Stocking up my Malawi tank

What I have at the moment, they are all around 2.5 to 3.5 cm and growing fast...

13 demasoni 2.5"

6 electric yellow Lab 5"

4 pseudotropheus socolofi (albino) 6"

5 nimbochromis venustus (giraffe) 10.5", will probably get rid of these before fully grown

3 auloncara baenschi (yellow peacock) 5", not sure if they will be ok with all the Mumba when the get bigger so may have have to loose these as well???

=154" Total fish when fully grown,

Can I add any more or is the list above enough for my tank?

I want to get stocked up now, then I don't want to really make any changes or start selling off fish (or adding more tanks, don't tell my wife I said that) for about 12months.

I read that it is best to introduce all your Malawi when they are young so they tolerate each other later on, so i want to try and get a nice mix now.

I would to add a few metriaclima greshakei ice blue zebras - Heaps of these on trademe at moment

Also i want some OB Zebras if i can find some around 3cm

Is there anything else that will mix well with this lot?

Tank is

1.8 x .6 x .6

120L sump 2500L water flows through it per hour

Actual amount of water is around 600L

i have kept peacocks & mbuna in a much smaller tank without issues, in fact the peacock was the more aggro one. you have a big tank which is a great size, i would say you will be fine with the current stocking numbers although there may be some issues when the giraffes get big but they may not be as well. I have kept a similar number of africans in a much smaller tank so as long as your filtration is adequate then i think it should be fine. just watch it as time goes on & see how it pans out.

Thanks Smidy, how long does it take for the giraffes to grow to say 5" in size? I don't mind if i have to sell or move the giraffes later and focus the tank on mbuna species.

This list is pretty good and alot less than what you could stick in your tank when fully grown..

13 demasoni 2.5"

6 electric yellow Lab 5"

4 pseudotropheus socolofi (albino) 6"

5 nimbochromis venustus (giraffe) 10.5", will probably get rid of these before fully grown

3 auloncara baenschi (yellow peacock) 5", not sure if they will be ok with all the Mumba when the get bigger so may have have to loose these as well???

=154" Total fish when fully grown,

Your giraffes should be fine, I have kept them with similar or the same fish as your ones with no issues. They are pretty soft I have 2m 3f in my 5x2x2 and they aren't even aggressive enough to breed they let all the other fish push them around.. They grow quite fast if they are the biggest fish in the tank.

Your baenshi should be ok with the above as well, the mbuna you have chosen are quite soft (obviously dems are quite agro but generally only towards their own kin) and tend to stick with their own kind.

I would recommend not getting the ice blues they are nasty buggers and would cause more issues than the giraffes ever would, I used to breed and keep these but got sick of the males dominating big tanks and being agro, they are ok when they are smaller but once the males get some size on them they are really bad. OB zebras are not as agro but you may have the same issues, I could breed you some OB zebras if you wanted them but have found noone wants them so I don't breed them anymore.

I think i will flag the zebras then. Now i am at a bit of a loss , i want to get 1 or 2 species more, could i get some other type of peacock or will they just cause problems with the baenschi? Also I like the look of the male electric blue hap but I'm not sure about them.

what about some different behaving africans like lump heads? they spend alot of time on the bottom or sitting on rocks rather than cruising the mid height of the tank.

ive got heaps of 3-4cm lumpheads if want to get some but im in hamilton

TBH with the size of the tank you have and the lower numbers of each fish you have I would look at boosting numbers of your existing species so they fill out the tank more before you add different fish.. Electric blues would be fine, as would peacocks of course bearing in mind if you mix any brown females you might as well flush all the girls, you can get around this by using dragonsbloods or OB peacocks which don't have brown females so you can tell them all apart.

i can easily tell the difference between a peacock female & a fryeri female. the fryeri has a much shallower slope up the forehead.

Are these lump heads?

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/s ... hp?id=1353

If so I'm trying to stick with Malawi's for now. Thanks

Ryan - I was also thinking sticking with what i have, so boosting the numbers will be the way to go. I'll probably get some more baenschi and albino socolofi. I don't really want any more e yellows as the seem to draw the attention off the others.

Are these lump heads?

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/s ... hp?id=1353

If so I'm trying to stick with Malawi's for now. Thanks

yep, that's them & they are great with malawis. i had them a while back & i didn't actually realise they weren't from the lake.

i can easily tell the difference between a peacock female & a fryeri female. the fryeri has a much shallower slope up the forehead.

Yes they are dead obvious was referring to adding more peacocks..

Yes they are dead obvious was referring to adding more peacocks..

that makes sense now.

do you have any other species of fish in the tank i was thinking perhaps a syno catfish?

got any pics of setup... :nilly:

Metriaclima aurora, Saw some nice ones at hollywood mt Roskill the other day.

got any pics of setup... :nilly:

Still have to build the hood, have all the materials - just need to find some time

Also want to re-arrange/glue down some of the rocks before the fish get too big.

Metriaclima aurora, Saw some nice ones at hollywood mt Roskill the other day.

I have been thinking about them, they do look nice. Are the males and females the same colours? And how aggressive are they?

I want some rustys idotropheus sprengerae but seem to go round in circles trying to find any. Are there any orange coloured Malawis easily available and not to agro

Otherwise I think i will just stick it out as is they are starting to look so nice now.

very hard to photograph the peacock with his fins plumed, he is my biggest but also hides a lot. He is starting to colour up and also seems to have a gf

i love your setup :nilly: :nilly: aone

It is a very nice clean looking setup I still think you have around half the fish you could have in there but that is upto you..

Aurora I have found to be quite passive even when breeding, they are mbuna though so may be harder on your peacocks.

nice setup! i have Rusty's but Ryan has bagged my first lot of fry i have a female holding now but it would take a while to raise them to the size of your fish now.

I like your set up 'beets' and agree about 'sticking it out'.

I'd be tempted to leave Dems and yellows to grow out- I'd personally add more yellows to get to 10.

Yes- funny with the Rusty's. I could hardly give them away when I had them- they would be a good addition to a set up like yours- maybe hang out for some of Matto's.

I would be weary of Aurora- I think they would just take over and be out of balance with others, and eventually be 'out of scale' too.

Never had albino socolofi, so not sure of them.

I'd be tempted to fill the top area with more peacocks and mild haps.

I think a few more of those species would be good for tank balance and keep the existing ones occupied.

Something like Maleri gold or a nice Dragonsblood could give you the orange you're after.

So could a kadango

Have you got another shot of your Baenschi- head looks quite 'jakeish' in that one.

I love Giraffes but if they are going to go may as well be sooner than later.

Lumpheads are cool and real characters. I only got rid of mine as they squabbled too much with my syno's.

As with ryan- I think you can stock that sized tank quite heavily, especially when fish are young and weed out things to get the right dynamic over time.

I'll be weeding out a few young male hap/peacocks that i'd be raising for my male tank and that are excess to needs soon. if you are interested PM me.