Demasoni with bigger Mbuna?

[BeefyG]

I have a 55g tank with 4 zebra long pelvic, 2 electric yellows, 2 mainganos, 1 clown loach, and 1 wayward bala shark. All fish are 3" or less right now. Can I put a group of about 10 1" demasoni in with them? I'm a little concerned about the mainganos and the demasoni getting aggressive towards each other.

I have a Aquatech 30-60 HOB and a Maxijet 1200 on the tank right now. I plan on adding a Fluval 304 in the near future once I get some media and replace a couple parts. There are two groups of holy rock which are overlayed to make a large cave on each side. I could add more holy rock if needed.

[algarciajr]

I kept demasoni's with a large ~8" frontosa along with some red zebras a couple of year ago.

[fshfrk]

demasoni are tough and mean.They usually get very aggressive with their own kind. Should be interesting with the others fish.

[fshfrk]

Just googled Mainganos. They are a Melanchromis they are mean too. Probably meaner than the demasoni.

[Darbex]

Yeah Demasonis are mean. When I had a Mbuna/Peacock tank the Demoasonis would fight bigger Mbunas for territory. Your electric yellows are those yellow labs?

[BeefyG]

I think they are mainganos... may be johanni but they were given to me so I don't know for sure. I was told it was a male and female which means it shouldn't be johanni... ?

[BeefyG]

Yeah Demasonis are mean. When I had a Mbuna/Peacock tank the Demoasonis would fight bigger Mbunas for territory. Your electric yellows are those yellow labs?

I think... mine have slight light/dark yellow striping on their sides which I see in pics when I google electric yellow cichlid but when I google yellow labs they look solid yellow... is there a difference?

[geoff_tropheus]

I would get a bigger tank down the road. That Bala Shark will get huge.

20 fishes in a 55 gallon at roughly 1-3" size is going to add up pretty quickly for you.

[BeefyG]

I would get a bigger tank down the road. That Bala Shark will get huge.

20 fishes in a 55 gallon at roughly 1-3" size is going to add up pretty quickly for you.

The bala shark was a Christmas gift from my sister-in-law. I gave my in-laws a list of fish stuff I could use that they could get at Walmart and she got me that instead. It is gonna have to go when it gets bigger. She still asks how it is doing so I'm keeping it for now...

I'm getting a 75 gallon on Friday. Its reserved as the future home for my Kiriza colony but they are just little fry right now. Would it be better to put everybody in there and sort them out when the Kiriza are big enough for that tank? The Kiriza are going to go from the 10 gallon they're in now to a 30 gallon before they go to the 75. I don't really know how long that will take though.

[BeefyG]

I'll put all the Mbuna in the 75g and when the Kiriza are big enough I'll put the big Mbuna in the 55g and the Demasoni in the 30g. Does anyone know if they like a lot of flow? I have a 560GPH pump running the wetdry on the 30g.

[Gene D]

I think your solution will work short term but a 30g may be a little cramped for the Demasoni when they reach adulthood. They are very aggressive among their own.