Wanna learn more about Mbunas, simply because they're awesome? Check out this video : ►The Mbuna Aquarium - Lake Malawi African Cichlids : ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-W37ljimti-I.html Enjoy!!!😘
I’ve got a 40 gallon breeder with 16 varied mbunas about 1” in size, and two 1.5” Oscars (they’re the tank boss) I have plants and lots of caves with a soft wave maker, a fluval 207 filter and a big sponge filter. They all live in harmony and seem so happy but they surely eat like piranhas. I’ve already looked into a 100+ gallon tank for when they get bigger. Eventually separating my Oscar’s for a tank of their own. The hobby has become so therapeutic I love it. It’s very satisfying seeing the fish so happy and healthy as well.
The information provided is very accurate.Aquarium hobbyist should always be reminded that in order for them to succeed in their Hobby they have to research research and again research.Thank you for braking it down to little bits of Vitamin sized pieces. I really love your work and are always on the look out for the next production. Hope you have a awesome weekend. Richelle.
So glad you posted this! I had just upgraded my Mbunas, of which i only have a few, to a larger tank and wondered if I should get more or just wait for them to grow out. Definitely getting more soon to better balance the m:f, and will introduce them as a school after quarantine. Perfect timing. Thank you!
Great video. Very down to earth and very knowledgeable. I will be subscribing to your channel. I currently am working on my 75 gallon with 28 juvenile Mbuna in it right now. I cannot wait till it's done.
Hi, I always follow your videos you give great advice i recently purchased 55 gallon show tank and have Demanosi and yellow labs how many can i fit in this tank. It's 36"x20x19 so far i have 9 labs and 4 demanosi
Hello, you are doing really great videos. have now started watching your videos. I'm from Germany and here it is very different in the attitude of malawis. most say here, at Mbunas it starts only from 300 liters. for 3 males and 8 females. for a kind. But I think your videos really great. keep it up.
Electric yellow cichlids, cobalt blue cichlids are two types of mbunas. I have 11 of them together 6 yellows and 5 blues and they are GREAT together. They look beautiful and they’re very harmonious.
Hi Richelle, you do pick some great subjects. My 125g Mbuna tank is one of my favorites & the one which wakes me up in the morning, littraly. I really do have no idea how many are in there as they breed regularly & a lot of the fry survive, but there are a lot. I have a large wet/dry sump, a sulphur denitrator & do weekly 25% water changes. I regards this as less work than a marine tank, which some of my friends think it is! Thanks again.
Thank you :) Last week was crazy, I just couldn't make it. I spent my day off not moving lol. This week everything came into place and was finally able to make my video. I'm glad you like my work.
I like the fact that you took the time to explain your reasoning behind having four in a school instead of three. It makes a lot of sense. Most channels would just say "keep three" or "keep four" and not explain why. J'apprécie ce canal
Thank you😀 I usually explain my reasoning but after reading your comment, I'll make a point of it. Sometimes, when we've been looking at something for too long, we forget to explain little important details to people who don't have that information yet.
Very helpful videos! I inherited 12 cichlids and not even sure what type I have- I have 6 in a 55 gallon and another 6 in a 30 gallon. I divided them by color because I didn’t know what else to do. The yellows and one albino in the 55 gallon fight non stop- lots of sand spitting and chasing each other around and around - perhaps they need more tank mates!
Thanks for the tips. I have a 300 litre Cichlid tank ( I don't know gallons, I'm from Australia). I've found different countries have different common names for the fish types. So it might be an idea to have the scientific names your pronouncing appear on the screen as we say them differently as well. Im not complaining, just an idea. Love your videos, great content. Keep up the good work.
@@heathermedema2345 I had 3 male yellow labs and 12 females and the males we're still overly aggressive. They bred at only 1.5-2 inches long and I am raising their 5 fry in a 20 gallon but returned them all to my local fish store. My marineland 60 was just too tall and not enough depth for cichlids. Going with a more therapeutic planted tank :)
Question 4 you or the group here. I have mbuna that just reached 2" in size from fry days & a recent batch that are now about 1" in size. So I have 13 two inch mbunas in one tank and 20 ( 1" to 1.5" mubnas) in another tank. Would they be OK if I added both groups to same 55 gallon tank? Or will slightly larger bully or kill smaller ones in your experience? When can I add the mom back in same tanks as these groups?
I have 3 Red Zebra, 2 Livingstone Haps, 2 Snow White Socolofi, and 2 Auratus, Maingao , in a 29 gallon high tank . All smaller than 2 "- I know its a bit small tank,-seems like the perfect combination, but they are mixture of males and females - What is the best food to feed these mixture of fish, how can I get them to grow reasonably quickly. Thanks for the info. You are awesome!
Good video! One thing I would stress (that you mentioned in the video) is tank maintenance! IMO, that's the critical factor in determining how heavily you can stock a tank. Someone willing to do daily 50% water changes can stock far more heavily than someone only willing to do a 10% change once a month. Note: I wouldn't recommend stocking a tank to the point where you need to do daily water changes.
Love this video and it helped a lot. We have a 30 gallon tank and what to keep 8 or so Mbunas. Would you recommend keeping this tank species specific or could we mix two species, 4 of each?
I have a 40g breeder with currently 8 Mbunas. I have one Aquaclear 70g HOB filter and a fluval 307 canister. I have x1 wavemaker. I do notice particularly, 1 mbuna being aggressive to the rest. Mind you, they are all still juveniles. Will I be able to safely add a few more in this tank? Possibly another 4-6 more? TIA
Love the videos! Watch them all. Wondering if you could give me some stocking Ideas. I bought a 65 Gallon Corner bow front tank. Having trouble finding cichlids that aren't too big for the footprint.
Thank you😀 I would definitely go with Mbunas. There are so many fish you can choose from. Go with what's available at your fish store and check out their max size on cichlid forum. Pseudotropheus demasoni is the one that stays the smallest : ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-xM3et17yH5Q.html
Hello. This is great information. I’m just wondering how many Mbunas should I get for a 40gal Breeder tank and which species would pair up comfortably ? Thank you in advance.
Numbers are for full grown fish, I assume. If they are around 1, 2 inch how much should I put in a grow out tank? As always a very helpful video. Thank you!
I have a 50 gal with 20 peacock cichlids 75 gal hob and 45 gal canister . 30% water change every week . Works but i want a 125 gal eventually waiting to move . 1 year in June and still have all my fish
50 gallons is too small for peacocks...not because they don't fit and aren't happy, but because we always want to add more lol Good luck with your move. Hope you can get your tank :)
She said 45 gallon tank for the red zebra what about a 40 breeder would that be okay please answer me as I would like to know as I have a 40 breeder and don’t want to upgrade to a 45 if I don’t have too
Very helpful! I would like to ask a question. I have a 120 Liters aquarium (31,7006 Gallons) with approximataley 15 mbunas. I had more, but I have intense problems with aggression, to the point that I lost some fishes and right now I have 4 in hospital aquarium! And I have an extra 1 isolated due to over aggression. I bought a new pump and I am thinking about populate the aquarium with maybe 30 to 40 mbunas. Do you think it could soube my problem? By the way, I can't have a bigger aquarium now. I have a 60 gallon aquarium with oscar. this aquarium was previously with mbunas and I had the same problem. I love those fish but I really don't know how to deal with this.
I've been in the cichlid hobby for about 2 months now in Ottawa. I've been following your videos and guidelines. I currently have four yellow lab (2 M + 2 F), four blue cobalt (3M + 1 F) and four red zebra (3M + 1F). So far there has been no issues with the males, but have noticed one of the blue cobalts becoming aggressive and establishing himself as a tank boss. Should I be concerned with a high number of males (8M + 4F) overall?
Do the guidelines you mentioned apply to them as adults or just juvenile? Awesome channel! Thanks for getting this info out. How about a lot of different species in one 55 gallon?
They'll end up growing up. So make sure they have enough room when the time comes. If it's a growing tank, make sure you make appropriate water changes if you overstock it. I have no issues with multiple species in a same tank. Good luck
Hi Richelle... I have a 120 gallon tank. I’m thinking to upgrade the number of fishes around 40 to 50. All herbivores or omnivorous. I’m going for mbunas, aulonocara, and hap. All of them lightly territorial or peaceful. Like cynotilapia zebroides (cobue); pseudotropheus cyaneorhabdos; metriaclima estherae (red); metriaclima callainos; cynotilapia sp. Chinyankwazi; otopharynx tetrastigma; protomelas taeniolatus (super red); aulonocara OB peacock hybrid. Should I had schools of 4 (2M + 2F)? I already have 7 fishes. 4 mbunas and 3 aulonocara. Thank you
Im about to set up my first cichlid tank with mbunas. the tank i had in mind is 240L (about 63G). i will have an fx4 filter on it to handle overpopulation, but how many fish should i keep?
Your the one reason i am changing my community tank into an Mbuna tank ,,,slowly but surely .One question though can you have plants especially Anubias
I got a kenyi male from my local pet store. He currently lives with 3 pictus in a 55 gallon what other cichlids would make good tank mates for him and how many more to make the tank interesting and not to aggressive?
Good advice with m:f. I read that I should get rid of excess males as they matured. I didn't because I liked everyone of them. In on year I did have one death - sub Dom male Kenyi. I beleive it was due to my intervention. The sub Dom kenyi was becoming dominant and challenging the dominant kenyi and making life difficult for other 38 tank mates. I have 4 M kenyi and 3 female. All mbuna were raised together from juveniles. I rescape weekly but I didn't want the heirchy to change so I left the dominant male area untouched but I sealed off the sub. Dom area and completely changed it. I noticed the red top hongi started to aggressively defend their spots from the sub Dom kenyi and few hours later he was dead. The Dom male and rest of tankmates had enough of him. It was odd they were all afraid of the sub Dom and even the dom was losing his position but once the other fish fought back the dom male went in for the kill
i have 17 fish in my 40-gallon of which 13 are Mbuna. i have 4 chindongo, 4 electric yellow, and 4 snow whites. i ended up with 2 chindongo males and they fight every now and then but the funny part is the snow whites always break up the fighting. i never would have thought another fish would interrupt a fight its like they are the police of the tank.
I wasn't around in my home.. I came back and see my lichis are dead and everybodys feeding on them.. There are 2 peacocks 2 dolphins and 2 similar cichlids on whom I have doubts.. Do you think it's them??
Dirt substrate with sand cap over planted with plants u can have 100+ fish in 75 gallon. Easily. More if u have well balanced 2 year + heavy planted tank.
I’m from the uk have 120 litre tank not sure what tha is in us gallons ? Don’t have the room for a bigger tank yet I like deamonsi how many of them do you reckon I can have in my size tank? I don’t have any fish yet going thru a fishless cycle but in 2 weeks time wantin to get some fish please help cheers 👍🏻
The main rule: 10 liter for every 5 cm fishes and 20 liter for every 10 cm fishes. For bigger cichlids: ( 15-25 cm): 5-8 fishes in 250 liter tank. 40-50 cichlids : 400-600 liters tank.
What is the best “cleaner” fish to pair with 11 mbunas in a 37 gallon tank to help keep things tidy? I have the black kuhli loaches in my two betta tanks and they do great but it’s much smaller and I feel like the mbunas would eat the “worm fish”....any advice for cleaner fish to pair with mbunas would be a great video!
Est ce que tu en vend des Mbuna ? Jai 200gal avec 8 Mbuna 4 male 4 femelle 4 zèbré bleu foncé et bleu pale et 4 jaune avec des taches jaunes sur les nageoires mais jaimerais bcp me procuerer dautres et jaimerais bcp si vous pouviez maider a men procurer svp jhabite a chateauguay Qc merci bonne soirée
So for a 40g Breeder (36" x 18" x 16" -- 150 l, 92 cm x 46 cm x 40 cm) for my first Malawi tank, is eight Pseudotropheus saulosi too few a number of fish? Since they are not very aggressive, I'm thinking they don't need as high a stocking density. No other fish except maybe some S. lucipinnis cats. Also, will they kill my Nerite snails? As usual, always informative and interesting.
I've done Saulosi in a 40 breeder, species only. If you're buying juveniles, get at least 12 to start. Spawns are typically male heavy. You may find only 1 male will color up to it's full potential and may not tolerate any others. Or you may have several in full color. The last time I started up another group of them, I bought 20 fish. Only ended with 7 females. After several different colonies of Saulosi, I have found them to be more aggressive than their reputation.
hello... i have a question and please answer...in my cichlid aquarium many convict and jewel cichlids lays egg again and again but after few days all eggs are gone... are they fertilized or what? i really dont understand what happens with the egg....please tell me...thanks a lot
Today my cichlids came in. (I added all 18 at once.) I know that probably caused an ammonia spike but they seemed fine. I have 6 yellow labs, 6 blue moori dolphins, and 6 rusties. I have a 75 gallon with a canister filter, hang on the back filter, and a circulation pump. It’s been running since mid February. Do you think it would be okay if I added 6 yellow tail Acei, and 6 red zebras in about a week? That would mean I’d have 30 in a 75. (No intentions to upgrade)
Hi Richelle, I have 5 yellow labs and 20 demasoni in my 60 gallon tank with lots of rocks. They have been there for months now. Most of the times, they are hiding behind rocks. I only get to see the whole lot at the time of feeding. Am I doing anything wrong or that's the way Mbunas are? Please help.
I had mbunas in a tank and they started killing eachother off one at a time they are in a 55 gallon tank and im going to put them into a 90 gallon tank would i be able to buy new ones so my tank isnt as bare or will the fish i have kill newly introduced fish
Hi there, Those parameters are close ...but could be better :) Check out this video. It should definitely answer some of your questions : ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-cCaHHZ4ZBMA.html Enjoy your new fish!!!
Thanks for your fantastic channel ! One tip : don't talk about "gallons", of not alone about these middle-age gallons - 90% of the world uses "liters" and has no idea what a "gallon" means ...
The US and Canada are 50% of my audience ... And Canadians are 100% of my business. But I do get your point and will add some conversion text for my next videos
i have a 75 with only a few mbuna, after watching this i think ill slowly start adding more along with my spare canister filter. now i just need to find some mbunas that stay small in the 4 to 5 inch rage, any recommendations?
Hi Ryan, Pretty much every mbuna can go in a 75 gallon tank. Check out what they have at your local fish store. One of my favourite Mbuna is the Metriaclima sp. magunga (Msobo) but they can be hard to find. Go with the colors you like :)
@@QuebecCichlides thank you so much for getting back to me. What would be a good number of fish to shoot for in a 75? I was thinking of goin to my LFS next week an seeing what they have
