# 180 Litre Mbuna Stocking



## Tayster100 (Aug 4, 2012)

Hi, I have got a 180 litre/47 US gallon aquarium (footprint is 100x40cm), and am about to order some Malawi Mbuna. I have 2 possible stocking combinations:

Option 1
Pseudotropheus Saulosi
Pseudotropheus Acei
1 other species (any suggestions?)

Option 2
Pseudotropheus Demasoni
Yellow Labs
1 other species (any suggestions, maybe acei?)

Please tell me which you think is best and how many of each you would recommend, I would like the tank to have striking colours and to be relatively peaceful (as peaceful as a Mbuna tank can be!)

Thanks


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## Michael_M (May 31, 2012)

Tanks not big enough for that many species long term. Acei generally need a 4ft tank as a bare minimum.

You could do a tank of saulosi as a single species. Or perhaps yellow labs + a peaceful cyno. afra.


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## Tayster100 (Aug 4, 2012)

Would it be better to do demasoni with yellow labs, and does anyone know some colourful tank mates to go with the saulosi (can't do afras because of the bars)


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## cichlid_crazy (Jul 24, 2012)

Why not a saulosi species tank? You would have the same colors as you would with the demasoni and yellow labs. The only other option I can think of is getting a bigger tank.


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## Tayster100 (Aug 4, 2012)

I would like demasoni and yellow labs over saulosi because I really like the blue/black bars, and in a saulosi only tank only 2/3 of the fish (the males) would have these. Also, I prefer the bright yellow of the yellow labs compared to the slightly orange female saulosi.


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## Yael (Nov 25, 2012)

You're planning on a ratio of 2 males for every female or am I misunderstanding something?


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Go with the demasoni and labs if you are OK with the extra work and have a hospital tank. You don't want 3 species in a 40" tank with demasoni. Go for a dozen demasoni (to end up with after removing extra males, so buy more...maybe 24) and 1m:4f yellow labs.


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## Tayster100 (Aug 4, 2012)

Ok thanks, I was planning to have 1 male to every 4 females.

what extra work do demasoni require compared to the saulosi, how hardy are demasoni and what are the chances that most of my initial 24 juveniles will be killed?


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## brack (Nov 4, 2012)

Think about dwarf cichlids, your tank is too small for very territorial mbuna.


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## car0linab0y (Aug 10, 2009)

Tayster100 said:


> Ok thanks, I was planning to have 1 male to every 4 females.
> 
> what extra work do demasoni require compared to the saulosi, how hardy are demasoni and what are the chances that most of my initial 24 juveniles will be killed?


Demasoni are very aggressive toward each other, and the males will fight until they don't have any competition left.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

The extra work is removing victim fish when the others pic on him too much. IME these are the sub dominant males...too many males in your tank. Unfortunately in order to remove fish you often have to remove all the rocks. Extra work. This happens more often with demasoni than other mbuna.

Also the victim fish is usually damaged a little, so you need a hospital tank to put him in for a month to heal up.

Then you have to rehome him.

Demasoni get bloat more often than other mbuna IME as well. It happens when you are not quite quick enough to remove the victim fish and his stress leads to illness. I usually have metronidazole on hand to solve that problem when it occurs.

Let the fish decide how many males can stay (when there are no more victim fish). 1m:4f might be too many males in a 40" tank.


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## 24Tropheus (Jun 21, 2006)

Simple answer KISS









All the best James


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