Chris.K Posted May 25, 2010 Share Posted May 25, 2010 guys, all things going well i hope to add 6 more fish this weekend. (buy 5 get 1 free). eventually having 20-25 fish in total. 430L 5x2x1.5 tank. curently have: 2xmbama 3xelectic yellow 1xN.Venustus what i was thinking of adding this weekend: 1x Aulonocara Rubescens 1x Aulonocara Baenschi 3xRed zebra 1xmbama (i really dig these guys and was thinking of adding another) later on: maingano's some pleco's happy to listen to all any any suggestions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mathobes Posted May 25, 2010 Share Posted May 25, 2010 I would keep an eye on the venustus as it gets older Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mathobes Posted May 25, 2010 Share Posted May 25, 2010 I would keep an eye on the venustus as it gets older Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dobbin4 Posted May 26, 2010 Share Posted May 26, 2010 Depends what sex your fish are?, display only? Your choice will give you a nice colour range. Your peacocks may have trouble competing with the N venustus & Ps zebs, even the male Lab mbama can be a bit rough.While the maingano are nice they tend to need a few of to not pick on the other fish. How about Afra cobwe, Lion's cove,Ps polit, Mel Johanni M blue F orange,perhaps a few julis or N cylindricus,leleupi for the bottom ??. I would make sure the peacocks are larger 6/8cm and others 4/5cm, that way you can sex them all and have nice male peacocks for display & will handle the other fish better. Hope helps. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris.K Posted May 26, 2010 Author Share Posted May 26, 2010 Depends what sex your fish are?, display only? Your choice will give you a nice colour range. Your peacocks may have trouble competing with the N venustus & Ps zebs, even the male Lab mbama can be a bit rough.While the maingano are nice they tend to need a few of to not pick on the other fish. How about Afra cobwe, Lion's cove,Ps polit, Mel Johanni M blue F orange,perhaps a few julis or N cylindricus,leleupi for the bottom ??. I would make sure the peacocks are larger 6/8cm and others 4/5cm, that way you can sex them all and have nice male peacocks for display & will handle the other fish better. Hope helps. yeah the afra cobwe are definately on my list ! thanks for the suggestion. i like them alot. it seems tough to be able to get alot of these species as small juvenilles, at least out my way. i will try riverside tomorrow as they seem to have a large variety of cichlids. am still waiting for my cycle to get going. i'm still recording 0 ammonia/ nitrite/ nitrate. surely i have to have a spike of them soon right ?? i mean isnt it impossible for my tank not to have traces of these in the beginning when i first add fish ??? my lfs said i should get them within a week and its been a week and still nada. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dobbin4 Posted May 26, 2010 Share Posted May 26, 2010 Why dont you post a WTB on here you may get the fry you want for 30% you will pay at a shop? Worth a go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris.K Posted May 27, 2010 Author Share Posted May 27, 2010 today added 6 more small cichlids: A.baenschi x2 (M/F) male looks like he could be quite good in colour but damn the female is ugly ! lfs reckons the male will colour better with a female in tank. dont know if this is true or not but will give it a go. female is swimming all over but the male seems a bit timid due to the mbamba atm. P.Saluosi x2 (M/F) scooting around all over the joint. I. Sprengerae x2 unsure of sex right now, LFS thinks m/f but cant tell exactly. he's sure one is a male but the other one is a guess. they've picked a cave in a rock and i haven't seen them since ! red rubin, red zebra werent the best quality and he said to wait a while until he gets better stock. afra cobwe will be next on the list. lfs thinks best to try and get the peacocks in first before i add more mbuna. sounds reasonable ? so now i will wait 2 weeks before the next lot rather than a week to make sure my tank is coping ok. the lfs also said to see how the saluosi and mbamba's cope just as a pair. if too agro, he suggested adding another female of each type. again, sounds quite reasonable. as soon as i added the fish, the boss mbamba asserted his authority very quickly and chased the whole tank around for about an hour before he settled down. my second mbamba which i thought was a female i'm almost sure is actually a male. he did some chasing of his own and his colour immediately came out very intensely until he settled. the only fish that isnt petrified of the boss is the venustus which is actually half his size at the moment ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Priscacara Posted May 28, 2010 Share Posted May 28, 2010 Sounds like its all coming together and your lfs is being very helpfull, not all would tell you to wait on things. Looking forward to further reports on progress and some tank shots down the track. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krellious Posted May 28, 2010 Share Posted May 28, 2010 just noticed you have saulosi... get more then 1 female. in my experience the male gets aggressive during his spawning time. chances are he will kill the female if it pays no attention to him or is holding and weak from not eating. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dobbin4 Posted May 28, 2010 Share Posted May 28, 2010 So your got M/F A baenschi , and planing more peacocks. You know they cross breed?.Hope your not planning to keep the fry if your adding red Rubin as well.Yep male will show better colour with female but so will the other species peacocks as well. They will want to breed as well. Ps species cross breed as well. But not likely with what you have choosen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcloughlin2 Posted May 28, 2010 Share Posted May 28, 2010 Your LFS seems to be offering very good advice. I would suggest adding some more of each species. I usually recommend adding at least 4 of each as they seem to show better colours and aggression is spread out more. The venustus shouldn't be too much of an issue. Sure, a male venustus will be king of the tank but it shouldn't do any harm except to other large male venustus. I have a colony of 10 (8-18cm) with assorted cichlids such as maingano (5cm), mbamba (5cm), electric blue males (10cm), cobolt blues (8cm) and the only agression in the tank is between the two big male venustus and even that is relatively tame. They are in a 6 foot tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris.K Posted May 29, 2010 Author Share Posted May 29, 2010 So your got M/F A baenschi , and planing more peacocks. You know they cross breed?.Hope your not planning to keep the fry if your adding red Rubin as well.Yep male will show better colour with female but so will the other species peacocks as well. They will want to breed as well. Ps species cross breed as well. But not likely with what you have choosen. no intention to breed at all. i'll leave that to people far more experienced than me. majestic aquariums is my lfs: cant recommend them highly enuf. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cpfc Posted May 29, 2010 Share Posted May 29, 2010 I may have some Afra Cobue fry soon. My male cannot help himself. My LFS seems to have juves all the time. PM me and I will let you know the LFS. If you really want a spike add a plec. Those guys poop. What cleanup crew are you planning on ie what plecs or other catfish? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cpfc Posted May 30, 2010 Share Posted May 30, 2010 The fish just seem to get on with it. BTW my LFS had plenty of Afras yesterday if you are having no luck. So your got M/F A baenschi , and planing more peacocks. You know they cross breed?.Hope your not planning to keep the fry if your adding red Rubin as well.Yep male will show better colour with female but so will the other species peacocks as well. They will want to breed as well. Ps species cross breed as well. But not likely with what you have choosen. no intention to breed at all. i'll leave that to people far more experienced than me. majestic aquariums is my lfs: cant recommend them highly enuf. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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