# Experts on Demasoni?



## Jasoncham2003 (Feb 28, 2008)

I was considering when I get my 300gal to go with a mix of Demasoni and yellow labs.....Original i know.... What would the m-f ratio be for both species? Foot print would be
96x30x24.


----------



## TheeMon (May 11, 2004)

how about 50 demasoni and 20 labs? the male/female ratio would be unimportant


----------



## Jasoncham2003 (Feb 28, 2008)

Why would the ratio be uninportant? Because of the size of the tank? What if somehow you got 40 male and 10 females wouldnt the significantly out numbered females get abused?


----------



## BSO (May 14, 2004)

the numbers themselves help make m/f ratios unimportant. basically if you had 50 demasoni and you had 40m/10f it would be difficult for an aggressive male to single out anyone to seriously injure.


----------



## Jasoncham2003 (Feb 28, 2008)

Cool so basically the big tanks makes most agression issues of mbuna basically obsolete


----------



## TheeMon (May 11, 2004)

well not the big tank so mush as the big numbers... 50 is a huge number  but if you only want 2 species...

+++ females have babies so they gives u more numbers


----------



## yogurtpooh (Jul 28, 2005)

now that would be one loaded tank.. 96 inches wow... 
You can do how ever many demasoni or labs. I would buy as many as I can.


----------



## Jasoncham2003 (Feb 28, 2008)

The problem is.....your looking at 750 worht of fish if you get them for $15 each. Im sure they are cheaper elsewhere but even at $10 per fish that still 500 plus the labs so just for the fish alone you are looking at a huge bill. I figure with the whole setup im gonna spend around 4k-5k.

Whatever i put in there has to be very active acording to my wife. My kids love to watch the fish so I would hope that the dems and labs would make a nice sight plus active to keep kids entertained.


----------



## Felony (Jan 19, 2006)

Try aquabid for larger numbers of dems and labs. You should be able to find a decent deal there better than any LFS.


----------



## eoconnor (Nov 24, 2006)

in a tank that big I wonder why you don't want more species? Are you going for an aesthetic effect of blue and yellow? I'd be really tempted to add some M. Callainos or Greshaki/Acei as well.


----------



## Marylandwahoo (Mar 18, 2007)

Or start with modest numbers of each and let them breed....You will be up to 50/20 in 3-4 months. My female lab has produced 36 fry since January and is holding again, and I have had my dems for about 5 weeks and three are holding at the moment...


----------



## mittzgame (Oct 3, 2006)

Marylandwahoo said:


> Or start with modest numbers of each and let them breed....You will be up to 50/20 in 3-4 months. My female lab has produced 36 fry since January and is holding again, and I have had my dems for about 5 weeks and three are holding at the moment...


Very good point to consider...

Also, if you're buying online, you shouldn't be paying $10-$15 per fish. I haven't looked in a while, but last I knew the site sponsers, one of whom I got a group of dems from, had them for $5/fish. Much more manageable.

We have about 34 Demasoni, 4 Estherae (inc. to 8-10 once the fry grow out), 5 albino socolofi, 7 Acei in our 125. Visually, from a color perspective, the Demasoni and Acei are too much blue for me but I love both species so I'm just waiting to add more estherae to see if that helps. I think the Albinos make a great accent in the tank. They are very striking next to the dems, especially.

Not the best pic, but it gives you the idea. (Insert your yellow labs for the estherae)









I remember a year or so ago someone on the forum had a species tank ~400gallon(?) that had only salousi. It looked amazing! So I'm sure you'll get the same effect with your choices. The only recommendation from me, if you decide to go with a third or fourth species, make sure they aren't blueish at all.

Good Luck and post pics! :thumb:


----------



## ST33LR4T (Jul 12, 2006)

personally i would purchase all your labs at once then get 20-30 dems and let them populate the tank themselves. i have a 120gal with 35 dems and there is always at least 4-5 females with mouthfulls.


----------



## Jasoncham2003 (Feb 28, 2008)

Now wont the adult fish eat the fry? Or with a tank that big there is a possibility that some will survive?

I guess the reason for the species tank was because it is hard to house different species in small tanks and I guess i havent opened up yet and realised with a 300g that things will be alot easier.


----------



## teqvet (Mar 24, 2008)

A lot of rules don't apply to larger tanks as opposed to smaller ones. This is easily seen between a 10gallon and 55gallon, and you're using a 300?gallon? Yea.. you can get away with a lot more at that point. Just open up and realize the potential you have.

That said, as others have said, check the site sponsor retailers. Dem's go for 4-6$ depending on who you shop with, and if you buy a large bulk of them, they will sometimes give you a bit more of a discount, as well as sending more than you ordered... and that is on the chance some don't make it. That's what I consider a good retailer. Taking care of all your needs, so there's not much 'extra work' you have to do is something goes wrong.

G'luck man!


----------



## TheeMon (May 11, 2004)

when are you getting your tank....

fyi teqvet show me a place with dems for 4$.....


----------



## DemsaoniGuy (Sep 27, 2007)

The only problem I see with buying less numbers and letting them breed is...
Keeping Demasoni in large numbers is to reduce aggresion. The more fish, the less territory to claim and therefore less territory to be aggresive about. So if you have a tank of that size and only 20 fish, that is alot of open territory to fight over. Am I wrong? I mean I kept 20 Demasoni in a 55g, so I'd say 50 in a 300g is minimum. Plus the amount of rock you'll need is crazy. I've since upgraded to a 75g and only have a dozen dems which have been breeding very well for me. But i have at least 150lb of rock in the tank.


----------



## TheeMon (May 11, 2004)

+++ if you only had 20 fish your tank would look completely empty


----------



## teqvet (Mar 24, 2008)

TheeMon said:


> when are you getting your tank....
> 
> fyi teqvet show me a place with dems for 4$.....


The place I saw them for $4.55 has raised their price to $5.50 now. It's one of the site sponsors, but I can't name it specifically


----------



## why_spyder (Mar 2, 2006)

I, too, would consider going with at least two more species of fish for that size tank. I'm not doubting that the tank would look good with those two species - but a tank that size really does have A LOT of potential - a lot more than just two species of smaller mbuna (large open-water fish would be a different story).

The idea of only buying a few and letting them breed isn't necessarily a bad idea - as long as you aren't getting crosses (which isn't likely to happen with just _Ps. demasoni _and _Lab. caeruleus_) - as they may not look too pretty. Getting a few just to get a feel for the look of the tank with just those two species - now that isn't a bad way to look at it. It can be easier to add to that size tank rather than subtracting (that's a big tank to be trying to net fish out of :lol: ).

_Cynotilapia sp. lion Lion's Cove _would look awesome in there - especially with the males hovering mid-water above their caves (this is a "wild" characteristic - not *guaranteed *to be that way in your tank).

_Met. callainos _or a 'red-top" zebra type would look awesome as well with the _Ps. demasoni _and _Lab. caeruleus_.

I honestly believe your wife would be somewhat disappointed with a tank that size only having two species in it. The color variety would just be too small.


----------



## DeViANtX (Jun 19, 2007)

I ordered my Dems from aquabid, i don't remember exactly who but i got them for 2$'s each. They were .5-.75 inches small but for the price it was worth it. I would only buy like 30 and let them reproduce. Also the labs will multiply like rabbits it got to the point where i give tons of labs away each month.

In addition i would definitely go with more then just those 2 species for a tank that size. Get some Acei and Met. callainos


----------



## DemsaoniGuy (Sep 27, 2007)

*Jasoncham2*


----------

