# Africans in a 29 gallon tank?



## AlmightyJoshaeus (May 2, 2013)

'ello all! I have decided on Africans for my 29 gallon tank and would like input on what to keep in there. I am thinking of a species tank of some sort of malawi or victorian species which is no larger than 4" as an adult. Do you think that would work?

On a side note, would it be possible to simply keep 6 or more males of one such dwarf species in the tank, or would that simply lead to a slaughterfest?


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## Cichlidman14 (Jul 17, 2013)

6 or more ales wouldn't be possible. Luckily there is one African that almost everyone loves and fits perfect in a 29 gallon. Saulosi which reach atost 4 inches, males are blue and yellow as well as black and females are yellow. A good ratio would be 1 male to 5-6 females.


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## AlmightyJoshaeus (May 2, 2013)

OK, thank you. Any other suggestions?


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## Michael_S (Aug 18, 2013)

A lot of rock for caves and territories.

Buy the saulosi at a small size (1-1.5") and unsexed. You want to end up with at least 1male-5females. If you want more females(greatens the chance for spawning) then double the amount of juvies you buy as desired total females.

That might not have made sense, so let me speak math instead. Say you want 7 females in the end, then you would buy 14 juveniles. 6 total females = 12 juveniles to start. This is assuming and hoping for at least a 1:1 male to female ratio. If you end up with more females then you originally were trying to get, DO NOT remove them.

It is only wise to remove extra unwanted aggressive males. If you end up with 2-3 males and they coexist fine, I would not remove them. I only remove extra males when they start to be too aggressive. I usually remove the "ugly" males too. Ones that color is not that great compared to the others.

Males and females start yellow. As they mature the females stay the same, but the males morph color to a beautiful blue with bars. Here is the color morph found on a different website.


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## AlmightyJoshaeus (May 2, 2013)

Don't worry...I understand what you are saying.


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## Michael_S (Aug 18, 2013)

Good luck and if you can keep this updated if you can. I am interested in 29G for saulosi


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## AlmightyJoshaeus (May 2, 2013)

A little off topic, but do mbuna need sand, or will gravel work?


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## Cichlidman14 (Jul 17, 2013)

Sand is typically preferred since they sift through it for left over pieces of food and males/females will sometimes dig pits in the sand as their territory under a rock. By the way your question isn't off topic because you could have chose glass chunks and wound up with fish with cut up mouths:0


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## AlmightyJoshaeus (May 2, 2013)

Another off-topic question, but what color should the substrate be? A dark color or a light color?


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## Cichlidman14 (Jul 17, 2013)

A dark color will bring out the females but white sand is more natural


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## Mschn99 (Dec 24, 2012)

another option to attempt in a 3 foot tank could be one of the west african dwarfs like the multicolor victoriae or the nicholsi.


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## Cichlidman14 (Jul 17, 2013)

Mschn99 its only a 30 inch tank, a 29 not a 30 gallon.


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