A female lays eggs, a male fertilizes the eggs, and the female picks up the eggs in her mouth. Gender: It's difficult to tell males from females, when they're small, but when they mature the males are bigger with pointed fins and more gold egg-spots on their fins.īreeding: These Red Tops and all the other Mbunas are mouthbrooders. Keep the water conditions excellent and feed them premium foods, and they will most likely breed and produce the next generation of fish for your aquarium. Life Span: Mbunas can live for several years. The addition of Lava Rocks will keep nitrates in the ideal range.Ĭlick here to learn more about using Lava Rocks in aquariums. Most 80-gallon aquariums have room along the back for at least two Penguin 350B Filters, and this is sort of a minimal Mbuna set up.īetter is a 120, 150, or 200-gallon aquarium with as many Penguin 350B Filters as will fit across the back.Ĭlick here to learn more about aquarium filters. Mbunas love rocks and rocky caves.Īquarium Filter: Bio-Wheel Filters are highly recommended. Live plants are beautiful and improve the water quality, but Mbunas will usually rip plants up, so most Mbuna aquariums do not have live plants. Water Conditions: Lake Malawi has hard alkaline water and that is best for all the fish, who's ancestors lived there.īut these fish can adapt to most types of water, and so as usual it's best not to try to change the pH or alkalinity.Ĭlick here for a lot more information about aquarium water conditions.Īquarium Size: Mbunas like this Red Top, will eventually need to live in an aquarium with at least 80-gallons of water.Įach Mbuna will need at least 5-gallons of water, and Mbunas live best in an aquarium with at least 15 other Mbunas of about the same size.ĭecor: Mbunas do not need gravel, and a layer of gravel more than 1/4' thick will usually fill with bits of uneaten food that will contaminate the water.Ĭlick here for more about aquarium gravel. Smaller sized pellets when they're small, and larger sized pellets when they're larger.Ĭlick here to learn more about and shop online for premium fish foods. with 78 being perhaps ideal.Ĭlick here to learn about aquarium temperature, aquarium thermometers, and aquarium heaters.įeeding: Premium Fish Food Pellets is best to feed to Mbunas. Temperature: Mbunas live best from about 75 to 80-degrees F. Click here to read more about compatible groups of pet fish. Rarely, they grow even longer than 5'.īehaviors: Red Tops are usually very aggresive fish and from time to time males have long energetic battles.Ĭompatibility: Some recommended tank mates include other Mbuna species and Synodontis Catfish.Ĭlick here for more about Synodontis Catfish. Maximum Size: In aquariums, Red Top Zebras can grow to be about 5' long, including their tails, which is a very nice size for aquariums. There are several species of Mbunas for sale in this store. Origin: This fish is an Mbuna, which is a large family of Cichlid fish that originally lived only in Lake Malawi in East Africa.īut now they live in aquariums all over the world. Ĭomments: These are fabulous fish with vibrant colors. Above: In the picture is a young premium quality Albino Red Top Zebra Mbuna Cichlid, which is swimming in one of our aquariums, when one of us snapped this picture.

Red zebra cichlid albino