r/AfricanCichlids

My cichlid was bullied really bad, I have an extra tank. Do I need to cycle it before moving the fish? Also should I remove this fish or the bully? I dont want to risk moving this one and then she/he gets beat up again when i add it back into the tank

I currently have a 75 gal with a Penn-Plax 1200 Canister, about 30 malawi cichlid (18 of which are big enough to keep track of) and teeny tiny mbuna fry that I can’t keep track of so not sure on exact numbers. I rescued them about 3 three weeks ago and just added two new fish yesterday with them after rearranging their coral hardscape and darkening the tank for a while. I added a dragonblood peacock and a polar blue convict.

I hadn’t realized that the blue polar wouldn’t be a good fit for the tank and because he was kept in a tank with Malawi cichlids I had assumed he’d be okay and the fish guy said it was all good (100% my fault for not researching). Now he’s getting picked on by my two biggest cichlids, but the other one isn’t, and the polar blue doesn’t appear to have problems with any others. He also is very not well suited for getting through the coral and I’m worried that will also hurt him along with the bullying. Watching him stress is making me stress, but he’s ate this morning.

I have a ten gallon hospital tank I can put him in if need be, or a planted 25 gal but it has kuhlis, guppies, shrimp, and snails in it so I’m hesitating on that… also have smooth river rocks I want to set up in a couple months but the coral has grown on me a little bit.

I plan on setting up a camera to see how it is when they aren’t being observed. The two bullying fish are in pic 5

Long question short, how do you guys decide when it’s too much aggression and not just a case of establishing a social order?

This new mbuna tank is just about wrapped up cycling doing the 24hr test now.

The tank itself is 48x18x18 67 gallons. Filtered by a fluval fx2 and a sicce shark pro 500.

Im going to be ordering fish soon and was wondering what people think about throwing 21-26 Iodotropheus sprengerae (rusty cichlid). 1.5-2" unsexed fish in there.

My other stocking idea would be splitting and going for 11 rusties and 11 yellow labs for a little more diversity but for whatever reason im pretty set on the rusty colony.

Any opnions about this set up before its all finalized?

Sold about 40 large fish and about 25 yellow lab fry, added the fluval marine light, and changed decor. New tank boss is the large red top zebra cichlid who is always at the back right of the tank

Does anyone know the species of this Mbuna? Was sold out of an assorted Mbuna tank at my local fish shop. I thought it might be a female Socolofi but it doesn't look like the pictures I see online or the females I see in the Socolofi tank at my fish shop. Thanks in advance!!

Bought as assorted

Looks just like my MBenji but different colored tips

Is it just a hybrid ?

Thanks in advance

After growing my colony from 6 fish to about 30 over the last two years, I’ve decided that I would like to try something else, so I’m trading them in at the local store (who are happy to take them, as they said they rely on customers for Multies restocking). I did make the post the other day talking about the irrational guilt you can feel about trading in fish, but I think I somehow posted it to my own profile instead of the sub so I deleted it again. But I did want to mention it cuz I think it’s important to remind people that it’s okay to trade stuff and change it up, and that it doesn’t make you a bad fishkeeper or mean you failed or whatever.

The folks at my local store reassured me that they do the same thing, and of course you shouldn’t feel guilty or encumbered by your pets. Especially a colony species like this which effectively will regenerate itself indefinitely. I’ve wanted to keep these guys for years and doing so was great fun, but now I’ve pretty much reached the point where I’ve learned everything I can about them, and not only were they completely filling their tank, but the maintainence regime for that many fish was getting a bit much - so I figured it was time to restock the local scene and give myself space for other new experiences.

Anyway, here’s some pics showing how to separate your shell dwellers from their shells for rehoming. I can’t remember where I saw this technique but it works great. Pic #1 is the tank as it was, Pic #2 is the process of placing their shells up high near the water’s surface. This is not where the fish want to be, and so they will eventually poke their heads out, and go down to the deeper water to safety. (People also do this in buckets with a flowerpot, but I prefer to do it in the tank so the temperature isn’t an issue). I eventually managed to remove about 90 shells from the tank, and Pic #3 shows the colony in their makeshift shelters (PVC pipe elbows from Bunnings) until it’s time to take them to the shop in a week or two. I chose to do this ahead of time so as to give me plenty of time to separate them gently, and give them a chance to recover from that stress before going in a bucket and the car etc.

Anyway, hope this post is vaguely helpful to read :)

Have 26 Africans, 3 Plecos, 3 Cuckoo Catfish, and 4 snails. Hated the air stones so added this wave maker pointed at the surface.

This enough movement to provide enough o2?

Thanks

Peacock? Malawi? Help plzzz

I Need Expert Knowledge, everyone ist telling me different. Is it demansoni or hybrid …..because They have yellow tips at the tail

Has yellow dorsal fins. Doesn't look like my afra. A kind of hongi?

I am still a newbie with these beautiful fish

The first id on the fish furthest please

Second picture is the blueish male please These two have had frys I know they would be hybrids but I am finding very interesting

I’ve been treating with Kanaplex, Epsom salt, and aquarium salt

Hallo Leute, ich brauche Hilfe bei der Bestimmung dieser Mbuna-Gruppe. Ich bin mir bei einigen Punkten nicht zu 100 % sicher. Vielleicht sind es Hybriden?

Unfortunately our pretty new ob peacock is a female in an all male tank. Had to take her back to the fish shop. I am so sad because she’s a beautiful fish. I wish we would’ve given her & the blue dolphin (who has an injured tail from a pleco but he’s doing great after treatment and a few months in a hospital tank) a tank together— they’d have beautiful babies— but that’s just not what I’m trying to do rn. I’ll certainly be looking for another fish with similar coloration to add to this tank.