# size, growth, age of mbuna



## Yasir saeed (Jan 28, 2013)

hi,

i have a homemade aquarium with l x w x h of 36 x 24 x 24 cm. i intend to keep mbuna and i have read alot of discussions on this forum but still i have questions. how much gallons of water will it hold and are the dimensions find for an aquarium?

is their any growth chart of cichlids age and their length, e.g what will be the age of 1 inch cichlid, or how soon they will reach their full lenght?

if i stock 20 cichlids of 1" and take good care and provided the required conditions, on average what will be their survival rate. will i have at least 15 by the end of year?

Thanks


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## Iggy Newcastle (May 15, 2012)

I'm afraid your tank is too small for mbuna cichlids. 14 x 9.5"? Is that correct?


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## Yasir saeed (Jan 28, 2013)

Iggy Newcastle said:


> I'm afraid your tank is too small for mbuna cichlids. 14 x 9.5"? Is that correct?


Sorry for the blunder its not in centimeters but inches. i guess it can hold 90 gallons of water


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

All of your cichlids should survive for 8 years. I would not put 20 in a 36" long tank (that's more important than the gallons) for a year unless they were demasoni which is a dwarf cichlid that needs to be a little crowded to manage aggression.

Or maybe saulosi.

You will not want to keep all 20 original one inch cichlids. Once the males start to mature they will fight and you will want to rehome them until you have maybe 3 left if we are talking about demasoni or saulosi.

You would have more options with a longer tank...even if it still held only 90 gallons. Like the standard 48" x 18" shape.


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## Yasir saeed (Jan 28, 2013)

DJRansome what you suggest then. 15 cichlids of 2"?


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## IanR29 (Dec 13, 2012)

That tank would do way better with either Angels or Discus. The top 12-18 inches of that tank is not going to be used by the mbuna seeing as how they stick to the rocks on the bottom. Being that the blue print is only 36" x 24" I would t put anything other than Dems or Saulosi as meant jones above but then that's a wasted 90g's. personally I'd sell it on Craigslist and see if there's a 48" tank. Length is the most important part of a tank. Height is the last.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Since the tank is 36" I would be leaning toward a single species of dwarf mbuna no matter whether they are juveniles or adult. A one-inch cichlid will double or triple in size in a year. They will be spawning by then...which is when they need the full-size tank. It's not really related to when they reach their full length. Many mbuna can be spawning within 6 months of when they are spit at a size of 1.5".


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## jcabage (May 29, 2012)

IanR29 said:


> personally I'd sell it on Craigslist


I couldn't resist checking to see if Pakistan actually had Craigslist. They do!

I would stock a good sized group of saulosi in that tank. While the 36" length is limiting, the 24" width opens the tank up quite a bit.

That is significantly more footprint (1.5x) than that of a standard 55" (commonly stocked with 3 less aggressive species), and the longest stretch of the tank (corner to corner) is over 43" - not far from 48". It would seem that if you stack your rock appropriately, this aquarium could be quite manageable.

Maybe you could shoot for a large rock pile in the center with 4 smaller, 1 in each corner? That would provide good breaks in line-of-sight, as well of lots of territory to claim.


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## IanR29 (Dec 13, 2012)

jcabage said:


> IanR29 said:
> 
> 
> > personally I'd sell it on Craigslist
> ...


 Wow i didnt even check to see where they were from, i have a bad habit of assuming everyone is from the states. It does open it up a bit but that extra 12" in length is like a whole new world.


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## Yasir saeed (Jan 28, 2013)

You dont know how difficult this hobby is in Pakistan. you may find craigslist but not many cichlid lovers


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## fmueller (Jan 11, 2004)

jcabage said:


> While the 36" length is limiting, the 24" width opens the tank up quite a bit. That is significantly more footprint (1.5x) than that of a standard 55" (commonly stocked with 3 less aggressive species), and the longest stretch of the tank (corner to corner) is over 43" - not far from 48". It would seem that if you stack your rock appropriately, this aquarium could be quite manageable.


I agree with this assessment. With 2' depth, this is hardly your average 3' tank. A lot will depend on clever rock placement, but the depth of that tank gives you quite a bit of room to play with.

Rather than suggest species that might have never made it to Pakistan, what kind of species are commonly available there?


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## fmueller (Jan 11, 2004)

In another thread you stated that your tank measures 36"x24"x18". A calculator in the library shows that's 255 liters or 67 US gallons.


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## Yasir saeed (Jan 28, 2013)

fmueller said:


> jcabage said:
> 
> 
> > While the 36" length is limiting, the 24" width opens the tank up quite a bit. That is significantly more footprint (1.5x) than that of a standard 55" (commonly stocked with 3 less aggressive species), and the longest stretch of the tank (corner to corner) is over 43" - not far from 48". It would seem that if you stack your rock appropriately, this aquarium could be quite manageable.
> ...


it always depends on luck. once i couldnot find juvies of yellow lab, now i cannot see any demasoni. again nobody know them by such names. when you visit a shop and tell them do you have any red zebra they say "what the **** is that"? the only thing they know is they all are called cichlids and they wont live with other fishes. tanganykans, victorians and haps of malawi, i havnt seen them.


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## fmueller (Jan 11, 2004)

Yasir saeed said:


> nobody know them by such names. when you visit a shop and tell them do you have any red zebra they say "what the #%$& is that"? the only thing they know is they all are called cichlids and they wont live with other fishes.


That is not so different from most of the stores here. You are lucky if they don't call them chick-lids :lol:


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