# 45 Gallon tall tank for Mbuna?



## Prelude2Life (Jun 22, 2010)

Hey guys i have a cycled 45 or 50 gallon "TALL" tank. (currently stocked with platies and guppies that will be moved) It shares same foot print as a common 32 gallon i think. Right now it has sand and a large rock formation. I wanted to set it up as a shell dwellers/tangs tank but lost interest in it as i was researching. For my needs i think something "average" maintenance and colorful will be better. I have seen some Pseudotropheus demasoni i think with yellow labs vids on youtube and i was wonder if a tall tank would be long enough to house them. Im sure it will limit the stock of fish i can keep but again this isnt something i have looked to deeply into. Any recommendations insight would be appreciated. Getting a larger tank is not an option but a different stock of fish is. 

Priority 
1) Average maintenance. (with my rena xp3)
2) Color/Appeal of fish and tank
3) Activity


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## Sidius (Mar 25, 2012)

From what I hear about Mbuna, they don't use the upper half of the tank all that much so having a "Tall" tank might be wasted space. I'm sure you could certainly do it but you would want to stick to the less aggressive Mbuna.


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## rich16 (Mar 25, 2011)

I would stay away from a tall tank for Mbuna. (says the guy with the 110 tall... ). However, I have peacocks and haps that spend more time in the upper levels of the tank. Mbuna are more rock dwellers, they'll spend more time in the lower third in and around your rock piles / aquascape. Your idea of Demasoni and labs is good, just not sure you will get what you want with the larger tank.


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## tony1928 (Apr 22, 2010)

I think if you could maybe get a big rockpile that's nice and high, then the fish would be able to use some of that height. Its not so much the height of the tank that mbuna don't like, its the lack of cover. I've seen some wicked mbuna tanks where they pile rock almost up to the water line, high in the back of the tank.


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## Prelude2Life (Jun 22, 2010)

Ok so basically i can use the space better if i pile rocks. Any recommendations where i can get some natural rocks? not a big fan of the flat marble looking slabs some tend to make a staircase design out of. Any other stock recommendations? I was at a pet store they were recommending i put a young frontosa in along with the 2 groups i listed above. Im not so sure if my tank is large enough to house one of those...


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## jbyoung00008 (May 16, 2011)

I like the look of Mexican bowl rock. Check out my 125g African tank to see what it looks like. Its cheap .50 cents a pound. North West Landscape sells it. I agree a tall rock stucture would work well with mbunas. Might look really neat aswell. Make sure you do your research on which fish species. Some mbunas can be real terrors in a tank. 

As for the frontosa dont put a single frontosa in a tank. They are a colony fish and are only happy in a colony. Otherwise they just hide and seem un happy. I tried it and so have a few others on this site. 

Good luck with the tank. Post some pictures when you set it up


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## Prelude2Life (Jun 22, 2010)

nice 125 man. Nice job with the stand. i built my own but didnt take any pics of the build. Ill put some pics for sure. Mexican bowl rock is . With that depth the clearance of the rock in the back looks great. I bought a rock from IPU with the large drilled holes in it that looks real nice, ill have to figure out where to put that. The Cichlid section of this forum is sorta quite it seems. You guys on any cichlid forums that might give me some good ideas?


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## Sidius (Mar 25, 2012)

The best cichlid website out there is cichlid-forum.com. They have a huge following and a plethora of information for you to read (inc. some cookie cutter species combos for different size tanks so you know what will work well in yours). The people and the mods are very knowledgeable and usually pretty quick to respond to posts/questions.


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## Prelude2Life (Jun 22, 2010)

Thanks checking out now


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## dino (Aug 29, 2011)

i have a 65 tall that houses mbuna, haps, peacocks, others and plecos its defenetly overcrowed but for a small tank its better that way. these guys use my whole tank all day long i do like jbyoung0008 rock he has in his tank ive seen it personally much cheaper than the rock i have in my tank. as for the frontosa i recently got one at about 4 inches and hes happy and swimming everywere. just so you know i need to upgrade soon since my fish have grown over the last a year and a half. can i ask what size are the fish going to be


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## Prelude2Life (Jun 22, 2010)

nice. got pictures of your tank?


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## dino (Aug 29, 2011)

ill take some


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## dino (Aug 29, 2011)

*my tank*

nothing special really but lotsa fish


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