Mbuna tank

lizwinz

lizwinz

Large Fish
#1
Oct 22, 2002
400
0
0
48
Racine, WI
#1
well our 55 gallon turned into a 75 gallon (we gave the 55 to my father-in-law and are buying a 75 this weekend) in the hopes of having a nicer mbuna set-up that includes one larger fish

through research i thought a frontosa might be nice...even tho mixing lakes is not usually advised, alot of people say that fronts do well in a mbuna set-up

but today while researching frontosa a little more some say that he'll most likely get picked on terribly by the mbunas...so now i'm unsure about putting a front in with them

i realize there are really no yes or no answers as far as compatiblity, but i'd appreciate any experiances, opinions and/or general knowledge

we planned on buying them all pretty young and adding them all at the same time

is there maybe a larger fish that would be more likely to do well or are mbunas better left to themselves?

thanx in advance for any input

--liz:)
 

Somonas

Somonas

Superstar Fish
#2
Oct 22, 2002
2,061
0
0
46
O-town
www.myfishtank.net
#2
Hi linzwiz congrats on the 75.
First of all you are right the frontosas are not mbunas at all. they are from lake tanganikya. A big front will eat your mbunas for dinner. If you are at all interested in Fronts, they require a biiig tank and lots of females for one male. These fish get big. over a foot long. they are also expensive. but they are gorgeous and if you can get a nice colony going they will reward you with plenty of fry. that you can sell at auctions for $$$

However. and here is a good example of the typical "yes or no" answer you will never get on an Aquarium Board, you could probably put small fronts in with mbunas. smaller or equally sized. I know someone with a single female in with some yellow labs, they are all about 5" long.

Anyway I have not actually answered your question yet.
There are plenty of fish that go well with mbunas but unfortunately in a 75 you are only limited to a few species. Aulonocara seems to work well. When you finally choose fish make sure to get 4 or 5 females for every male, and try not to get 2 diferent species of fish that look the same. We dont want anything crossbreeding.

goodluck
Art
 

SoulFish

SoulFish

Superstar Fish
#4
Oct 22, 2002
1,668
0
0
38
Florida
www.rainbowaquatics.com
#4
frontosas and peacocks (Aulonocara) should nto be kept with mbunas, mbunas are very active and agressive and would most likely rip them apart, peacocks and frontosas are much calmer (except jacobfreibergis), also if it is a big front your mbunas may start disappearing in the night, only mbunas you could keep them with which is still risky are yellow labs and saulosi
 

lizwinz

lizwinz

Large Fish
#5
Oct 22, 2002
400
0
0
48
Racine, WI
#5
thanx for the comments

got another question for everyone...does anyone know anything about zebra eels (aethiomastacembelus plagiostoma) sp?

i know its a hardwater eel from lake tanganyika
but cant find much else about it...i can find plenty about the leopard eel (A. elipsifer)...but nothing about the zebra eel

does anyone know maximum size, minimum tank requirments and what to feed them

i'm sure they are carnivours and i'd have to get an eel feeder to make sure the mbunas didn't get the eels food, the site that sells them says the can fend for themselves with mbunas (is this true?) except for the food issue

here's a pic

http://www.ohiexchange.com/armke/images/aethiomast_plagiostoma.jpg

--liz:)
 

J

jkulysses

Small Fish
#7
Jan 26, 2003
21
0
0
45
Oregon
Visit site
#7
I've got a Venustus in with my mbunas and he is doing just fine. he is twice the size of my mbunas too though. He doesn't really pick on them, they just kinda stay out of his way. Venustus is my favorite of all the african cichlids. At least from lake malawi.

Jake
 

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