New to cichlids - Help with stocking my 75 gallon?

[Daven]

Hello! My previous tanks have been simply Guppies with a few other peaceful community fish as well. So i am new to the whole aggressive community... But since day one ive had my eye on cichlids and their amazing colours and personality! I am hoping you guys wont mind helping me reassure myself since its hard to be 100% on what you read online. Guppies for me just got too boring and "easy" for me. I found an old 75 gallon for cheap and started working on resealing it and painting the trim to get it ready to set up. It is the size i was eventually aiming for anyways. I currently have a 29 gallon set up and cycled and today took the first plunge into the cichlid world with 4 new acei They were too young to be 100% sure of the sex. I siliconed the 75 gallon on monday, so im planning to fill it this monday to start looking for leaks before setting it up on the stand. Tonight i also set up my AC110 with my filter media to get that going for the tank transfer.

So here are my current questions... If you dont mind me asking!

1st... What ratio seems to be best for stocking lake malawi mbuna with minimal aggression, if any? I have read 1m/3f or go for an all male tank. The fish store i went to was saying that it wouldnt matter as much as long as theres a decent amount of stock, but i dont know what is more ideal for later on as i know issues usually dont arise until they mature. Since this is my first aggressive tank, i am looking fr the more ideal situations to start with for stocking and hopefully i luck out with decent-minded individuals

2nd... Filtration.. the worker at the store i was at told me that i would need more filtration that i was currently going to have. Again, a 75 gallon tank. I got a Aquaclear110 with it and was also going to run my AC70 as well. Both with sponges and biomax. Previously with my cummunity tank, i had thought this would be plenty. I know canisters are ideal, but am i really going to be falling short when fully stocked? That would be a pricey upgrade so i wasnt sure if that was him trying to make a sale or what lol Being a previous Sales associate, i know the game lol

My current stocking plan includes acei, electric yellow labs (theres a local dealer here with stock so this is my next purchase when i find out ideal sexes), maybe soulosi if the blue wont cause issues with acei, and previously i was hoping for a peacock or two. Althought i beleive that would be a bad idea, so maybe not :/

 

[TMRC Exotics]

I think your filtration will be adequate as long as you don't slack on water changes. High filtration is great but there is no replacement for a good water change regimen.

Acei are awesome cichlids! I have four as well with some electric yellows with a few peacocks but I as well highly caution the peacocks, it isn't ideal and I keep a super close eye on them prepared to pull the peacocks out should I need to.

 

[Daven]

I think your filtration will be adequate as long as you don't slack on water changes. High filtration is great but there is no replacement for a good water change regimen.

Acei are awesome cichlids! I have four as well with some electric yellows with a few peacocks but I as well highly caution the peacocks, it isn't ideal and I keep a super close eye on them prepared to pull the peacocks out should I need to.

Thanks! I always do weekly water changes, usually of around 30% for the old tankmates. But i got a hose setup for filling and syphoning it easy so doing more if needed wont be an issue. Ill be testing and keeping the Nitrates lower. I just worry about not being able to let the water conditioner sit in the water this way. But i dont want to try bucket filling this tank lol

And yeah, if i did ever mix in a peacock or hap it wouldnt be until down the line when ive got this down well and i know i can deal with issues like that. Too bad though, peacocks have some beautiful colours. How many electric yellows do you think would look the nicest? I was going to probably get another group of 4 and try to find another mbuna to bring in some red or another colour these two dont get. I like varying colours in the tank, but again im hoping for the most ideal so they arent killing eachother lol

 

[TMRC Exotics]

I think a group of 4 acei and 4 labs with another mbuna group or two of the same count would be good.

 

[Daven]

I think a group of 4 acei and 4 labs with another mbuna group or two of the same count would be good.

Ok. What are your guy's opinions on male/female ratios for this kind of setup? Im finding it very hard to know for sure since the ones not showing the egg spot could just be too young. And idk if my fish store here would take back fish. Do fish stores usually do that?

 

[Daven]

I got 4 acei and 5 yellow labs now to start! How would you guys feed them with the food I have? I have extreme 1.5mm cichlid pellets and pirulina flakes to mix in. I was going to go twice daily what they can eat in 30 seconds, and do spilirulina 2-3 times a week on evening feedings. Or should the spirulina be fed more often or for full days? I know it's not a huge difference but figured I'd see what you guys do!


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[TMRC Exotics]

I haven't picked up a solely spirulina food yet but I like to really vary my cichlids diet. I feed once daily as mine are mostly not juvies, I rotate between omega one cichlid flakes, hikari cichlid gold pellets, NLS thera a+ and for the smaller guys some aqueon cichlid micro pellets.

 

[TMRC Exotics]

Can you tell what sexes you have? I have a group of 3 labs and 4 acei and don't know the sex of any.

 

[Daven]

The acei are kind of up in the air for sexes. These were bought from a store and he was going off having a dot on the rear fin if it's a male. But they might not be mature enough to show it yet. The yellow labs are from someone local that had some. He vented them and I should have 1male, 3 females and the other wasn't entirely clear but I'm thinking another male. Mine aren't quite 2" yet for either. I don't think you can really tell without venting them

For food, can you fee spirulina too often? Most seems to say mix it in a couple times vs half and half


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[jmats]

1m-3f is usually a good starting point. The more females the better, that will make any man happy lol. How many species are you planning on keeping in this tank?


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[Daven]

1m-3f is usually a good starting point. The more females the better, that will make any man happy lol. How many species are you planning on keeping in this tank?


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Im not sure what id be best with yet. I am thinking about getting a group of Solousi. I think its pretty cool that there is such a drastic change from the males and females, which also will help to make more of a variety of colours in the tank with the same amount of fish (even if the females are yellowish like the labs). Probably another group of 5-6 (2 male, 3-4 females i think should be ok?). Then i was hoping for something like a single Red Empress hap male if things would be ok enough for that. But thats down the line after some more reasearch and the rest are settled in. Too bad theres not really any red mbuna. Id love a bright cherry red one

The acei have started getting aggresive with eachother, so im thinking i have too many males per female crammed in the 30x12 footprint 29 gallon. Hopefully soon theyll be in my 75 gallon which is up and running now (Yay!). Ill be looking to pick up one or two more female acei to even things out.

 

[TMRC Exotics]

Im not sure what id be best with yet. I am thinking about getting a group of Solousi. I think its pretty cool that there is such a drastic change from the males and females, which also will help to make more of a variety of colours in the tank with the same amount of fish (even if the females are yellowish like the labs). Probably another group of 5-6 (2 male, 3-4 females i think should be ok?). Then i was hoping for something like a single Red Empress hap male if things would be ok enough for that. But thats down the line after some more reasearch and the rest are settled in. Too bad theres not really any red mbuna. Id love a bright cherry red one

The acei have started getting aggresive with eachother, so im thinking i have too many males per female crammed in the 30x12 footprint 29 gallon. Hopefully soon theyll be in my 75 gallon which is up and running now (Yay!). Ill be looking to pick up one or two more female acei to even things out.

Your ratio may not be off, in that small of a footprint there will be aggression. I wouldn't add more fish in the 29.

 

[Daven]

Your ratio may not be off, in that small of a footprint there will be aggression. I wouldn't add more fish in the 29.

No more fish going in this tank. Was just temporary while i got the other tank going since theyre still small. I want at least one more anyways i think, and like i said before im thinking theyre almost all males currently :/ Should i worry about them bickering a bit as long as it doesnt cause any actual damage or stress the fish out? I dont really want to keep messing around with the tank since the yellow labs havent really settled in yet and spend a good amount of their time in their spot in the back lol When i do add them to the big tank i think ill add just the yellows first and let them set up and then add the acei after to try and get them more out there too

 

[TMRC Exotics]

No worries. Mbuna do this by nature. As long as no one is injured some standing off is normal, this is the reason behind over stocking.

 

[Daven]

No worries. Mbuna do this by nature. As long as no one is injured some standing off is normal, this is the reason behind over stocking.

yeah thats what i thought. They just need to set whose boss around here lol I lose these fish for the personality they have compared to the guppies i had before. Theres almost a story behind what they do in there

 

[TMRC Exotics]

I enjoy my Africans very much. They each have their own personalities. You will have a favorite lol, at least I do. And despite having groups of identical fish I can tell each and every one apart. I'm sure you will get to know them as well too!

 

[Daven]

I enjoy my Africans very much. They each have their own personalities. You will have a favorite lol, at least I do. And despite having groups of identical fish I can tell each and every one apart. I'm sure you will get to know them as well too!

Just got everything switched over to the 75 gallon and im very happy with the results! All the hard work sanding off the old crappy paintjob and repainting and resealing it all definitely payed off! Now i can finally leave them be in one spot to adjust and be at home. Ill post a pic tomorow once the lights on again and hopefully the water cleared up. Only using a cheap shop light sitting on top with 2 6500k bulbs i beleive. I plan to purchase a powerglow bulb to try and bring out the colours a bit better along with one of the 6500k. I also wish i could find taller decor. All the "large" and "x-large" ones ive bought stay around 10" and under so the top half of the tank is empty

 

[TMRC Exotics]

I have a fake plant that stands about 22" tall. Check my thread tmrcs tanks and you can see what it looks like. My fake coral stands about 15". Nice you got them moved, can't wait for pics. I'll have an update on my 60 later, be on the lookout!(since you have many of the same fish)

 

[Daven]

Here is a quick snap of how I arranged it. Water is cloudy still but that'll clear up soon. I'm really a fan of the cichlids stone, however they costed me a pretty penny for all these lol


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[Daven]

How much agression is normal for these guys when setting up territories? The old tank they swam around together and only really bickered a bit between the more aggresive male and another acei. The yellow labs used to just hide mostly. Now in this tank everyone is out and exploring but now after a day the acei are starting to get pretty crazy. They all seem to be chasing eachother around, chasing eachother around in circles all jerky and I'm not sure if they're actually biting or not. They even seem to go after the Ellie labs the odd time they wander into where one hangs out. What degree should I start to get worried? And based on the picture above, is my tank setup well for territories? I tried to make as many hiding spots as possible and in each corner too


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