# Hi, new here. Introducing myself, more importantly my tank



## Mbunagasm (Mar 22, 2012)

Hey everyone, new to the forum. I don't know why I never joined a pet keeping forum I have been a exotic animal enthusiast all my life.

So I got back into fishkeeping and began a 55 barb tank and of course I gradually added species plants and such. 3 years later I have a densely planted, perforated rock tank with 8 tiger barbs 12 rosy barbs, 1 Opaline gourami, 1 catfish of some kind, 1 bristlenose pleco, 1 giant danio, a pair of convicts and 5 month old babies, 1 lab, 1 red zebra. I know this is wrong to some lol, and I'm planning on phasing it into a mostly Mbuna tank with 1 or no breeding pairs and keeping the barbs as a dither fish. In my experience tiger barbs are an excellent buffer against aggression, my school always breaks up any fights that break out. I also only introduce young fish to it. Lots of stacked perforated rock.

The the barbs, convict female and gourami will probably stay, she is very laid back for what is supposed to be is a very aggressive fish. My zebra is the only one that messes with anybody and its pretty lazy about it.

I am thinking of next getting an acei and then a damenosi. Does anyone have any other suggestions? I don't want any haps, they would not feel comfortable in this tank and nothing that gets bigger than 5 inches, preferably smaller. *** thought of afras, johanni or electric blue and I think I can pull off aggressive species with the amount of activity and places to hide in the tank. Any fish I introduce will be as young as possible


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## ChoxRox (Sep 8, 2011)

I would suggest rather than "phasing" it into a mbuna tank, just getting rid of everything other than the lab & zebra, and going from there.


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## Mbunagasm (Mar 22, 2012)

ChoxRox said:


> I would suggest rather than "phasing" it into a mbuna tank, just getting rid of everything other than the lab & zebra, and going from there.


I will probably desire to do that eventually but i am attached to a few of them. My big gourami was a gift from an established tank and he was already 5 years old, hes been in my tank for 2 yeahs,little mbuna would probably not mess with him and he hasnt got much longer anyway. I am really exited to begin putting snail shells in and making more habitat for little mbunas.


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## brinkles (Jan 30, 2011)

Sounds like you need a 2nd tank! Male mbuna can turn into real monsters as they mature, you will have much more success with males and harems for them. It's very interesting to watch the groups interact, anyway. They'll dig and eat your plants, as well. And skip the johanni (auratus, kenyi, bumblebee), they're psycho.


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## Mbunagasm (Mar 22, 2012)

I'm glad to get some feedback before I do something I regret lol. The danio and as many convicts as I can catch are going back to the pet shop tomorrow. That giant danio is going to be tough, if I cant catch him I might just spear him lol. What about a shelldweller colony? The bottom will be quieter with the baby convicts gone. Not buying anything new yet though.


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## claire (Mar 22, 2012)

Hello, I am new here, too. It seems that people here are so nice and friendly.And about your problem , I think you need a 2nd tank.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

I definitely let your current community fish live out their lives with appropriate tank mates (not mbuna IMO) and then start an African tank when ready.


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## ChoxRox (Sep 8, 2011)

DJRansome said:


> I definitely let your current community fish live out their lives with appropriate tank mates (not mbuna IMO) and then start an African tank when ready.


+1. I can understand being attached to fish, but it's really not a good idea to mix mbuna with your current fish.


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## Mbunagasm (Mar 22, 2012)

Removed the danio and all but 5 of the baby convicts. Added 2 likely mbuna hybrids today as well as a new rock. (no offspring if any will be passed)

The lab and zebra have asserted themselves but not overly aggressive. There is definate tension top to bottom right now The big gourami has been chasing the male convict more than normal. I wasnt expecting any of the established tankmates to squabble amongst themseves but they are a little bit. The male convict seems to be the cause and target of new aggression, he might leave the tank tonight. I may have a ticking time bomb here but well just have to wait and see.

. The little zebra is quite alert and active right now, following the newcommers and displaying, the larger barb is a bit stressed but always has been due to the giant danio. In the past I bred barbs in this tank, that is of course impossible now so Ill take out the male convict and the female roseys 1 or 2 at a time as needed. There is more aggression right now but it seems to be following the same pattern and most importantly there are lots of hiding places.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

I'd expect your gourami to lose his streamers.


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## Mbunagasm (Mar 22, 2012)

Ok so came home today and everything seems ok. The female Convict is chasing the larger Barbs away from her as well as the Mbuna. Looks like shes digging an egg pit too, that should make her easy to catch in a couple days . Having her as tank boss used to make the tank stable but now her and her mate might be a problem if they really are spawning. The newcomer hybrids have asserted dominance over the lab and zebra but not seeing alot of Mbuna aggression right now. So next step is to remove both convicts after the eggs are laid and 2 female barbs. I do have some reservations about removing the current tank boss, it could be a catalyst to chaos.


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## Mbunagasm (Mar 22, 2012)

Removed the male convict last night, put him alone in a 10 gal for now. Things are much calmer today but I swear that female is looking for him. Taking out 1-2 of the larger barbs today too Also bought a used 70 gallon capacity canister filter. I did find my catfish dead but I am pretty sure it was because I found him stuck in a 1" diffuser tube the other day, he was in a pretty sorry state when I finally found him.


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## infamous (Mar 28, 2012)

I would suggest keeping only the Lab,Zebra,and catfish...and also if you do add more Mbuna after that, definately not smaller than the Zebra...because in my experience keeping African Cichlids Red Zebra pound for pound are one of the meanest Mbuna species.The only reason the others are not being bothered is due to the fact of size and the others were there first.


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## madmort0 (Oct 29, 2011)

opcorn: opcorn: 
pics!
pics!


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## Mbunagasm (Mar 22, 2012)

So the male convict and a few barbs are gone now. Good thing too because I found the female laying eggs the same day. Although It looks as though one of the male babies might have fertilized them. She was also laying them upside down to a flat rock, that was neat to watch. She is closely tending the eggs not going far at all. Got a 10 gallon setup to isolate her in a couple days to ensure the eggs get eaten. Got a couple more mbuna too. The gourami while doing fine, nobody messing with him at the moment might go to my roommate's shoal tank for safety and I really do think this is fast becoming an all mbuna tank.

The mbuna are squabbling amongst themselves a bit, but the barbs are being left alone for now. I'm thinking 5 afras and maybe a single johanni can go in as barbs come out and them I'll be at a comfortable capacity of 12-13 Mbuna in a 55 gal, which is actually a decent reduction of the current population.


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## Mbunagasm (Mar 22, 2012)

The convict eggs do appear fertile, pulling the female as soon as she gives me a good reason. The prettiest unidentified mbuna is attempting to take control of the right 1/3rd of the tank ignoring the barbs and gourami but quick to chase any other mbuna out, he is not the biggest mbuna so we will see how long this lasts. The gourami is fine hes not the target of any aggression but I think He will need his own calmer tank soon. I am not smart enough to put photos from my hard drive up here without instructions, is there a how to section about stuff like that?


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

This is from at sticky at the top of the Aquarium Photography forum.
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/view ... hp?t=21085


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## Mbunagasm (Mar 22, 2012)

sorry for the bad quality it was taken with a camera phone

here is one of the newer misc mbuna.

http://i1074.photobucket.com/albums/w41 ... photo2.jpg

you can see the big gourami hovering over all the others in this

http://i1074.photobucket.com/albums/w41 ... photo1.jpg

http://i1074.photobucket.com/albums/w41 ... /photo.jpg

This is of the female guarding her eggs with her tiny mate, she has since left the tank leaving the tiny father the impossible task of guarding the eggs from inquisitive mbuna with some epic fights going on right now.


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## lilcountrygal (Dec 27, 2011)

> the tiny father the impossible task of guarding the eggs from inquisitive mbuna with some epic fights going on right now.


Why would you allow that? :-?

Not sure why, but for some reason I'm comparing this in my head to a cockfight. Sick. :roll:


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## Mbunagasm (Mar 22, 2012)

lilcountrygal said:


> > the tiny father the impossible task of guarding the eggs from inquisitive mbuna with some epic fights going on right now.
> 
> 
> Why would you allow that? :-?
> ...


i tried to catch him but he wouldent come out of the rock. the eggs are eaten now its over anyway


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## prov356 (Sep 20, 2006)

> Why would you allow that?
> 
> Not sure why, but for some reason I'm comparing this in my head to a cockfight. Sick.


Cichlids defend their young sometimes even when odds are stacked against them. Happens quite often in many tanks and isn't something that can always be controlled. I don't see that there was any damage being done to the adults, so I don't understand why this would be compared to a cockfight which is a fight to the death. It's very difficult to keep cichilds and not ocassionally observe adults defending fry. As long as they're not being killed to get at the young, then it's just another day in a cichlid tank.


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## lilcountrygal (Dec 27, 2011)

I get that, prov. Convicts will notoriously defend their young whereas Mbuna will eat theirs. I didnt mean to suggest the OP intentionally staged a massacre (I apologize OP if I came across that way). I just believe that setup was screaming disaster from the start.

Im probably a horrible cichlid "parent".... I'm the woman who is standing at the tank screaming if one is picking on another... tapping the glass, trying to separate... usually to no avail.

If I were standing at OPs tank, Id be nuts draining water and trying to net fish. I know fish will fight, especially cichlids, however, I believe in trying to place stock as harmonious as possible. Everyone makes mistakes tho, including myself.

I know cichlids dont physically fight to the death, however, that can and usually is the end result of "epic battles". I know it cant be controlled, but the odds can be lowered significantly with the right stock. IMO, once the realization of "oh... convicts and Malawi. This is what could happen", Id have switched stuff around to avoid the epic battle.

You know... all that "make love, not war" 

(methinks I should switch to Guppies, eh? lol)

ETA... I didnt swear?


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## Mbunagasm (Mar 22, 2012)

lilcountrygal said:


> > the tiny father the impossible task of guarding the eggs from inquisitive mbuna with some epic fights going on right now.
> 
> 
> Why would you allow that? :-?
> ...


 it was most impressive watching that little convict father trying to take on a yellow lab 4x his size, defiantly the most heated aggression i have seen in the tank, the skirmishes only lasted a few secs, there were a few of them but now that the eggs are gone and everything is back to normal.

by the way before this I saw 0 aggression between any of the convicts and mbuna, that female actually did make a great tank boss. Just an interesting little side note that makes me theorize maybe a single larger new worlder would make a good mbuna tank boss (green terror?), not that im going to try it out anytime soon.


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## Mbunagasm (Mar 22, 2012)

Well so far this Mbuna phasing is going very well, its actually quite a bit calmer now that the adult convicts are gone and eggs have been eaten. My lab kept the spoils of war with the convicts to himself and boy is he fat lol.


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## Mbunagasm (Mar 22, 2012)

Update: Most of the barbs are gone, man they are hard to catch. Left the net in the tank to make the rest easier to catch. I think I have enough misc mbuna, got the last of them today from the same tank at the LFS as before, its almost like they remember each other. I caught one of the baby convicts too and noticed a beautiful baby texas/black convict hybrid and i couldent resist trading it in since they were they same size. Say what you want about hybrids but in some cases they look prettier than the parents. Again not passing on any fry.


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