Took the African Plunge

Didn't think I would be posting here this soon but I now have a 160 with africans! I got tired of having 2 tanks almost 400 gallons with 5 fish lol One big tank with 2 fish is plenty, I wanted some action and I sure got it!

Now I believe I have a group of Malawi fish I'm pretty sure I have these guys:

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Another is what I believe to be a Malawi Eyebitter. These guys are in with a handfull of the O.B. peacocks.

Those are the two I can pin now, there are a few more I will get pics of when I get home.

Not sure on my GH and KH just yet I'll test that today. I do know my tap ph is 7.8-8.0, so pretty good from what I was reading.

That being said do any of you super knowledgable african keepers have stocking suggestions as far as species mixing and M/F ratios? Maybe foods you feed? (currently on NLS) Water params?

Thanks alot!

Nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo NOT another African fish-keeper

My main tank (210g) is a mostly Central American cichlids and will stay that way but I have 56g column that is currently a grow out that I might consider doing Africans in eventually. I would consider a Tang tank with some smaller species in there.

haha! yep I did it, after talking smack about them for sometime! They are much more acitve/interactive than I had expected. Who knows how long they will be around as I tend to go through fish quickly in that tank!

I have a couple freebies for ya, a male eye biter and a venustus. let me know if you want them.

well to be honest its gonna depend on your stock list. an eyebiter is never a good idea with mbuna (they are a seriously predatory fish) as for the others 1m-4f is a good rule of thumb to go with. certain species require more females but those are gonna be more conspecific aggressive species. as for iding already grown out peacocks is a bit tricky. id suggest posting on some of the heavier african forums. gonna need pics of the tank and your ideas behind what your after before i can really help too much more then this. ph isnt too important so long as its stable where its at. anyways welcome to the old world side of things.

PS: i happen to have some white top hara F2 up for grabs, and some acei as soon as they do a bit more growing. (both are great options for a nice community tank)

I don't know, my eye biter isn't much of a predator, his mouth is too small to hurt any one. He is however very active. And has great colors.

its not that your fish is any worse then another, its just that they evolved to become predators and feed on small mbuna in the wild. it is for this reason that i reccomended shying away from them. i almost hit you up for the eye biter myself but did a little searching and thats what i found

Heres a vid I shot as these guys are near impossible to get stills of!
And I will take all of you up on your fish offers, they all look like interesting fish.

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definitely some yellow labs in there, before u decide wether or not u want to go mbuna id seriously consider A. removing some of those haps, B. dumping some of the random singles (that bumblebee is gonna be trouble in the long run same as the kenyi) and C. adding a bunch more rock, what you have is a good start for a hap tank if thats what you like. i will caution you that hap/peacock mixes can be finicky to deal with.

PS: dump the centrals, the bichir, and the silver dollar tho, long term they wont work out very well.

Aaron, if it's the eye biter (D. compressiceps) you got from me, his mouth is definitely big enough! He was normally well behaved and didn't go after any fish of decent size, but did try to eat this 2.5 inch red empress.

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The mouth doesn't look too big from the side view, but it opens really wide. I did keep mine with larger mbuna and he was fine, but definitely wouldn't recommend them alongside small fish.

That would be him.

i am glad you are enjoying a bit of a change with the africans.....I like how you really can't focus on one specific fish, as they are all over the place.

I have to say that i am really enjoying that polleni and the bleekeri. they are getting along incredibly well. Keeping my fingers crossed that these two stay this way, and also that you continue to enjoy those Africans!

Betty wrote:[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

Wow, that is quite an awesome predator!

Another converted I love it even if for a short time!

Not converted yet. Its like dating a different type of girl, or driving a different brand of vehicle. You try it, you get excited, you then get bored and realize that what you had was actually best.

Go spread your wings, play in the grass, you will soon realize.

for tanganyikan cichlids..

used to kept malawi cichlids, their very colorful but tangs got more varieties and different colors also...

Anthraxx wrote:definitely some yellow labs in there, before u decide wether or not u want to go mbuna id seriously consider A. removing some of those haps, B. dumping some of the random singles (that bumblebee is gonna be trouble in the long run same as the kenyi) and C. adding a bunch more rock, what you have is a good start for a hap tank if thats what you like. i will caution you that hap/peacock mixes can be finicky to deal with.

PS: dump the centrals, the bichir, and the silver dollar tho, long term they wont work out very well.

This is excellent information, thank you very much. Getting rid of the oddballs (poly,vieja,SD) is certainly going to happen, some of them just landed in the net when we where moving them.

Ok so which one are the haps and the peacocks? I understand the blotchy ones are peacocks? I would really like a hap or tropheus tank from what I have been reading, not sure yet. Would prefer a tank that is fairly manageable as far as aggression. The bumblebee I assume is the larger dark striped one?

madness wrote:Not converted yet. Its like dating a different type of girl, or driving a different brand of vehicle. You try it, you get excited, you then get bored and realize that what you had was actually best.

Go spread your wings, play in the grass, you will soon realize.

Not converted, simply testing the waters My love will always land with the large, angry central and south americans!

Addicted: the blotchy ones are a hybrid species and simply given the name of OB peacock or OB. They do turn out nice but can become a bit nipy, i would simply keep any of the males you really like and rehome the rest. now as for the differences between a "peacock" and a "hap" is habitat within the lake as i understand it. both types prefer swimming space over rocky structures (like mbuna) although they do enjoy some rocks and territorys. however i will caution you that an all male peacock/hap tank is a lot of work to get just right. its a lot of quaranteening new fish and rehoming troublesome additions. so in the long run id suggest you find a species of hap you like and get a breeding group of them and maybe get some more rocks and expand on some mbuna. this is all just my opinion and im happy to answer any of your other questions. feel free to pm if need be.

I agree with everything Anthraxx said.

It's hard to tell from the video, but in the beginning I thought one of the dark blue haps looked like a Sciaenochromis fryeri. And the big one with the vertical bars is the bumblebee (Pseudotropheus crabro). They have a reputation for being aggressive, but I've kept two big males and they were both peacekeepers of the tank, breaking up fights between other fish. They can be beautiful fish if they aren't overfed! Labidochromis caeruleus (yellow labs) generally will work in both mbuna and hap/peacock tanks.

There are some basic rules to follow as far as what to stock, but it would be easiest to decide if you want to go with haps and/or peacocks or mbuna and go from there. I like mbuna because there are several species that have colorful females. The peacock females are usually pretty drab in color and they are very difficult to tell the species apart. All male tanks are beautiful, but like Anthraxx said, it can be problematic finding the right mix so that they all get along fairly well and stay colored up.

Although there are different dietary requirements between them, with some being herbivores and others piscivores or omnivores, NLS is a good choice that they can all thrive on.

I'm not sure because I barely got a look, but I thought I saw a holding female peacock in your video? She was kind of under a rock pile and was only visible for a second.

I hope you enjoy keeping Africans. It can be a lot of work getting the right mix and frustrating at times, but I've been keeping them for over eight years now and still haven't grown bored with them.

An article about haps vs mbuna. [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] And some other helpful articles. [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

madness wrote:Not converted yet. Its like dating a different type of girl, or driving a different brand of vehicle. You try it, you get excited, you then get bored and realize that what you had was actually best.

Go spread your wings, play in the grass, you will soon realize.

That is just too funny Madness...LOL.

Africans are great and I can't imagine getting bored with them. There are malawi, tanganyikas, victorians, haps, peacocks, and west africans...so many fish to choose from and so little tank space. Colors abound...blues, yellows, oranges, reds, turquoise, multi-color. Bars, stripes, blotches and splotches. Big mouths, small mouths, diggers, swimmers. Have fun making your choices.

Anthraxx wrote:Addicted: the blotchy ones are a hybrid species and simply given the name of OB peacock or OB. They do turn out nice but can become a bit nipy, i would simply keep any of the males you really like and rehome the rest. now as for the differences between a "peacock" and a "hap" is habitat within the lake as i understand it. both types prefer swimming space over rocky structures (like mbuna) although they do enjoy some rocks and territorys. however i will caution you that an all male peacock/hap tank is a lot of work to get just right. its a lot of quaranteening new fish and rehoming troublesome additions. so in the long run id suggest you find a species of hap you like and get a breeding group of them and maybe get some more rocks and expand on some mbuna. this is all just my opinion and im happy to answer any of your other questions. feel free to pm if need be.

From what I've read this is spot on. The "haps" and "mbuna" are simply a group of species that live in a certain area together if I'm not mistaken. Leaning more towards Mbuna as I have seen nice tanks with them before and the activity in and around the rocks in fascinating to watch.

cichlid-gal wrote:

madness wrote:Not converted yet. Its like dating a different type of girl, or driving a different brand of vehicle. You try it, you get excited, you then get bored and realize that what you had was actually best.

Go spread your wings, play in the grass, you will soon realize.

That is just too funny Madness...LOL.

Africans are great and I can't imagine getting bored with them. There are malawi, tanganyikas, victorians, haps, peacocks, and west africans...so many fish to choose from and so little tank space. Colors abound...blues, yellows, oranges, reds, turquoise, multi-color. Bars, stripes, blotches and splotches. Big mouths, small mouths, diggers, swimmers. Have fun making your choices.

And herein lies the problem, choices! Now I just need a couple 1000gal tanks and we will be set lol

Now that I know I want Mbuna I hit google to learn stocking. A couple sources say to keep no less than 5-6 fish of the same species to curb aggression. Is that method more succesful than getting say 1 or 2 of each species but having a larger variety of species and color?

Yes, that method is best unless you want to do a male only tank and then you would want only one of each species.