Mbuna 75 Gallon Transformation

[MikeNHouston]

I thought I would drop this as I am transforming my 75 gallon to an Mbuna tank.... As you can see it was my Oscar tank but the have since been moved to my 125. The new inhabitants will be
6 Yellow Labs
6 Purple Acei
6 Red Zebra
6 Rustys or Cobalt Zebras haven't made this decision yet
Yes I know the numbers are high however I know I am going to have to rehome a couple males at some point. So instead of putting in the 18-20 fish and having to remove males and then add more I figure I can cut to the numbers I am looking for (Still no guarantee that Ill get what I want but hey )



Excuse the cloudly water these rocks have been scrubbed and pressure washed yet still managed to somehow cloud the water which has cleared since this picture. Working on planting with Anubias and Java Fern more pictures to follow.

 

[Andy Sager]

Unless you plan on breeding the fish, why reduce the numbers of males? Better to remove or not get the females since the males have the more color on many of the species.

 

[MikeNHouston]

Most of the fish on my list are monomorphic which is one reason the other reason the size I am getting them in all of the places that I have looked to buy them they don't have "sexed" selections for 1"-2" fish. Also if the breed its a bonus. I Picked the 1"-2" size because I wanted to watch them grow and yes I could have picked a larger "sexed" size but I would have missed that time with my fish.
I also added some driftwood and live plants last night I have more plants coming and I know having plants in an Mbuna tank may not work but I am going to try it anyway.

 

[Andy Sager]

Be careful of the wood. Wood is used to "soften" water and that's no good for Mbunas. They like hard water with high Ph. Use fake/plastic wood if you really want that wood look. I'd put the wood in the Oscar tank.

 

[MikeNHouston]

Oh I have absolutely no issues with Ph even with all that wood in my tank Ph is still 8.1 comes out of the tap at 8.2 and I absolutely hate all of the fake all of the fake wood that I have seen.

 

[Andy Sager]

Oh I have absolutely no issues with Ph even with all that wood in my tank Ph is still 8.1 comes out of the tap at 8.2 and I absolutely hate all of the fake all of the fake wood that I have seen.

Check the hardness. You can have soft water with high Ph but that's not going to help your Mbunas.