55gal stock advice

[ronnieroach]

hey friends,

i have a mix of mbunas, haps & peacocks that are mainly female. currently, i'm at 13 fish in my 55gal.

i was wondering what my MAX number of fish would be..?

i've noticed some minor nips & was going to try the 'more fish = less aggression' method, but i dont want to overstock OR kill myself in bioload to the point where i have to do 2 pwc's per week lol

i've read that 15 would be the most in the 55gal but i thought i'd ask my friends if it's safe to hit 16-17 maybe..?

currently my biggest is at 4.5-5inches, and my smallest are 2-2.5inches

i def plan to upgrade their tank when we move (minimum 75gal) but thats still a little ways away.

soo yeah, any advice would be appreciated.

thanks homies

 

[garfy]

It's not so much the current size of your fish but the size they will get to when they are full size.
Which fish are getting nipped? Is it a specific group I.E the mbuna,haps or peacocks?
A list of your fish would be helpful.

 

[ronnieroach]

i'll post the list when i get up tomorrow morning.. i'm at xmas parties all night tonight

but quickly, its mainly the males who are nipped so i assume its a 'king of the tank' dispute .. and its nothing serious at all (so far) so i'm not too worried

& i do know how big each will get so IMO i'm already fully stocked.. however, i thought i'd ask my fellow fishy friends what they thought was acceptable.. i didnt know how much to add for the aggression rule...??

i'll post my list in the morning.. thanks for the response

 

[ronnieroach]

stock list:

2 fem kenyi
1 fem acei
1 fem electric yellow
1 fem johanni
1 fem bumblebee
1 fem ob peacock
1 fem golden albino peacock
1 fem strawberry peacock
1 male strawberry peacock
1 male venustus
1 male all red hap
1 male flameback

like i said above, the nipping isnt too bad .. i was just wondering how many i could add safely, to help cut down the little aggression that i have

thanks!!

 

[garfy]

You could probably get a few smaller fish in there.Maybe some Elongatus like 1 male to 3 females.The male has stunning colour.
http://www.malawimayhem.com/articles_elongatus_chewere.shtml
Have a look and see what you think.Hope this helps

 

[ronnieroach]

cool thanks!

i feel like my stock list is pretty good as of now.. theres very little chasing / nipping going on (when the lights are on, at least lol) but i had an issue a few weeks ago where my venustus got HANDLED by my borleyi so i did some 'personel changes' lol

my cichlid stones come in this week so hopefully the new 'to each his own' cave style will give them all some more personal-like terrirories

thanks again for the advice garfsky

 

[tsk5035]

Just out of curiosity; why have you chose this St k? Availability, personal choices, etc?

 

[ronnieroach]

well partially because i jumped into africans a while back & learned about them later. i was going for a colorful tank & didnt bother to research or even ask about my first batch of 6.

eventually, i got into ID'ing species & research.. thats when i decided i wanted my flameback & venustus.. i knew they were from different lakes but heard it was possible so i gave it a shot (both are doing great)

as i went forward, i wanted to have a healthy ratio of females to males. i figured my best bet for colorful females was with mbunas & started to add some more to fill my tank. i didnt want a bunch of the same fish though, so thats why its such a wide variety.

and thats how my stock came about. as they mature, if i have to rehome anyone, i think i would stick w/ mbunas & peacocks. however, i'm hoping this group stays nicey nice. i really love what i have going on right now.

i think i'm rehoming my OB peacock & replacing her w/ a male kenyi.. MAYBE!! a male kenyi.. open to suggestions though

 

[garfy]

I have a feeling a male kenyi would soon overrun your tank.They can be ferocious fish and highly territorial.Your strawberry peacock could suffer the brunt.Just my opinion though it is possible all will be ok.

 

[ronnieroach]

thanks.. i def dont want an over aggressive fish (ie - auratas, etc) .. i know kenyi can be mean too & my female is def one tough chick but isnt overly aggressive. i only thought male kenyi because i have the 1 legit female & the 1 female kenyi hybrid

i got my male strawberry peacock a female last week so i'm not dead set on getting another male to breed. i'm open to any colorful suggestions

 

[garfy]

Saulosi are pretty cool I have 1 male and 3 females.So far no problems from them.They do not seem to be overly aggressive and colours are great.

 

[ronnieroach]

they def seem like a possibility for when i rehome the OB.. thanks garfy

 

[garfy]

No probs the male looks great and he doesn't bother anyone else and nobody bothers him which is perfect.

 

[tsk5035]

Well if you're after color and variety, have you thought about going to an all male tank?

I recently just returned a bunch of fish to the lfs and kept only some choice males:

Electric Yellow Lab (Labridochromis c.)
Electric Blue Hap (Sciaenochromis fryeri)
Zebra Obliquens (Astatotilapia latifiscia)
Flameback (Haplochromis sp.)
Rusty (Iodotropheus sprengerae)
Nimbochromis ?
And some peacock (gf likes OB fish)

 

[ronnieroach]

i did think of doing that & going all peacocks but i'm pretty attatched to my females seeing as i've had most of them for around 8+ months

also, my female to male ratio is pretty good & aggression seems to be in check, FOR NOW.. so i'm gonna keep everyone (except the OB) unless problems arise

 

[tsk5035]

Lol. Yeah don't mess with a stable thing when it comes to cichlids! Haha

And yeah. It's hard to break that attachment sometimes!