African Cichlid Aquarium: MBUNA vs PEACOCK - Why I Keep Mbuna Over Peacocks
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- Опубліковано 9 лип 2024
- Many of us keep an African Cichlid Aquarium or 2....or 10....but what are some of the differences between keeping a mbuna cichlid tank and a peacock cichlid tank? Today I discuss why when starting a african cichlid aquarium I choose to stock an all mbuna aquarium and not keep any peacock cichlids.
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Thanks for this video man. I was in a middle of deciding mbuna or peacock. I'm new to this cichlid world. I have been watching a lot of videos before getting the cichlids. This actually helps.
I totally agree with you.. i have my first mbuna tank and I love these fish. They are so fun, have great personalities and know me. They follow me from one end to the other, as they know I am in charge of the food. But they are just plain lots of fun! And of course so colorful and amazing! Thanks for a great video!
I love that you showed the map. No video that I've seen has done that. I ended up looking up the lakes myself once I got more curious .
Great video, very informative! I will be putting your knowledge to my own tank, thanks what type of filtration are you using?
I subbed today 1-1-21. My first sub of the year!! I have red zebra mbunas also have dimidiochromis compressiceps. Really like these cichlids, I mostly keep central and South American cichlids, but I started into Africans during the shutdown in the first wave of the pandemic.. happy new year!
Great video. Very helpful. Thanks.
Iv been trying to figure out which cichlids I want to buy when I start my cichlid tank. Thank you this helped.
Gotta love the Mbuna!! Congrats on 300! Seems to be the big number everyone’s been hitting lately! 💪🏽
Appreciate it Dee! You’re just around the corner and now one step closer 💚
I was looking to get into African cichlids after being a new world cichlid guy. This video really helped. Thanks.
Your coalbolts are beautiful. I used to have African for twenty years. They are not boring.
Good kuck and ilk check out you videos.
Tom
Thanks for the Video I learned a lot from it..
Nice video! I have that same tank and stand that's crazy. Just getting back into the fish world after 5+years and I think I'm going mbuna as well
Great video. Well done. Thank you.
Thank you for checking it out scondy, glad you enjoyed
Great video. Mbuna are pretty cool, but a few of them are super mean. Looks like you did your homework and avoided some of the scarier ones. lol Also, I LOVE doing hardscapes. It's a lot of fun creating different caves structures, and the fish seem to really like it too!
Awesome video. Keep up the good work.
Thanks for watching Sammy, will do!
Great vid man. Is that a 75? And how many mbuna you got in there? Looks great man, makes me think i need more fish in my tank
Do you take the rocks out at each cleaning/water change?
310 subs! I'm happy to see the growth man! Future aquarium co op?haha
Thank you Jessie! I appreciate all of you support. 310 to almost 200k is a big leap but a man can dream haha 💚Cory is an inspiration for sure, I’ll be happy if I can one day give back to the hobby a fraction of what he has.
Wow what gorgeous fish you have.🐟🌿👍😄
Great tank!! Love the vid!
Thanks for watching, glad you enjoyed
So what happened in the end to this tank, is it stil ticking over and full of mbuna or did you swap it out for something else in the end?...Love those Cobalt Blues!
is it okay to have a 10 gallon aquarium with just one blue African cichlid?
I got it right before I got very sick I wasn't able to take care of the tank when I got home from the hospital week later the water was black and the fish was still alive two months later it's still alive it hides a lot but I want to know
should I just keep the one cichlid or should I get more fish for it yes very unexperienced I enjoy your video very much I learned a lot thank you
I have a 55 gallon tank, brand new to the hobby, I didn't scape with rocks nor sand, went the traditional way instead, gravel, several caves and a big wrecked ship as the center piece of the tank with lots of holes for them to swim in and out of it...I currently have 6 4in MBUNA (COBALT, YELLOW ELECTRIC, ALBANO AND RED) and 3 1in cichlids bumblebee, blue zebra and auturus yellow...would I be able to add at least 4 more or am I pushing it....having a couple of aggression issues and been reading that it is a good idea to slightly overstock....thanks.
African cichlids r my favorite for sure. They r so active and have the most personality. If u really watch them u will start to see a hiarchy between them. I mix all different types of them such as mbuna and peacock they all interact w each other pretty well.
Great looking fish.
They are pretty and great video.
What species are the blue ones?
With that tank setup did you have to tumbler/frynet rear the younglings or did you change the setup?
Mbuna are my first love. My 110 colony has grown too large now. Will be getting a 180G in 2 weeks for them and removing any that are not quality or are failing to thrive. What I did when I first started buying mbuna from my LFS was to wait and buy the ones who were holding, then I knew I had a definite female (and also scored free fish - the fry). I love the rambunctiousness and spunk of the mbuna.
Looking nice!
Do they eat plants? I've set up a 75 gallon (still cycling) but I've really been looking into Cichlids. They're so pretty. I have rocks,driftwood, plants and sand.
Hi,
Great vid
But I noticed that your fish tend to 'hide' in the corner. I believe this is the cause of the very bright substrate in combination with the very bright light.
I could be wrong, but I believe that with less light and a darker substrate they will be more active and happy.
Grtz
I started with about that many fish 15 years ago in a 125 gallon. Now I have about 100 fish in my tank LOL. I got big lava rocks from a landscaping place and built a back wall all the way to the top all along the back and the sides. Personally I think you'll need a lot more rock in that tank. Looking good!
Okay...Okay, you convinced this New World Cichlid lover to seriously consider an Mbuna habitat. I’m also heavily into my many planted aquariums right now, but I can definitely make some room for those gorgeous Mbunas. This was a very informative and SEDUCTIVE upload. Keep up the good work buddy!
informative and seductive...I like it! I can't say you'll be 100% successful but I've heard some people have kept mbuna with hardy plants like anubias and java fern
Lucky Schmuck's Fish Cave Oh, I won’t add plants unless they like to munch on them. I’ll most likely keep them in a non planted aquarium.
300+ and growing fast 👍 Liking the mbuna tank.
Thanks Tom! I appreciate your support as always
I'd tend to agree with your reasons. I'm thinking to set up a 180 gallon mbuna tank as well.
Great video
So I’m in the middle of cycling a 75 gallon that I’m preferring to stock with mbuna cichlids. The problem is, idk what kind I should get? I know they’re all aggressive but I’m trying to get the least aggressive ones, want atleast 25
Lovely set up. I'm getting back into the hobby after a few years away from it as it's in my blood.1 Aquarium is Brackish (nearly complete) & the other is going to be Cichlid with these fish & other bright ones in it.
Welcome back to the hobby, what do you have the brackish tank??
I love both.
can we put small polar parrot with big peacock ?
I see that you have a couple of catfish (African catfish?) in your tank. How do they do with your Mbuna? I enjoy having catfish in my tanks and am thinking of setting up a Mbuna tank next, my first cichlid tank.
Great Video!
Thank you, glad you enjoyed it!
I have a 40 gallon breeder with 2 mbuna cicilids (one bumblebee one demisoni not very aggressive bumblebee is female demisoni I think is male) lol can I add more?
How many are in there?
Good video man good points personally I keep both lol :)
Peacocks definitely got the best color in lake Malawi. But I agree with You.
I've never been into the hobby fish or anything l
I just thought it'd be cool to have a fish after having gone through my surgery I'm disabled and having come home to see it still alive I wanted to take care of it and so I still have 10 gallon fish tank but I bought a better filter and I've been doing some research for the last couple of weeks on how to better take care of it it seems to hide a lot I stick my hand in the water a lot I don't know if that's good or not
I could really use some advice and some help on how to take care of it so if you or anyone has some advice on how I can make my fish life comfortable it'd be greatly appreciated
it seems like I'm stressing over it more than I should be enjoying it but I don't want my fish to die.
I keep mbuna to over peacocks I had peacocks and they were fun but my favorite are mbuna and don't be misled in and thinking that peacocks are more peaceful to keep together then mbuna an all peacock tank can be very aggressive they too have to be maintained by overstocking unless you keep one or two males and the rest dull Brown females
how many cichlids are in your 55gallon tank?
Congrats on 300 subs 👍
Thanks Ron!
How do u go about feeding the strignbeans ?
I do canned green beans with no salt added. I buy the french cut ones just because they're already sliced up a bit. Drain the can and then I just drop a few into the tank. I feed them to a lot of different fish, shrimp, and snails.
Mbuna’s are definitely more fun to watch. Should look at Metriaclima Msobo Magunga, males marble black and blue, females are yellow, great Mbuna to get as you get two different colours
Soo is this a species only tank you might have mentioned it but .... great looking tank !
Will peacocks breed to mbuna?
I like Mbuna for instant color, u dont have 2 wait for them 2 color up along with the reason u mentioned with the Male & female being colorful. The Mbuna also provide non stop entertainment... good stuff man😎👍
Very good point about the instant color as well! Forgot about the peacocks having to wait to color up and then sometimes fading too. Thanks for watching!
Mbunas are eaters which means cleaner tank.
Wanting to get a cichlid tank is 55 big enough or 60 gal
The only Mbuna I ever enjoyed were Yellow Labidichromis, they aren't as aggressive as most and they are easy to breed if you are into that.
I have had both and now have an all male Peacock tank, I have found that I like the personality of them better, they seem more intelligent and interactive in comparison. My peacocks come up and let me pet them on the forehead for example. The color variation options are greater, less aggressive on avg. compared to mbuna but still enough to be entertaining and active, and less likely to get bloat due to more tolerance for animal protein found in most common cichlid foods. Neither answer is wrong but there are certainly plenty of reasons to like Peacocks over mbuna as well.
I have mixed mbuna, peacocks and haps, but all purchased very young, and I weeded out the trouble makers thanks to my LFS's fish donation and adoption program. But this took years and too much frustration, and some peacock losses. So just get more than one tank and put the peacocks and haps in one and mbunas in the other, and totally avoid bubble bee cichlids!
Very good point. I’m im the process of that frustration as we speak. What’s even more frustrating is that some people can successfully have a mixed tank like that. Unfortunately, I have no such luck. Started with an mbuna tank, started adding a peacock here and there, and they just don’t do well. Color starts fading, they don’t look as vibrant and healthy. Really sucks!
nice
Ok I might start off with this tank!!
if you do, best of luck. Any questions, let me know
Hello . Nice clip f the fish. I live in Thailand and there seems to be a lot of fish shops selling all sorts of fish. I plan to move up to north Thailand in a year or two to build a house. I'm thinking of getting an 8 foot tank in length by 3 foot wide and getting some mbunas only. Put a professional background in it and then make my own caves on the bottom of it. I have heard that Mbunas are the least aggressive out of them all ( African ciclids that is) I don't like to see fish fighting. Tell me what you think any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks. Dermot
These mbuna can be aggressive and territorial like most cichlids but a tank that is 8ft by 3ft will be large enough for many many rocks and hiding spots for the fish to claim. They will chase each other but shouldnt kill each other if they have space to run (swim) to.
Thank you for your reply. Yes I think a tank of that size will go well with plenty of rocks and caves for them. I will spend a lot of time making it good. For a tank of that size how many mbunas would you say at a rough estimate to keep and the ratio of males to females. I just want to keep the dwarf size ones. So many people have different opinions on how many and what ratio. Can you tell me in your own opinion of what species to mix on the dwarf mbunas? Also on how many caves? I have seen on the internet that the safe way is to have one cave per fish! I don't know pal. Any advice would be a great help to me. Thanks
If you keep mbuna or peacocks let me know what you like about them and why?
I keep both but I like peacocks better
in the beginning of my fish keeping I was paying crazy prices for My african cichlids 80 a fish to 60 at my local fish store until I started meeting other ppl in fish game now I pay under 15 dollars for any haps peacocks whatever I ask for he orders what I ask for glad I found this connect and beautiful strains jus gotta ask around thts what I did
Good video i sub
Welcome to the cave!
Can blue mbuna live together with demasoni
Khrisz Daniel definitely
A bit of trivia, most people say "em-buna or mu-buna" in fact, as the word mbuna is in the African dialect its actually pronouced "Bu-nah" :) ty for the interesting upload, i have been killing my brain what i want to stock my tank with (in the UK here) and i wanted Discus, but they are VERY expensive here so i finally arrived at African cichlids, but which type??? i wanted mbuna, but fb group said no haps and peaocks, seeing your tank, im staying with Mbuna :)
I enjoy learning about names and other facts so thank you for sharing. Glad you're staying with mbuna, I am still very happy with my them over a year later and their colors (especially the cobalt blue) are still as stunning to me as the day I got them.
Hey great video! I was on my way to pick up some peacocks to add to my mbuna tank (55 gallon) but learned a lot of valuable information from your video, so much so that I had to leave a little appreciate comment for guiding me the write way. #MBUNAFAM
I've had more problems with aggression in my mbuna tanks than I ever had with my hap or peacock tanks,had to give up on my mbuna tank,but they are beautiful fish.
Then you either had not enough, too many males, too few caves/rocks or you chose the types that are really aggressive. I have over 100 in a 110 and there is little aggression. Have had tank running with same fish (and their offspring) for more than 3 years.
I feel like I need some cichlids in my fish room... I've never bought or kept them.
Mbuna are decent for a first cichlid, so are shell dwellers and those guys only need a 10-20g tank!
I might need to try those out then, I have mostly rare Plecos, and some Discus neon tettras
I have more than a few “dream tanks” but one is planted discus tank for sure! I love me some plecos but right my collection is limited to bristlenose and sailfin in the 125g
Just discover your channel. Great advice and content. Subbed
Thanks Sunny, welcome!
I've never kept African cichlids.... and wondered about Mbuna vs Peacocks. (I typically like the Tanganyikans) I think I need a Mbuna tank... troublemaker!
mbuna's are fun and plan on keeping them a long time however I am getting more and more into Tanganyikans myself
I don't keep them but they are beautiful especially the yellows They seem to be lower level swimmers.
Yes the yellow labs are a classic!
Mbuna are not just vegetarians, they eat other fish's fry whenever they can, but of course algae is more easily available. :)
How to get dark color of cichlids
Generally speaking good water quality and a varied diet consisting of live/frozen foods and a quality pellet/flake. Proper stocking can help as can genetics
Thanks
Completely agree with you. I have a mixed African cichlid tank, peacocks, haps, and mbuna. I completely prefer mbuna. In many species like you say, the females can be just as colorful. The other lesson I learned early on is that there is nothing less natural than an all male peacock/ hap aquarium. In nature, the less dominant males can run away out of an aggressors territory. In a small tank, there is no place to go and a tank boss can do heavy damage resulting in deaths a lot of times. For a successful all male hap/ peacock tank, you really have to know your species and have to heavily stock your tank in order to avoid lots of aggression and killing. African cichlids are happiest in tanks with a few males and mostly females. My mbuna are hardy and happy with the male/ female mix. The females can take such a beating and they just keep trucking. I’ve been considering getting rid of my african cichlid to start a planted discus tank, but I love my mbuna to much to do it right now. Maybe next year!
You’re right Eric, everyone wants a dozen or more “dominant” males but that’s impossible because there’s only so much territory to be dominated. Planted discus tanks look amazing to me!! I think I’d have to wait to get an RO system since my tap water is so hard. Good thing about this hobby is it can evolve over time, thanks for watching!
How much green beans do you feed them? 1/4 can a feed?
Is that a 55 gallon?
yes it is
Mbuna like vegetables depending on the mbuna. A lot are omnivores.
The rocks are for algie to grow. Malawis love algie
bigeiz you new friend
Welcome new friend! 💚
Now i know much energenic mbuna than peacok thank
Cichlids for the win!
I don’t have a ton but hopefully adding more soon. Appreciate you stopping by, love your passion and I respect your grind.
Those look like saulosi so the males are the blue and females the yellow
help
I prefer both peacocks and mbuna lol. If anyone wants to go check it out I have a mixed African Cichlid setup
They're juvenile, if that's your 1st tank means you're new to the hobby ?
U can have both in same tank
Yes I have naps peacocks and mbunas
Peacocks better. More color choices. Mbuna get too big and are too aggressive
Mbuna are more aggressive for sure but stay smaller
Females dont have yellow dots
Mbuna = rock dweller
Mbunas 👎
Peacocks 👍
Great video
thanks for watching Mike