# 150 gallon mbuna tank



## Fast_Freddy (Aug 18, 2010)

Hi Everyone, I'm setting up my first mbuna tank and would like some feedback and suggestions please. The tank is currently being built and measures 72x20x24 inches or 150 gallons. It will be filtered by 2 eheim 2217's and I plan to have inert sand and rocks as my decor. The water out of my tap is quite soft and has a ph of 7.2 so I will be adding cichlid buffers at water changes. Does this sounds like a good plan. I am also sorting out my stocking and these are the fish that I like.

Melanochromis Maingano 
Pseudotropheus estherae 
Labidochromis Caeruleus 
Pseudotropheus Saulosi
Cynotilapia pulpican
Cynotilapia Afra Cobue
Maylandia Callainos
Pseudotropheus Acei

Could I have some help as far as compatibility, numbers of each species and in which order they should be stocked (and if it matters)? I am also quite worried about the issue of hybridization. If some of these fish breed will I eventually be overrun with frankenfish? Thank you in advance for any help and suggestions.


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

Use this link and scroll down the page to find a recommendation http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/c ... er_75g.php. Of course, this is for a 75G tank so you should be able to increase the numbers of fish. Please note the recommendations for not mixing certain fish of the same genus to reduce the chances of hybrids.


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## ridley25 (Jan 5, 2008)

150 gallons...nice!

First thing I will mention is your pH. Are you planning on buying your fish from local breeders or LFS? If so, see if you can find out what their pH is; unless they're coming from 8 or higher I wouldn't bother tweaking yours. Although 7.2 is on the low side, mbuna can deal with it no problem. It's better to have a consistent 7.2 than the constant fluctuations that come with trying to raise it.

Now on to the fish:
A six foot tank can comfortably hold 5 mbuna species, but those are usually 125 gallons. with the extra width and height you could probably try 6 species - I wouldn't do more (but you could have some kind of synodontis as a seventh species.)

Pseudotrophues estherae is now classified as Metriaclima/Maylandia estherae - commonly called red Zebras. They are medium in aggression. Some variants have orange females (they're not really red) and blue males. They will cross breed with...

Labidochromis caeruleus. A very popular cichlid due to its mildness - male to female ratios don't matter that much. Beware of hybrids and weak strains as this fish is badly over bred. A better way to get some yellow might be...

Pseudotropheus saulosi. Males are blue with black bars and the females are yellow. As a 'dwarf' mbuna they don't get much bigger than 3.5" so you could stock 3m/9f instead of the usual 1/4. A few other nice blue male/yellow female species are Metriaclima/Maylandia sp. "msobo," Metriaclima/Maylandia sp. "Membe deep" and some Tropheops.

Melanachromis maingano is Melanochromis cyaneorhabdos. A blue/black striped fish that should be able to mix with blue/black barred fish. Widely considered the mildest Melanochromis, they can still be quite a handful - should be no problem in a 150 though.

Maylandia/Metriaclima callainos is about as aggressive as the M. estherae. Since they're from the same genus pick one or the other.

Pseudotropheus sp. "acei" is a great cichlid for this size tank. They're beasts but they're gentle. The Ngara variant is very dark blue with a white tail. The Msuli variant is purple with a yellow tail. Pick the one that contrasts more with the other 5/6 species.

Cynotilapia afra (cobue) is another 'dwarf' mbuna. There's a chance your male may not colour up brilliantly among the Melanochromis and Metriaclima.

Cynotilapia pulpican is classified as Metriaclima pulpican and sometimes called Pseudotropheus sp. 'kingsizei.' Don't stock it if you're going with another Metriaclima/Maylandia or if you choose the saulosi, since they look too similar.

Don't mix genii and stock in 1m/4f ratios and you greatly cut down the possibilities of hybridization.

So choose five to six species from the above. And let us know if there are others that catch your eye - you have a lot of alternatives with a tank this big.

Hope that helps.

kevin


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## Fast_Freddy (Aug 18, 2010)

Thankyou both for your replies. Especially Kevin for that amazing summary. After reading your posts and a little more research I have narrowed down my selection to:

Pseudotropheus saulosi
Metriaclima estherae
Pseudotropheus sp. "acei" (yellow tail)

This still leaves me potentially 3 more species to choose. Does anyone have any recommendations?


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## newforestrob (Feb 1, 2010)

maybe melanochromis johannii ,cynotilapia afra,labidochromis caeruleus,pseudotropheus socolofi(albino) if your not set on mbuna, a tank that big would look great with some nice hap/peacock combinations, 3-7" fish would disappear (seem small) in a tank that big.Just my opinion for whatever thats worth


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## ridley25 (Jan 5, 2008)

With a tank that size I would be looking to add some of the more aggressive/larger mbuna:
_Labeotropheus fuelleborni_: http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/s ... hp?id=1690
_Labeotropheus trewavasae_: http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/s ... hp?id=1699
Both can be found in Orange Blotch (OB) always a nice addition to a tank
_Tropheops spp_ http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/r ... ?genus=211
These are very distinct looking fish and will stand apart from other mbuna. I kept the "red fin" variety once that had very beautiful females. Sp. "makokola" are very nice as well.

Having said that, I would still stay away from the following, because put simply, they're jerks:
_Melanochromis auratus_
_Metriaclima lombardoi_ (Kenyi)
_Pseudotropheus crabro_ (Bumble Bee)
Although the crabro are the least offensive of the three if you're up for a challenge.

And of course it never hurts to have _Iodotropheus sprengerae_ (Rusty)
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/s ... php?id=707
They're almost as mild as Yellow labs and have different colouration than almost any other mbuna.

kevin


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## Fast_Freddy (Aug 18, 2010)

Thanks again for the help kevin. I've come up with an updated stocking list.

Pseudotropheus saulosi
Metriaclima estherae
Pseudotropheus sp. "acei"
Iodotropheus sprengerae
Melanochromis cyaneorhabdos 
Labeotropheus fuelleborni

Please advise if this will work and if so I would like to know what number of individuals people recommend and in what order they should be introduced into my aquarium.


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## ridley25 (Jan 5, 2008)

Well, every stock list comes with the disclaimer *your results may vary* but I think this should work.

The first practical question is if these species are all available to you. Second, will you buy them all at once or add additional species over time?

The advantage of the former is that your fish tend to tolerate each other better when all introduced as juveniles. The disadvantage is that you will have to buy more juveniles than you want adults and pull out extra males as they mature. With all of these cichlids you want at least 3 females per male...especially the Melanochromis and Labeotropheus.
The advantage of the latter is that you can get your ratios right in a quarantine tank, and mix and match your suppliers to meet your budget and time constraints. It would be very lucky to find a seller that has every species you want when you want them.

If you're adding them all at once I would post on the Tank Setups forum about cycling and how much ammonia to add in a fishless cycle for a bioload of that size - it's not my area of expertise.

If you are adding one species at a time it's best to introduce the mildest species first. Some would say to rearrange your rockwork whenever adding additional species so no dominant cichlid gets too feisty about protecting an established territory.
Mildest to nastiest in my opinion:
1. Pseudotropheus sp. "acei" 
2. Iodotropheus sprengerae
3. Pseudotropheus saulosi 
4. Metriaclima estherae 
5. Labeotropheus fuelleborni 
6. Melanochromis cyaneorhabdos

Adding one species at a time will also give you a better chance to decide if 5 species is enough. The more I think about it the more I think you may be better off with 5 instead of 6.

I would look to settle at about 1m/4f for each group. The more violent cichlids could be well served with 5-6 females if you want to have more than 5 of any species.

I would urge you to get 5 Synodontis multipunctatus. With this many species you're not really looking at a breeding tank. The synos do a nice job cleaning up the bottom and will take care of most of your fry. http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/s ... ctatus.php
Don't count them as an extra species since the shouldn't negatively interact with your mbuna.

kevin


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