Hows my mbuna stocking coming along?

[Daven]

75 gallon tank, 48x18x20" i beleive. Aquaclear 110 and 70 filters. Here is what i have so far. Im guessing on the sizes because its insanely hard to measure them with a tape measure outside the tank lol...

-1 male Blueberry cobalt zebra (3")
-1 male rusty (2.75")
-1 female copadochromis borleyi peacock (2.5")
-3 metriclima greshaki - 2 male 1 female (2")
-4 Acei - sexes arent sure (2")
-5 yellow labs - 1 male, 3 female, 1 could have gone either way when vented (1.5-2")

I was hoping the peacock could be a male but didnt research the sexes well enough. Oh well, i dont mind the black with orange fins colouring. Hopefully they dont get too mean for her. And im thinking the subdominant male greshaki male may hopefully be a female still as he hasnt shown any actual blue yet. Currently a light tan colour. I was hoping to get a smaller group of saulosi's, but im a bit too stocked now and they never seem to pop up when im looking :/

 

[Freakgecko91]

Borleyi are a hap, not a peacock, just a heads up. They also get decent sized if I'm not mistaken


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[Daven]

Borleyi are a hap, not a peacock, just a heads up. They also get decent sized if I'm not mistaken


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Yeah, your right. My bad, i knew that too lol Thanks!

 

[Daven]

Considering what i have now, does anyone see any real conflicts in my stock? Ive tried to research as much as possible, but when nothing i origonally wanted shows up in the stores i sometimes find a new kind and have to do a quicker search standing in the isle for a while lol The hap will be rehomed if it gets too big or there becomes problems, i just dont mind the different looking fish right now.

And for a fully stocked 75 gallon, with what i have would it be safe to say 18-20 fish total is best? Planning for fully grown size of course

 

[RedDevil83]

Sounds about right on the count to reduce conflict as long as they are all male.

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[Daven]

There are female yellow labs, acei, and 1 maybe 2 greshaki


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[RedDevil83]

Or female lol males are just more colorful.

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[Daven]

There doesnt seem to be any real aggresion in the tank from what i can see, no marks or stressed fish. But i figured id mention what i have and see if it raised any red flags to any more experienced hobbyists. Theres too many fish out there for me to be able to remember everything about

 

[TMRC Exotics]

Well the real aggression won't show until many of these guys hit 3-4 inches if any presents itself at all. I've heard of some insane stockings working until the mbuna hit around 3 1/2 inches. The labs and acei should all be pretty cool for the most part, they have slight conspecific pecking orders that will show but they're pretty peaceful (in my 60 I keep 5 acei, 4 yellow labs). I watch all zebras closely but so far have had decent luck with a greshakei in my 60. I've heard the cobalts are less aggressive but I have no experience with them.
Overall it looks pretty good to me, just watch the metriaclima for any serious aggression.

 

[Daven]

Well the real aggression won't show until many of these guys hit 3-4 inches if any presents itself at all. I've heard of some insane stockings working until the mbuna hit around 3 1/2 inches. The labs and acei should all be pretty cool for the most part, they have slight conspecific pecking orders that will show but they're pretty peaceful (in my 60 I keep 5 acei, 4 yellow labs). I watch all zebras closely but so far have had decent luck with a greshakei in my 60. I've heard the cobalts are less aggressive but I have no experience with them.
Overall it looks pretty good to me, just watch the metriaclima for any serious aggression.

Yeah the labs and acei are the smallest in the tank, so i worry a bit about when the others reach maturity. But hopefully all will be well lol

Also, given that some of my stock gets to 5-6", how many fish would i be able to safely house in my 75 gal? Lets take the hap out of the equation since in the future she will probably be rehomed i guess. I thought 20 was the upper limit, but i do see quite a bit of people claiming closer to 30 even. Thats alot of fish, they must be talking 3-4" dwarf mbunas?

 

[LayzorBeams]

Ehh, ive heard of some crazy things in the world of African Cichlids.

Ive seen 25 adult male Peacocks living together in a 55, ive seen people with 55 gallons have 78 2-3 inch juvie Peacocks... If youre willing to possibly get screwed along the way you could pull off some crazy things...

Im in no way advising/condoning this. Just saying, its been done.

Talk to the African Cichlid experts like TMRC over me any day.


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[TMRC Exotics]

I would consider 20 around the max with adults in a 75. I have 13 of these guys in the 4-5 inch range in a 60 and its pretty full, I consider it stocked. My nitrate production even with good filtration seems to agree. I'm not an advocate of ridiculously high stocking in mbuna (for the record I would consider 30 adults ridiculously high) so I would say an end game of around 20 ish should be about the max, you may find a happier balance closer to 16 depending on how big your aceis get. I was looking at a nearly 7 incher in person over the weekend and it really puts their possible size in perspective.