Hello All...new to the board. I have a 65 Gallon Mbuna tank and it has been set up since Dec 07. My fish so far are:

Yellow Tail Acei - 3
Yellow Labs - 3
Cherry Red Zebra - 3
B&W Auratus - 3
Kenyi - 3

They are all juveniles, around 1.5 to 2.5 "

I want to bring the Auratus and Kenyi back to the LFS and get one of the following:

pseudo socolofi
Aulonocara jacobfreibergi
Aulonocara stuartgranti
pseudo saulosi

Please let me know what you think. Thanks!

First off Welcome!! to CH thebigman65!! Good choice in getting rid of those trouble makers! the Clap If it was my tank I would get the saulosi, because I love their colors! I wouldn't put any peacocks in that tank with the crazy mbuna although you could pull it off.

You could up your numbers of yellow labs & acei to 5 with 3 zebras and 5 saulosi if your filtration is adequate for the overstocking.

While your here post some pics of your tank I would love to see some and I'm sure others would too!

HTH

~Rena~

Thank you....is there a tank section here? and to post pics....you have to use a URL right.....still figuring things out.

I know that putting the Jakes in with Mbuna is hit and miss....just wanted to try some variety.....but I think I will stick with the Saulosi....I like em too!

Thanks for the response.

Bigman Indeed welcome to CH!!!

Its great to have you here


Removing the Auratus and Kenyi are avery wise idea as they can be super aggressive IMO.Otherwise this tank should look awesome.

Indeed posting pics is through photobucket or imageshack for the time being

Any questions feel free to ask any of the staff or myself !

Welcome!!

Hello Thebigman65. I had Auratus too in my tank when i first started a month ago yikes

I took them back and now have 8 Yellow Labs & 4 Moorii Haps.

Good Luck Cheers!!!

Hi Bigman65 and welcome. Hi!

I agree with cturner about upping the numbers of labs and acei. If you plan on keeping fry, you will want to watch out with the zebras - they are known to cross-breed with the labs. (I have some of those hybrids that I bought as red zebras. Grrrr )

Is a 65 gallon a four foot tank?

I keep labs and acei with several mostly young peacocks and haven't had any aggression issues. They seem to be milder in temperament than most mbuna. I would not try that with the saulosi or any other mbuna, though. And yes, your tank will be better off without those auratus. Three is not a good number for them!

Thank you everyone. I really like the Cherry's....they seem to have quite the personalities....but I like the Labs and Acei's better.....

My tank perameters are:

65 Gallon tank it's 36"L x 18"D x 22" H, 2215 Ehiem Canister, Aquaclear 50 Power head with filter, Jager 200W heater, etc. The tank is set up with a small smooth gravel bottom in natural colour, drift wood, Red and White lava stone, a few fake plants and a black background.

Sorry still tryin to get the hang of the pics.....this is probably too big...but

The Fish:

That size works just fine! Nice fishies you got there! I like the way you have the lava rock laid out in the one corner. Good Job

Thanks!....it's funny....everyone says that about the asymetrical look.....I was going to add a bit more on the other side....or maybe just some half clay pots or something....just for a few more hiding spots.

I might have to dismantle it anyway soon just to get those Auratus and Kenyi's out of there.... :blink:

Nice looking tank; I like the rock layout as well. Good Job

In your stock list you have B&W auratus listed. Is that black and white? The black and white striped fish I see in your picture don't look like auratus to me. They do look like Melanochromis, but not auratus. Maybe parallelus?

And are the light orange fish in the picture the cherry red zebras? Something about them doesn't look right either, but that could just be the angle of the picture. I'm not good at identifying fish Blush , but I also have learned not to trust the labeling of fish in most fish stores!

They are pretty and add nice color to your tank.

instead of dismantling to try to catch the fish try the trick in the following article:

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/fish_trap.php

Yes....they are Black & White auratus. As you said, that is what the LFS called them, but they are pretty reputable. the Cherry's are definatly Cherry's....looked over many pics of others....the pic was taken with a flash so perhaps they look different.

that fish trap looks kinda cool....i'll try it and see if it works. the auratus are little pigs, so they should be the first ones in there....lol.

Thanks for all the nice comments.

I did a little searching on the black and white auratus and all I could find was a listing for it as the common name for the Melanochromis parallelus. I don't really understand that. idunno They were described as mildly aggressive in temperament, but highly aggressive to conspecifics.

Anyway, I guess it doesn't matter if you are returning them, but I was just curious. I had never heard of a black and white auratus before.

No Worries Aura....you are correct the right name is Melanochromis parallelus.

Wierd why the LFS would call them Auratus, although the Auratus does look like that, but with a yellow belly.

Anyway, Like you said, they are going back!.....as soon as I can catch em....lol

Got em!....thank you to Yodahorn for the "Fish Trap".....it worked like magic.....it took a few tries, but eventually got all the Auratus and Kenyi's outta there.

Went to the LFS and they had some ACEI Yellow tail on sale, so I bought 3 more. Now all I need to find are 2 more decent yellow labs and a few Socolofi......I don't know what is is, but I haven't been able to find any Socolofi or Saulosi anywhere.....oh well....guess I'll have to be patient.

Welcome to CH, bigman65!

Saulosi and Socolifi can be hard to locate depending on where
you live.

Nice tank, BTW!

glad the fish trap worked for you.