just been searching online about Aulonocara baenschi and jacobfreibergi and its saying that they need a minimum tank size of 170 litres. but is this size for just the one fish or for a group of say 3-4?

im thinking of getting a breeding group of one of these after my big move to auckland

Yeah I would say a descent sized 3ft for a colony of these, can easily be grown out to an inch or so in a 2fter but the bigger the better.. Colony can be 1-2males (they might scrap but can get along) to 2++ females.

im getting some tanks from spangela, 164 litre, 1000mm X 400mm X 410mm, how many fully grown guys would be comfterable in that? i was thinking of 1 male and 2-3 females

Those tanks would be perfect, you could have 1m and probably upto 6-10females if you really wanted to. You might get away with dividing them and doing a smaller colony on each half, the recommendations are really on an adult fish because they can get quite big but that does take a number of years.

how many years are we talking untill theyr at their 5-6 inch mark? and how old until they start breeding?

How long is a piece of string? Depends on what you feed them, what water they are kept in, how often you change the water etc.. Generally they take a year to mature (depends on species and strain) and 2-3yrs to get to 4-5" but obviously that varies hugely between people some people seem to have a crazy ability to just grow fish up very fast..

i think a lot of how big and fast they grow is as ryan said down to water quality, food and tank size from the start

Yeah I have noticed fish from different sources when treated the same way grow at different rates, I think if they are treated badly at the start or kept in poor conditions they can be stunted before you even start..

The answer with africans is simple.

Too big is never big enuff

Over filtered is never filtered enuff and...

you can never have done to many water changes....lol

Welcome to the world of MTS

Good luck with your breeding program

Also you will need some small well filtered easy accessable tanks to grow your fry out in and more food than your family eats to get everythinig up to size.

Africans are however worth it so pics etc when sorted will be great...no pressure tho

yea ive had MTS for a while now, just not big tanks, i was living in a barrack room with about 8 2 foot tanks, it left me no room for my tv and computer, only a bed and a fridge for the fish food. at the moment i have 8, with one on a pallet to make water changes that little bit easier. and ive only got 8 tanks in blenheim because thats all that fit in the car when i moved here. to make things worse/better im buying 15 of the above mentioned tanks as soon as i get to auckland.

i think i qualify for the sickness benafit if you ask me becouse its progressing rapidly

i think i need more female peacocks in my tank the ones i got off ryan worked out to 4 males and one female and are not yet breeding but are very big and colourful