Africans in a 40 gallon

[Fishstuff45]

I have a 40 gallon and i wanted to put african cichlids in it. I read there supposed to be over stocked so i was thinking these would be my fish
1bumblebee
3acei
3scolfi
3arutas
Is that a good stock or am i horribly off
Thanks

 

[Jacobsal91]

That should be totally fine, I have a 36 bow front with africans in it. Only have 3 fish i had a disaster and only managed to save the
3 of them... But i had an aratus, kenyi, red zebra, albino zebra, blue johanni, birchardi, and 2 peacocks. Was absolutly beautiful i gotta restock soon. Goodluck

 

[Jacobsal91]

And overstocking isnt totally nessasary, it
Looks pretty just know u dont have to do it if money will slow u down. Others might disaggree but ives done it
For a very
Long time with zero issues, just dont introduce them one at a time do it in groups of 3.. If u intoduce one, the current fish in the tank already will harass the new
Guy.. More than one is less stressful on the newcomers

 

[jrskater1999]

They are better overstocked so they can't claim any territory and hurt each other ?

 

[Fishstuff45]

Ok thanks alot i wasnt getting alot of anserws online

 

[kay-bee19]

I have a 40 gallon...so i was thinking these would be my fish
1bumblebee
3acei
3scolfi
3arutas

The tank is too small in my opinion. If you're acquiring immature juveniles, though it will work for awhile ("awhile" being a few months to maybe a year and a half). I can't see this group peacefully coexisting when they're all 4"-6" fully matured specimens.

55gal is the typical standard minimum sized tank for keeping mbuna's. Anything smaller will have an amplifying effect on aggression due to lack of territory space and space to flee or hide (example, pseudotropheus socolofi which are moderately to generally aggressive in larger tanks can become nearly highly aggressive in smaller confines).

I tend to recommend a 75gal+ for any tank containing hyper-dominant mbuna species (and melanochromis auratus is one of those species). A fully matured male auratus has the potential of launching killing spree's in a 40gal tank.

The bumblebee is one of the largest mbuna species and max out at 7" or even 8" and they're aggressive in their own right (though usually not hyper-dominant like auratus are).

Acei's reach 6" and are very active swimmers even by mbuna standards. 75gal for these guys.

Mbuna species that may work in a 40gal: yellow labs and rusties. They're low-end aggressive fish (though multiple male yellow labs in a 40gal may go at each other). Adhere to a 1 male/several females gender ratio per species.

 

[Fishstuff45]

Ok so a for that tank a group of 1 male 3 female labs and rustys would that be ok