# Partition for Africans?



## Philip.Chan.92 (Apr 25, 2010)

I plan to revamp my 90 gallon when I get back to Toronto in a few weeks. I will be getting around 20+ demasoni fry, about 2-3 months so they are still fairly small and will definitely be bulled by my larger fish that are getting bigger than 3inches now, I was wondering if I can use eggcrate to partition my tank and reserve a bit of space for my demasoni so they can grow faster without competition of bigger fish, as well as not getting harassed. Any idea on how much space I should give them on a 90 gallon and how to secure eggcrate to my tank without scratching the glass? I plan to add the demasoni to the main tank when they are about 2-3" which may take a while, but I am more than willing to wait.


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## xr8dride (Feb 24, 2009)

you are prob better off buying a small grow out tank, 20-30 gallons or so. Otherwise add plenty of rock with small crevaces for them to hide in and forget the partition. I haven't had a prob adding smaller fish to my tank, the bigger ones may chase a second or two but never do any damage.


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## Philip.Chan.92 (Apr 25, 2010)

xr8dride said:


> you are prob better off buying a small grow out tank, 20-30 gallons or so. Otherwise add plenty of rock with small crevaces for them to hide in and forget the partition. I haven't had a prob adding smaller fish to my tank, the bigger ones may chase a second or two but never do any damage.


Less than 1" demasoni, 2-3 months old, they will be ok with 3-3.5" mbunas? won't they grow faster if I partition them to ensure they always get their food and not lose their tails? With say...30 demasoni fry, do I really need rocks? I mean it will be nearly impossible for one to consistently chase down one of them, I will add a few rocks for sure, but I don't plan to make a network of caves since I want the partition to be as small as possible while giving them more than enough room to swim, the rocks simply take up to much swimming space.


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## Philip.Chan.92 (Apr 25, 2010)

I have albino socolofi, yellow tail acei, yellow labs, maingano, juvi taiwan reef. They are all about 2.5-3" From what ive heard, they are all herbivores, if I add some other mbuna fry such as demasoni, ranging from 1/4" to 1", will any of them get eaten? I have plenty of rocks and such but will my current species see them as food?


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## Darkside (Sep 14, 2009)

Yep, the larger fish can and will eat them. No fish passes up a free meal.


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## Dabigmandan (Nov 13, 2010)

If they're only an inch in length, they might just be able to swim through that eggcrate no?


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## Philip.Chan.92 (Apr 25, 2010)

Sorry i meant to correct that, planning to use plastic mesh. Don't want multi tank syndrome. Might start a breeding colony of demasoni to support my fish hobby though, maybe saulosi too, then again I always wanted a discus tank. That's just my thoughts in 30 seconds, if I acted on them, might as well build a house out of cured concrete and then fill it with water


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## 03pilot (Oct 7, 2010)

Philip.Chan.92 said:


> I have albino socolofi, yellow tail acei, yellow labs, maingano, juvi taiwan reef. They are all about 2.5-3" From what ive heard, they are all herbivores, if I add some other mbuna fry such as demasoni, ranging from 1/4" to 1", will any of them get eaten? I have plenty of rocks and such but will my current species see them as food?


Your yellow lab and maingano are Omnivore:
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=713
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=756

Fyi. 6 weeks ago I moved 11 Demasoni fries from my nursery tank to my 90 gallon main tank. They were 3 months old and around 3/4" in size. They are all doing fine except one that was substantially smaller than the rest of the group. She survived just 2 minutes in the main tank before a yellow lab finds her. So if they are small enough to go thru the mouth of another mbuna, there is almost no chance for it to survive without any hiding places. btw, I do have a lot of rocks in my tank but my fries spent most of their time out in the open. They are not shy at all. Expect to see some occasional injuries but it wasn't bad for me so far.

Not sure how you are going to secure your mesh in your 90 gallon. I think its very risky to put the 2 groups side by side. And its probably not easy to keep your tank and mesh clean?

Just my $0.02 .

Stock List
2 - demasoni (2.5")
10 - demaoni fries (1 - 1.5")
2 - yellow tail acei (3.5")
4 - yellow labs (3.5")
4 - perlmutt (3")
3 - cynotilapia afra (3 - 3.5")
2 - red zebra (3 - 3.5")
3 - snow white zero (3.5")
3 - yellow belly albert (1.5 - -2")


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## gucci17 (Oct 11, 2007)

In my experience, they will get eaten. I've even had my mbunas bite through breeding nets and kill fry. Which is why I went with John's fry savers and grow out tanks.

I would just wait until you are able to care for the demasonis yourself. They are readily available and pretty cheap. Your most successfull way of raising the fry would be to use a bare bottom grow out tank. I find they grow the fastest this way and less chance of stunting their growth. I know you said you would like to avoid adding more tanks but you do not have much of an option unless you are going to risk having the fry in your tank. If you must go with the eggcrate idea, you can try to build up two walls of rocks on either side of the eggcrate to kind of secure it. That is probably your best bet with minimal losses.


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## kousman (Jan 28, 2010)

your bigger fish might also try to squeeze thought the egg crate. I have seen my ob peacocks squeeze there way thought it pretty easy at a size that I would not have expected.


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## Riceburner (Mar 14, 2008)

a perforated hard container inside the main tank works. something like a clear fridge drawer drilled full of holes


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## nikole957 (Dec 1, 2010)

03pilot said:


> Your yellow lab and maingano are Omnivore:
> http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=713
> http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=756
> 
> ...


I would just wait until you are able to care for the demasonis yourself. They are readily available and pretty cheap. Your most successfull way of raising the fry would be to use a bare bottom grow out tank. I find they grow the fastest this way and less chance of stunting their growth. I know you said you would like to avoid adding more tanks but you do not have much of an option unless you are going to risk having the fry in your tank. If you must go with the eggcrate idea, you can try to build up two walls of rocks on either side of the eggcrate to kind of secure it. That is probably your best bet with minimal losses.


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