hey all the "mbuniacs" on here,

i'm startin up a new 55 for mbunas and want to know what everyone thinks i should get. i have a really good idea of what i want, but they are from armke's and i can't afford that right now. so.. that being said, i want a few species that you don't find at local petsmart/petco's, but that i should be able to find at a good quality lfs.

i've kept mbuna's before and have a lot of knowledge on them (to those who don't know me) so i don't really need tips on how to care for them or anything, just want suggestions on what types of mbunas i should get.

also, i don't want to mix genuses so i can prevent hybrids :)

so... stock my new 55!

Ok...sounds good Punky...

How about...

2M 5F Cynotilapia afra varient...

1M 2F Tropheops species...

1M 2F P. flavus

I think that could work...but really to be sure you don't end up with hybrids or mixed broods you should do a single species tank...

when i say i want to prevent hybrids, i mean i really only want one species per genus, like the combo you suggested.

i know i want some type of cynotilapia, and some sort of tropheops, and something else. flavus don't really do it for me tho... hm... gotta think of something else.. maybe auroras or hongis or something...

I like both of those two species...I have a pair of hongi's in my Mbuna tank, unfortunately they are the 'whipping fish' of the tank, and rarely look good...

...either one of those two would fill out that tank nicely...

nice. maybe i'll go for exasperatus as well. they are really neat lookin.

exas are also fairly calm, don't create carnage. (atleast mine don't) could also go with msobo....mine are fiarly active but not psychotic.

Hi Punky,
Msobo are well fitting to a 55 and not too common, (my male is quite aggressive). I like to suggest something from the elongatus complex due to their size, elongatus "chewere" is a good one. I was under assumption that the aurora gets rather large and tends toward hyperdominance, but I've never kept one. They look amazing; one shouldn't be problem. :D

cool thanks hpd!

i accidentaly made the tank a jag tank tho... i went to the store for africans and i came back with an american!

this will all be for my next tank tho.. when we finally move...

You just couldn't help your self, now could you? jay

silly silly new world fish! You should have held out for the Mbuna...

Hey HPD! good to see you over here!

haha!

well... the jag was only 3 bucks and it was over 2 inches... it was just too good of a deal...the mbuna would have added up fast!

I'm not sure if Armke's carries them but there are two brilliant mbuna I would recommend:

Cynotilapia afra 'Cobue'




Pseudotropheus elongatus 'Chewere'




They're two of my favorites :)

I'm also a big fan of Pseudotropheus demasoni 'Pombo Rocks' if you've got a good-sized tank to reduce their conspecific aggression. In a small tank Ps. demasoni tend beat on each other a lot.

wow, awesome fish man. i'm actually less than an hour away from armkes ;)

Nice shots! That elongatus is quite stunning!

If you are going to start an mbuna tank take note all mbuna species crossbreed with other mbuna species no matter whether they are psuedotropheus, cyanotilapia or labidiochromis the dominant male will breed with all the females. Take this from experience and experimenting over my 27 years in fish keeping and the 17 in africans I have tested all possibilities in my own tanks if you are having an mbuna tank and don't want hybrids then keep all males in the main tank and females in seperate tanks and when you want to breed place the males with the females or stick to a species tank or just keep males.

I agree 100% A lot of people will tell you that if you keep seperate color patterns and genera then you minimize the risk of hybrids....I don't buy it. Minimize it ?perhaps, eliminate it? no way. I have found Mbuna to be randy lil buggers that will try to spawn with just about anything that comes their way! Even in single brood, it is possible to have "stray sperm" from an intruding male of another species cause a hybrid batch...

For breeding purposes, you really need to keep just a single species....

yeah, breeding them isn't really anything i wanna get my hands into right now. but i totally agree, if i were to breed i would keep the tank a species tank to keep the fry 100% pure