Breeding Mbuna cichlids

[Mcg tanks]

Hi, I have setup a 55 gallon 200 litre lake Malawi tank but have no fish yet. I'm looking to breed some mbuna species. My lfs has aceis, yellow labs and cobalt zebras which would be easiest to keep and breed.
Probably not the aceis just seeing what others have to say about them

 

[herp_mommy]

55 is a little small for a group of these fish. I keep my malawis in 125 gallons and they are constantly breeding. Any given time I have at least three females holding. The easiest I would pick out of that group is the yellow labs. You could do maybe 1m 3f to a 55 tank.

 

[mistersprinkles]

55 is a little small for a group of these fish. I keep my malawis in 125 gallons and they are constantly breeding. Any given time I have at least three females holding. The easiest I would pick out of that group is the yellow labs. You could do maybe 1m 3f to a 55 tank.

WAY more than 4 adult labs fit in a 55.


You could easily fit a small colony of labs in a 55. They would be very easy to breed (no Mbuna is particularly hard). I had a breeding group of yellow labs in a 55 for years.

IMO you could do 3m 5f or 2m 6f no problem. If you want close to 100% fry survival you will have to "strip" the females after they've been holding for a few days. Video on stripping fry here:
Cichlid-Forum.com

Obviously you will need a seperate tank to strip the fry into and grow them out. You should aim for a 30 gallon for this if possible and very frequent water changes to grow them out nicely. A good sponge filter is best for the fry tank so the small fry aren't sucked into the filter. Or use a HOB with a prefilter sponge on the intake.

Finally- I suggest you post a picture of the labs from your LFS before you buy them. Most labs being sold these days are tainted with Metriaclima estherae and are not purebred.