MBuna tank- 65 gal- how many should I have

[MsDenim]

I had 4 small tanks and finally pooled them into 1 65gal one. I currently have:

1 Male Afra Cichlids (3in)
1 Female Greyshaki Cichlid (2.75-3")
1 Dragonblood (2.5-2.75")
1 synodontis (cuckoo)
1 pleco (4")
11 random cichlid fry (0.75-0.25")
1 Tetra that was a dither fish and has to be one of the toughest fish to have lived a year in this tank.

I never intended for the fish to breed... rookie mistake. And acquired the current fry by separating the female for one batch as I wanted to observe and see what they were like and just plain curious). Since then.... it's just going to have to be the circle of life. She's had several batches and at least 1 straggler seems to survive.

Would like to ask if there is any recommendations for diversifying the breeds of fish in my tank... and how many fish I should have for a 65gal. (36"w x 25"h x 18"d).

My water stats are typically
pH - 7.4- 7.8
Temp- 77-78F
Ammonia - 0
Nitrites - 0
Nitrates - 0- 5ppm (it spikes occasionally)
Hardness - hard - very hard (strips)
Alkalinity - 120-180 (strips)


My first round I purchased... well let's say I was a gullible sort. I rather ask people who have a passion for fish and not just trying to sell me fish. I have learned a lot and thankful to say... my guys (and gal) are all healthy... just think I need to have more in a tank this size to reduce some of the concentrated aggression towards my pleco and dragonblood. For whatever reason... I think my male mbuna has a crush on my cuckoo... it's really funny and weird to watch them together.



PS- my blue afra is really aggressive but has left the current fry alone... just seems to pick on my pleco and dragonblood mostly. (Sorry pic is a tad blurry)

 

[raccioppi83]

I don't mean to be rude... but there is a lot going on in this tank that shouldn't be going on lol

 

[MsDenim]

I agree... however I would appreciate constructive advice on what to fix. So far my fish have been healthy outside of aggression from the blue guy. The tank is certainly not perfect. Just looking for suggestions on how to start moving it into the right direction.

 

[raccioppi83]

Okay, well one thing I learned when I began cichlid keeping was to pick a lake and a species and stick to it then decide if you want it to be all male or mixed with females. Having 1 female and 2 male cichlids will result in a fight to the death because 1 male cichlid will become dominant and attempt to mate with the female and then they will get very territorial and aggressive. Thankfully the dragon blood is one of the tougher peacocks and is able to hold it's own, but once they all grow up it may not work out like that. The syndo should be okay and do it's own thing without getting bothered, but as you have experienced the pleco may get bullied to exhaustion.

My personal suggestion (and you do as you please it's your tank) would be to decide if you want peacocks and haps or mbuna from Lake Malawi and try to re home the one you decided against.

I would then decide between all males or females and males.. in which you would then need a lot more females to disperse aggression and a lot less males.

The tetra can stay and fight it out for as long as the little guy can and the fry will either get eaten or grow up into hybrid cichlid