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My Mbuna tank

4K views 18 replies 10 participants last post by  Mr.Todd 
#1 ·
Some of you may have read my thread on the growing pains on the tank but after a bit of research and thinking I quickly got it under control. Still doing every other day water treatments and closely monitoring the parameters but all the fish are healthy, active and their typical Mbuna turd selves...ie PITA. A blast to watch however. The tank contains 1 male Lab, 2 female labs (all juvies), 1 male Kenyii (biggest pain in the tank) and 1 female Demasoni. So far aggression is relatively in check; the labs and dem get along great, in fact the labs are like a bunch of mice as far as following each other. The kenyii has hit a recent streak of aggression, particularly at feeding, towards all of them. For the most part he leaves the labs be, but likes to chase the demasoni. There are plenty of hiding spots but the dem typically doesn't go in them for some odd reason. Usually the kenyii is hanging out in his mancave (pictured below).


Tank setup is a tad unorthodox; false driftwood and artificial plants aren't quite your typical Mbuna environment but they seem to enjoy it, particularly the demasoni and labs as they enjoy swimming in and around the plants. I will probably be adding some more rocks to the rear in the future-I found a large artificial rock setup with many hiding spots that will fit perfect however take away from some of the color in the tank. If I do add more Mbunas (undecided as of yet..they stay away from the top of the tank and I am considering experimenting with something at the top of the tank to fill it) I will probably get it. All comments are welcome; needless to say it's been a steep learning curve with these guys but it has been fun!


(click for the fullsize of each)














 
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#5 ·
I like it! As for the decorations, they actually look pretty natural for fake, and the whole tank looks good to me. I mean it's not like you got hot pink gravel or anything ;) The fish are gorgeous too! And they take good pictures :)
 
#8 ·
sweet tank dude. I personally have a 112 gallon malawi tank and i have at least 7 types of species. just remember with africans its better to overstock to keep the agression down as well as put more then one fish in at a time and rearrange the tabk decorations when you do add new fish.
 
#11 ·
Updated pictures...I have reorganized my main tank and if you kept up with my "Emergency kenyi problem" thread on another forum you probably read up on my punkass kenyi causing problems. Well I like him too much to get rid of him and decided instead of finding more females of his size I would go for a 10 gallon for him for now. So below are the pictures of my new additions. Tanks now include:
26 gallon bowfront:
-1 3" Male demasoni
-1 1.5" male yellow lab
-2 1" female yellow labs
-1 4" male red zebra
-1 4" female auratus
-1 2.5" female auratus
10 gallon "timeout tank":
-1 3.5" male kenyi juvie (slowly transforming)
The demasoni is very photogenic and he has always been curious so pictures of him are easy. The red zebra is gorgeous-a light pink with a nice blue iridescent hue but camera shy-nosy every other time. The auratus is the same way..usually up in my face but not around the camera. The kenyi, well he's a punk and doesn't like taking pictures but I did my best.











 
#14 ·
new pics-the large female auratus passed away of bloat awhile back, and sadly my favorite fish the demasoni got bloat as well...he always hid so it wasn't unusual to not see him but he must have been hoarding food (purely algae based) as he passed quickly.


To augment the tank I added three maylandia crabro “bumblebee cichlid” and one labidochromis textilis (often called exasperatus but this is the incorrect name)...the textilis is very camera shy.

my female lab:









my hongi island and his mean teeth:



the nice guy red zebra:




the albino chocolate pleco in the hongi island 10 gal:


and the textilis:

 
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