons of species that are only an inch or so big. If I got 4, maybe 5 of them, would that be about the right amount? I don't want to overcrowd the tank, but everything I've read says I may want to a little, to put down aggression.

Also, I swear I read somewhere to keep the tank somewhat still. Does that mean no powerheads? I have 1 rotating powerhead and 1 in tank filter that acts as a powerhead. Should I get them out of there?

Finally, I know its not a mbuna, but could I mix a compressiceps with them? Too big?

Thanks for any help.

 

[Crippldogg]

Mbuna is pronounced like this: um-boo-na

if you are moving all fish to the 125 gal then you can pretty much get what you want. But in the 29gal it will be a little tougher to pick fish if they are going to be in there for 6-8 months. For a 29 gal, one group (1 male and 3 or 4 females) of the following species would be good: yellow labs, rusties, colbalt blues, or yellow tailed acei's would be good. Or two groups of 1 male and 2 females. If you got more than one species in the tank, as they mature there could be some agression problems. Avoid kenyi's and aurutus' for the 29gal, these are very common in lfs and are very aggressive.

As for the powerheads, i haven't heard the still water thing. i've got a pretty strong current in my fry tank and they seem to like to swim in the current. i don't see a problem with the powerhead.

try this site out for alot of cichlid info: www.cichlid-forum.com

 

[Menagerie]

You can never research Mbuna enough. I have an 80 gal Mbuna tank (you can see it in my gallery) with zebras and other Pseudotropheus sp. plus an ugly Synodontis catfish, catfish and a pleco.
These links will help:
http://www.mongabay.com/fish/cichlids.htm
http://malawicichlids.com/index.htm

 

[FishLover14]

You could have some elctric yellows, cobalt blue zebras, acies, and some rusty cichlids-You could have 4 elctric yellows 3 cobalts an acie and a rusty but that would proabbly be pushing the bio load just a tad with good filtarition thouhg u couldh andle it.

http://www.cichlid-forum.com

Is the best cichlids site on the web go look for profiles of mbuna u liek and come back an d post them here.

 

[poppab02]

Don't mix the Compressiceps. It can cause alot of problems and usually ends with either a new tank or a violent death.

I'm currently using a 28 gallon as a growth tank for mbuna who will eventually replace some of the inhabitants in my 55 gallon. If you go this method be aware of a few things. Your cichlids will need to be bought when still very small and thus it is highly unlikely you will be able to sex them accurately. I would highly suggest avoiding the most active and most brilliantly colored of the group to try and avoid picking a bunch of males. Also, you are not going to be able to get a big enough group to fully stock that 125 gallon. Thus you will have to either---buy only adult fish to finish stocking which is much more expensive, always use the 30 gallon as a grow out tank, or leave the tank understocked. Just be sure you are willing to do one of these options or else wait on starting a cichlid tank until you have that 125 and can let the eventual inhabitants all grow up together.

Overcrowding can cut down on aggression a small bit but I thinks that it's a bit overstated as to how effective it is. If your tank is properly decorated and relatively large then it can work to a small degree. However it doesn't really work in tanks like a 30 gallon. That said, you shouldn't have crowding problems with 4-5 africans in a 30 gallon for 6 months.

 

[DanW0007]

Thanks everybody, that was a lot of help. I can't believe I didnt come across cichlid-forum.com until now. Anyway, back to more research and then I'm gonna decide what to do. Right now I'm leaning on just having a small group of yellow labs, but we'll see.

Oh yeah, I did forget one more thing. Will any of the syndotis cats eat algae? Or will any african species of fish primarly eat algae like a pleco would? I don't really want to add a pleco to my tank (assuming I get the normal amount of algae), so I'm looking for something else (preferably african).

Again, thanks a lot everybody.

 

[poppab02]

I don't believe any synodontis cat eats algae. In an African Cichlid tank it's one of two choices--Pleco or scrape it off yourself

 

[xray]

I would not add the compressiceps, its an open water hunter and viscious. I would go with the Labs and Acei. Both will do very well together. As for moving into the big tank, it would be ok to add smaller fish to the ones you grow out in the 30. I add small fish from time to time with out problems. Any time you add fish you need to rearange the decor. This will cause them to reestablish territories. During which time the new fish will figure out where they fit in the pecking order.

Will any of the syndotis cats eat algae?

I get short hair algae on every thing. I think it add to the decor.
Ofcourse this is all JMO

 

[FishLover14]

Buy a Magfloat to control algea. 5 elctric yellows in a 29 will go just fine if thatts what u want. You will proabbly even have baby cidhlids!

JMHO