# 55G African Mbuna Tank



## tcald429

I have been reading and researching African Mbuna for weeks and feel like I am still clueless as to how I want to stock my tank. From what I have mostly read, a 55 gallon tank is best kept to 3 mbuna species, with a 1M:4-5F ratio. When visiting a LFS and talking with a family friend there (who I know has 10+ years experience), he said the only way he would personally stock his tank like this is if he was planning to breed the fish, and that otherwise he would stick with an all male tank.

I've read hundreds of stocking schemes and recommendations and feel like for the most part, everyone has their own opinion.

So my question to you is, if you had an empty 55 gallon tank ready for African Mbunas, would you stock with all males, or a 3 species male and female ratio?

If you would stock with a 3 species male/female ratio, what 3 species would you stock to provide the most color, differing patterns to avoid male aggression, and 3 species with the least chance of hybridization?

Hope i'm not playing a broken record here, thanks for the help.


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## coralbandit

Look for Graybot as he seems to know his africans and has tanks in threads of all male/all female mbunas.
http://www.aquariumforum.com/f77/my-all-male-malawi-tank-41311.html


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## rtmaston

thay are very nice looking.hope you get your answer I know you will


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## graybot

I only recommend an all-male tank if you have the ability to easily remove and return/trade fish. I would shoot for around 20 mbuna in a 55g all-male. It's not an exact science and depends on the temperament of the individual fish you keep. Lots of rock work helps a lot. You can break a lot of rules and keep similar looking fish, but be ready to remove bullies or weak fish if things do get out of hand. I've had to remove 3-4 fish due to aggression over the past year and a half.

I've never kept a "proper" mbuna tank, but you seem to have the details down. The advantage to a breeding setup is watching the natural behavior of these fish. As for species... I would avoid anything super aggressive in a 55, so avoid any type of ps elongatus, metriaclima zebra, kenyi or melanochromis. This leaves a lot of interesting species left such as cynotilapia afra (many beautiful varieties), labidochromis (yellow labs, mbamba), rusty cichlids... A lot to choose from. Just avoid very similar species.. Multiple barred species are ok, say if one is blue and another yellow.. If you can easily tell them apart the fish should be able to as well. Hah.


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## graybot

If you are serious about Malawi cichlids I recommend picking up Ad Koning's Back to Nature Guide to Malawi Cichlids. It's a great place to get all the info you need, and a great list of nearly every available species with photos of males and females. See what strikes your fancy and go from there...


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## tcald429

graybot said:


> I only recommend an all-male tank if you have the ability to easily remove and return/trade fish. I would shoot for around 20 mbuna in a 55g all-male. It's not an exact science and depends on the temperament of the individual fish you keep. Lots of rock work helps a lot. You can break a lot of rules and keep similar looking fish, but be ready to remove bullies or weak fish if things do get out of hand. I've had to remove 3-4 fish due to aggression over the past year and a half.
> 
> I've never kept a "proper" mbuna tank, but you seem to have the details down. The advantage to a breeding setup is watching the natural behavior of these fish. As for species... I would avoid anything super aggressive in a 55, so avoid any type of ps elongatus, metriaclima zebra, kenyi or melanochromis. This leaves a lot of interesting species left such as cynotilapia afra (many beautiful varieties), labidochromis (yellow labs, mbamba), rusty cichlids... A lot to choose from. Just avoid very similar species.. Multiple barred species are ok, say if one is blue and another yellow.. If you can easily tell them apart the fish should be able to as well. Hah.


I really like the aspect of the all male tank, being able to have 20 different species of fish. We do have a nice LFS that has a large availability of different species, that I could easily return/trade fish to. The problem is with my work schedule, the only day I can get there during their hours would be a Saturday. I assume if I had a nice size quarantine tank, could solve as a temporary home during the week if I saw too much aggression. My question with the all male tank is, how to stock them. Do I have to buy all fish old enough to distinguish the sex? Or do I pour in a bunch of juves and pull the females once they mature? If that is the case, how do I reach a 20 species tank if i have to add 3 or 4 juves of each species in the beginning. I know a 55g cant hold anywhere near 80 fish haha.

As far as the male/female tank, if I chose a Cyno Afra, Rusty, and Yellow lab as my 3 species...would I have to worry about cross breeding with them?


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## tcald429

graybot said:


> If you are serious about Malawi cichlids I recommend picking up Ad Koning's Back to Nature Guide to Malawi Cichlids. It's a great place to get all the info you need, and a great list of nearly every available species with photos of males and females. See what strikes your fancy and go from there...



I will look into ordering this book, thank you.


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## dalfed

I recently setup a 110 gallon with 15 demasoni, 10 yellow labs, 6 red zebra, and 6 bumblebee all juvies, the color is amazing.Lucked out with my bumblebees and zebras in having 2 males and four females of each, gave the two dominant males to a buddy who has an all male setup. The demasonis are far and away the most aggressive so far but I am sure the bumblebees will have control of the tank before too long.


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## graybot

I would recommend buying fish large enough to sex accurately. You can always ask the LFS to vent juvies for you if you're unsure of the sex. If they stock mbuna regularly it's likely that all the juvies in a tank will be from the same litter, so picking the largest most colorful fish will likely net you a male. I've had to pull a few fish that have turned out to be females once they've reached maturity (not fun if you have a lot of rockwork)... But usually it's not too hard to tell once you get an eye for it. Behavior and color relative to the other fish in the tank are the best indicators.

Once your tank is established and the cichlids are mostly mature it becomes very difficult to introduce other mature fish, even as a group. As my all male tank stands now, new juvies are ignored generally, while anything over 2" is terrorized to death unless the rock work is -completely- rearranged before adding them.

I stock in groups of 3-5 at a time. I have mbuna anywhere from 7" to 1" together right now. So I advise stocking larger fish first, and filling in with juvies if you need to make adjustments once things are established.


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## graybot

Cross breeding would not be likely as long as each species has adequate females for every male. Hyper dominance is always a possibility, any species can cross breed... But it's pretty easy to notice if a male goes full psycho and takes over all females. Rearrange territories, and if that doesn't work, rehome the cross breeding male.


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