More mbuna questions

[Swordtail8]

I am gonna move the mbunas to the 29 gallon eventually and find the fish in the 29 gallon a new tank.

But I have some questions. I plan to keep my pleco with the mbunas, he is larger than the mbunas currently, I am confident he will be fine. It would solve alot of problems, if my shark is able to stay in the 29 gallon with the mbunas. He is fast and may be mean enough to fend for himself.

I also have this TetraCichlid granules with pictures of african cichlids on them that brags about it's high protein. Is it the protein that cause the malawi bloat? I have gave my mbunas feeder fish before. Will that cause malawi bloat? Funny thing is that they killed the feeders but the snail did most of the eating.

What plants can go in a sandy mbuna tank with rocks? My website has my plants currently listed. I am also thinking of getting some anubius but is anubius a low light plant and will it work in that setup?

 

[Desi]

Hey swordtail; I have a question for you (sorry; i know you're the one asking; but I'm a mbuna n00b mysellf).

All my research has pointed to mbuna's being vegetarian; you're telling me they have actually eaten feeder fish? I have platties and a few swordtails in my 65gal with my mbuna; to act as dither fish; you think they will become food once my mbuna's grow in a few months?

How many mbuna's are you keeping in your 29gal? I plan on keeping a total of 20 mbuna's in my 65gal; I pretty much removed all the plants because I've observed the mbuna's picking away at them.

Also; I'm very worried about a certain behavior my mbuna's display. A bunch of them will come up to the surface of the tank and gulp; not sure if they are picking off leftover food or if this is a gasp for air?

 

[Cichlid-Man]

Well to start i'd suggest bigger if you got it. 29gal does not leave much room at all for Mbuna.

The pleco should be fine. The shark is a toss up. I've seen clown loaches with mbuna before but idk...

As for plants, anubias and val is prob. gonna be your best bet.

 

[Swordtail8]

My mbunas haven't been transfered to the 29 gallon yet so I have 3 mbunas in a 10 gallon and it is a hostile situation I am trying to fix. I did reply to your post before I made this one. I think I am gonna have maybe 10-12 mbunas in my 29 gallon.

I can understand the dither fish thing. My mbunas caught minnows in the dark and killed them and also killed the almighty krib. Mbunas are fast too so I can see the platys and swordtails eventually getting munched. My two mean mbunas are about 2-3 inches and the yellow lab is about an inch in a half.

I believe mbunas eat very small organisms as well as plants but I can't remember. The afra did munch on the first minnow it killed so he ate some of that.

As for the gulp at the top, I don't believe it is a bad thing. Not sure why they do that but sometimes my cories and pleco go to the top and do that.

29 is as big as I am gonna get it. My parents won't let me get anymore tanks so I have to destroy my current 29 gallon just to do this. I have other threads explaining how I am going about this big proceedure.

But I think I'll give sharky a try in with the mbunas. He is about the same size as them and is fast and since he is shaped more aerodynamicly (or hydrodynamicly as it may be called) he may be faster.

 

[Swordtail8]

I have moved mbunas in the 29 gallon with the shark and pleco and the shark is doing just fine. He chased the pseudotropheus away several times so I take it he can hold his own. I keep ya post on the compatability of rainbow sharks with mbunas as the test of time goes by.