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After an exhausting search through most of the northwest Houston area, I have found nothing but disappointment with the mbunas available. One store sold me a fish with the beginning stages of cotton mouth, and when I returned to see if the stock was any better, I discovered almost all of the African tanks had some level of fungus... In disappointment I left and ventured to 2 chain stores... one only offered "mixed African cichlids" and one had some aceis (rare around these parts) but they where very poor quality. My last venture was to a local store... The tanks where filled with a brown muck... So that turned out to be a very short trip indeed. My last resort is to purchase some online, I'm willing to pay the shipping for decent fish.

So I have a few questions...

1. Are kenyi compatible with electric yellows?

2. Does anyone know of a respectable online store that has a good selection of mbunas, accepts paypal and has shipping under $30.00?

kenyi are compatible with yellow labs, but....i have to seriously persuade you to go with a different fish. before i get too far ahead of myself. how large is your tank? kenyi require large tanks like 100g plus. these fish are ruthless from my experience. they will not do in a 55g for very long. some may have some success, but it is a small percentage. there are many, many other fish that are so much better, in my opinion than kenyi. they get larger than average mbuna and have larger attitudes. they will/can get to 6" long. they have the typical mbuna, herbivorous diet. i didnt keep mine too long so i cant tell you how they look as adults, but most people will tell you that they are not very attractive. the males will matue into orange and the females stay blue with large black bars. my friend had a lone female that was about 5 years old that was absolutely gorgeous. but she killed every fish she ever encountered. the yellow labs on the other hand...are awesome.
about the acei you saw...were they kindof ratty looking? i ask because i have bought juvie acei that were a little rough looking and they quickly turn nice in your tank. i think they beat each other up a bit in the lfs tanks. i have a small colony of six in my mbuna tank that are awesome. i highly recommend them. try your luck with the rough ones. if they are at the chain store, they usually have a 14 day return policy. mine shaped up in a week and were very nicce looking.

Thanks for the info, I thought I remembered something about their aggression; I just wanted to make sure. So I won't be getting any of those for the 55g.

They where diseased looking... blotchy patches of missing scales and split fins. I know TLC would probably fix that up, but I don't have that kind of time and especially not for $14 each.

Thanks for the info .

John, have you ever tried to find an aquarium society in your area? IMO they are the absolute best source of african cichlids, usually really good quality and so much cheaper than the LFS' too. All of my fish have come from local breeders, either private sale or at auctions with the exception of a pair of socolofi (and they came from a shop owned by a well-known cichlid breeder), and they are all great quality fish.

It's a real shame you're having so much trouble finding mbuna, it seems you're missing out on much of the variety out there .

The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. - Oscar Wilde

Indeed... This is a list of the cichlids I've seen in local shops...

Electric Yellows
Aceis (just that once)
Cobalt and Red Zebras
And something called a Rusty cichlid

And that's it... *Sigh* thats what I get for living in Texas...

Aquarium stuffers and aquariumfish.net are some of the online stores I'm looking at... Aquarium stuffers' shipping is _really_ ($40.00) high however... But they seem to have more mbunas... Then again I trust aquariumfish.net... But the selection is limited... I seem to be screwed...

I think I'll check out aquabid... Maybe I'll find something decent there.


[edit]
I forgot to even address the aquarium society question, sorry .
There is one, but their meetings are held a good... 30-45 mins away from me. Seeing as how I'm a lazy bum, and I like to keep the socializing down to a minimum, I don't think that's for me.

[span class="edited"][Edited by john.stone 2004-07-08 20:43][/span]

it will be worth it for you to go to the meeting. as painfull as it may seem to go, give it a shot. i guarantee that you will be able to find anything you are looking for. most people at those meetings either have fish or want fish. texas has quite a few breeders from what i gather. your other choice would be to order online. this is expensive, but you can get some really nice, rarer fish.

Hey
If your looking for fish online have you tryed [link=http://www.malawimayhem.com]mailto:"][/a][a href="http://www.malawimayhem.com[/link] they have some nice fish in there that you might like !
Good luck Darryle