# 4' 90g mbuna tank



## eeztropheus (Jan 10, 2010)

I moved back at the beginning of February. After tearing down my 100g, my 125g (sold the 125) and a 10g fry tank I was hesitant to rush into setting up a tank again as we were expecting our first child. I wasn't sure if I would be able to keep up the maintenance on a tank with a newborn in the house. My baby girl was born mid march, and by mid may I was itching... Although I still had the 100g in the garage, I went and bought a 4' 90g truvu (craigslist). I did the fishless cycle and by mid June I had a 90g tank ready to be stocked.

A buddy of mine gave me 25 juvie saulosi ( I want to get the group down to 3m:10f) but that wasn't enough... So I bought 6 juvie zebra chilumba maisoni reef (they are only about an inch), and another friend gave me a group of 5 fed top ndumbi. The red tops are about 1.5" one of them is already coloring up...

My goal is to have a group of 12-13 saulosi, a quad of the zebra chilumba maisoni reef and a quad of the red top ndumbi. Only time will tell...


----------



## Iggy Newcastle (May 15, 2012)

Congrats on your baby girl.

Good luck with the stocking...


----------



## eeztropheus (Jan 10, 2010)

Thanks!

I already have to start thinning out the saulosi herd. They range from .5-2" one of the males is almost fully colored, he and one of the bigger females have already spawned (she only held for a couple days).


----------



## eeztropheus (Jan 10, 2010)




----------



## eeztropheus (Jan 10, 2010)




----------



## Iggy Newcastle (May 15, 2012)

That Ndumbi is a real stunner. Recently got some Saulosi myself. One of my males looks exactly like your last photo.


----------



## eeztropheus (Jan 10, 2010)

Thanks Iggy!
You're going to love your saulosi. They aren't overly aggressive but they are real scrappy, they don't let the ndumbi push them around.


----------



## eeztropheus (Jan 10, 2010)

Zebra Chilumba Maisoni Reef @ 1.5" starting to show some color.


----------



## Iggy Newcastle (May 15, 2012)

Pretty fish. I had a M. pyrsonotus that colored up wonderfully at that size. How is he with the saulosi boys?


----------



## eeztropheus (Jan 10, 2010)

Thanks. He is still fairly low in the ranking. He tries to act tuff but only the other zebras and the smallest saulosi buy his BS. For the most part the saulosi males leave him alone and vice versa... I think eventually he will run the tank as he should get considerably larger than the saulosi and the ndumbi.


----------



## NJmomie (Jan 17, 2013)

Beautiful fish eeztropheus and congrats on the new baby girl. Now you can have something to look at when you do the 2am feeding.


----------



## eeztropheus (Jan 10, 2010)

Thank you NJ! She is sleeping longer now so its more like 4 am feedings lol.


----------



## eeztropheus (Jan 10, 2010)

I can no longer call it a mbuna tank, it's now a mixed lake tank. A buddy gave me 7 eretmodus cyanostictus they are only an inch in size but they are settling quite nicely... Pics to come...


----------



## eeztropheus (Jan 10, 2010)

The smallest of the gobies was unable to run the gauntlet and was killed and eaten the first night. The other 6 are doing great, they've carved out there niche on the substrate and stick to the rocks like glue. They now swim up and join in the feeding frenzy and growing rather quickly.


----------



## Pseudeotropheus BB (Jan 24, 2013)

How is the aggression level in the tank? I would have to imagine at some point the BB's will start terrorizing and possibly killing the male Saulosi, I would keep a keen eye on them. BB's are my favorite Mbuna but boy are they nasty.


----------



## eeztropheus (Jan 10, 2010)

On a scale of 1-10 I would say the aggression level is at a 5 mostly conspecific... For the moment the bb's are the most laid back, the saulosi ate the most high strung but it's all a show, the dominat male red top ndumbi for having such a bad rep is actually pretty tolerant of all his tank mates. I wouldn't call him tank boss but when it comes down to it he can make anyone back down. 
It is definitely a fun tank to watch!


----------



## eeztropheus (Jan 10, 2010)

Well, I'm about to change the whole dynamic of the tank... I will be re-homing 15 or so of my saulosi in order to make room for for 6 (3", ratio 2:4) WC Metriaclima callainos OB Makonde! I was torn between Metriaclima zebra sp. gold Lions Cove, but went with the OB callainos...


----------



## cichlid-gal (Apr 27, 2012)

eeztropheus said:


> Well, I'm about to change the whole dynamic of the tank... I will be re-homing 15 or so of my saulosi in order to make room for for 6 (3", ratio 2:4) WC Metriaclima callainos OB Makonde! I was torn between Metriaclima zebra sp. gold Lions Cove, but went with the OB callainos...


Obviously you didn't talk to the M. zebra gold expert :lol: I love my zebra golds...they are really one of my favorite fish and have front and center in the most active part of my house where I can see them all the time...between the kitchen and dining room.

I'm sure you will enjoy your choice but I know you would have liked the zebra golds also :wink:


----------



## eeztropheus (Jan 10, 2010)

Cichlid-gal, 
I know how you love your zebra gold. When I was contemplating getting them i kept hearing the words of your posts in my head. The main reason I didn't go for them is size, the ones available were only .5 inch. They would have been murdered in my tank. I really like them and know I'll give them a try in the future... 
Might be time to setup the 100g sitting in the garage?...


----------



## cichlid-gal (Apr 27, 2012)

eeztropheus said:


> Cichlid-gal,
> I know how you love your zebra gold. When I was contemplating getting them i kept hearing the words of your posts in my head. The main reason I didn't go for them is size, the ones available were only .5 inch. They would have been murdered in my tank. I really like them and know I'll give them a try in the future...
> Might be time to setup the 100g sitting in the garage?...


 :dancing:


----------



## eeztropheus (Jan 10, 2010)

The dudes I will be getting.


----------



## cichlid-gal (Apr 27, 2012)

eeztropheus said:


> The dudes I will be getting.


Stunning!


----------



## eeztropheus (Jan 10, 2010)

cichlid-gal said:


> eeztropheus said:
> 
> 
> > The dudes I will be getting.
> ...


Thanks! I've literally been losing sleep in anticipation of getting these guys...


----------



## eeztropheus (Jan 10, 2010)

So today I rehomed 10 saulosi and 2 red top ndumbi in order to make room for the new arrivals, they should be here Tuesday...


----------



## Pseudeotropheus BB (Jan 24, 2013)

eeztropheus said:


> The dudes I will be getting.


That fish is gorgeous. Is that a random photo, a male from the breeding group or an actual male you will be getting. He looks as if he has some pearl essence to his scaling. If in fact that is a male from a breeding group I would be interested in knowing where you are making this purchase. Could you shoot me a PM, thanks.

Craig


----------



## eeztropheus (Jan 10, 2010)

Craig,
Yeah that dude is a real stunner! That is a picture from his website. It is one of the males in the group, he said he has a dozen males and a dozen females.. I have a feeling he will be keeping that one for himself for breeding purposes, not to say I did not try... I will PM you the info...


----------



## eeztropheus (Jan 10, 2010)

They're here! I ended up purchasing an extra male, so I have 7 total... I was really surprised when I realized he infancy did sen me the one from the pic! He is about 4 inches and even more stunning in person... I'll have pics soon..


----------



## Iggy Newcastle (May 15, 2012)

So... What happened to those pictures?


----------



## eeztropheus (Jan 10, 2010)

Well I started another thread just for them, but I ended up selling all of my mbuna. They were the last to go about a month ago, since then I switched the tank over to a tang tank...


----------



## pablo111 (Dec 10, 2013)

This fish is very attractive. I especially like how his egg spots are all in a row. Your male saulosi is looking very nice. 
What are you feeding them?


----------



## eeztropheus (Jan 10, 2010)

I feed all my fish NLS cichlid formula and spirulina flake. 
I no longer have any of the fish that are on this thread


----------

