# Tankmates for Yellow Lab and Acei



## cpowers (Mar 30, 2014)

Currently have a 75gallon 4' wide 18" back with 8 yellow labs and 4 acei, smallest fish is about 1" and largest 2.5". Very hard water, 7.6-7.8ph.
Everybody plays well (possibly one outcast yellow lab we are watching). Looking to add one or two more species. Not looking to breed. We do want happy fish nothing excessively aggressive.

My wife and I both like the ngara flametails, though the females are not very colorful.

We also like the german red peacocks.

Willing to take other recommendations for bright orange/red and blues.

My questions are:

Can we add two more species of fish and have a happy healthy tank?

Would there be any harm in having all male flametails, even if there were female labs/acei?

Is there a minimum quantity of either fish?

Thanks
Chris


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## hose91 (Mar 5, 2014)

Chris,

The good news is that you don't have a blue barred fish yet, so you have a LOT of choices. There are some really knowledgeable folks here who will surely pipe up, but based on my current research, I'd not mix the peacocks in, although you do have more mellow Mbuna, so maybe that'll work. The metriaclima groups seem to be a bit more aggressive in general. I'd say adding a group of 6-8 juvenile cynotilapia sp Afra would be a good choice. The "white top/Gallireya reef" seem to be a nice light colored blue male with dark barring, and the females can be a solid blue similar to the Acei. These fish show up in lots of stocking threads, so they'll probably fit. There are LOTS and Lots of cyno options, most of which are blue barred and would be a good contrast to what you have. You could also try some of the blue Labreotropheus, though they get bigger too (6-7") and you'd have a lot of fish in that tank eventually.

Rusty's are also possible (Iodotropheus Sprengerae) although I dont think you'd call them bright orange/red. Still, a nice color contrast to the yellow and blues you have now, and purportedly fairly mellow. Again, a group of 6-8 juvenilles shooting for the 1M to 4F ratio is ideal. The rusties are also pretty much the same look for male and female, so you're tank doesn't get TOO busy with colors and patterns.

I don't know enough to answer you're specific questions completely, though I think you might be able to add two species groups in that tank, especially if you keep to the smaller full grown fish. I'd say minimums for Mbuna are 4-5 Fish, (1M 3-4F) to keep the male aggression spread out enough.


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