Good final stock for cichlid 55 gallon tank?

[mariah]

I currently have other fish in my 55 gallon tank but am moving them to a 29 gallon tank. I have two heaters set at 80(will stay like that) and one c4 (70 gallon) hagen filter, and am going to buy another one the same. I will put lots of rocks in there and can I put real plants in there or just fake?

6 yellow labs
6 acei
3 red zebras
1 johanni
1 brisal nose pleco

I will be buying some of my fish from live fish direct and maybe some from my local pet store. I will try and make it so they all go in the tank at the same time and same size

 

[mariah]

I forgot to say, I am going to get all males

 

[Andrew McFadden]

I currently have other fish in my 55 gallon tank but am moving them to a 29 gallon tank. I have two heaters set at 80(will stay like that) and one c4 (70 gallon) hagen filter, and am going to buy another one the same. I will put lots of rocks in there and can I put real plants in there or just fake?

6 yellow labs
6 acei
3 red zebras
1 johanni
1 brisal nose pleco

I will be buying some of my fish from live fish direct and maybe some from my local pet store. I will try and make it so they all go in the tank at the same time and same size

I would change the acei to 1 or 0 they get kinda big for a 55 and they.like lots of swimming room. I'd up the johanni to 6 or more because they can be a little mean at times.

 

[mariah]

so i should do 1 acei and 6 johannis???

 

[Andrew McFadden]

so i should do 1 acei and 6 johannis???

Actually to be quite honest I'd replace them with these
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/m_cyaneorhabdos.php they almost look like the same fish but not near as aggressive

 

[mariah]

okay that sounds good,
6 yellow labs
6Melanochromis cyaneorhabdos ..... but it says "It should not be kept together with other Melanochromis because they see other horizontally-stripped cichlids as a threat and could get rather aggressive."???
1 acei
3 red zebras
1 brisal nose pleco

 

[Andrew McFadden]

okay that sounds good,
6 yellow labs
6Melanochromis cyaneorhabdos ..... but it says "It should not be kept together with other Melanochromis because they see other horizontally-stripped cichlids as a threat and could get rather aggressive."???
1 acei
3 red zebras
1 brisal nose pleco

They are really calm compared to johanni. I think.that looks great as a stock. You don't have any others that have stripes so you don't have to worry about that. I have them, zebras,labs and many others in a 180 gallon so I know they will work just fine.

 

[mariah]

okay I will take your word on it! I am not sure how I will know the differece though since the pets stores dont know the difference and I have to know what cichlids are what....

 

[Andrew McFadden]

okay I will take your word on it! I am not sure how I will know the differece though since the pets stores dont know the difference and I have to know what cichlids are what....

That is true with stores, all you can do is hope. At the age they sell them at your not going to be able to tell IMO

 

[mariah]

I will try but if i get the johanni will it be really bad? I am going to study up on all of them and make sure I take a picture of them all with me to the store but I do have 14 days to bring them back if i dont want them or they die

 

[Andrew McFadden]

I will try but if i get the johanni will it be really bad? I am going to study up on all of them and make sure I take a picture of them all with me to the store but I do have 14 days to bring them back if i dont want them or they die

It will probably be ok I've never kept one but I know they are more aggressive. You won't be able to tell them apart and the others should be able to hold their own against them.

 

[mariah]

okay. and just making sure, I buy all 16 at once? I will probibly buy the pleco a few days before because I have a bit of algea in the tank and so he can grow a bit and get use to the tank. I only need one of them?

 

[Andrew McFadden]

okay. and just making sure, I buy all 16 at once? I will probibly buy the pleco a few days before because I have a bit of algea in the tank and so he can grow a bit and get use to the tank. I only need one of them?

One is fine the cichlids will eat the algae as well. If your buying them young you don't need to buy them all at once. Add groups every few days and that will be fine.

Make sure you cycle the tank before hand because that's adding a big bio load.

 

[mariah]

my tank has been up and running for alomst a year now so I will just take the fish out and then put the new fish in right away. okay so can i do it in like two groups? I was going to buy as many of them here local as I can and then like one or two days later go out of town and try and find the rest of them, will that work?

 

[mariah]

I just thought of another dilemma... I will be picking the fish so they will be spawning like 90% chance... What can I do? there is bound to be males and females. I do not have a tank they can go in since I have a gourami in a 29 and an angel in a 29. the only way to tell if they are females and males in while they are spawning?

 

[Andrew McFadden]

my tank has been up and running for alomst a year now so I will just take the fish out and then put the new fish in right away. okay so can i do it in like two groups? I was going to buy as many of them here local as I can and then like one or two days later go out of town and try and find the rest of them, will that work?

Yep you can do it in several different groups as long as your not buying mature cichlids. Pet store sell them around an inch an half so you'll be fine aggression wise.

I just thought of another dilemma... I will be picking the fish so they will be spawning like 90% chance... What can I do? there is bound to be males and females. I do not have a tank they can go in since I have a gourami in a 29 and an angel in a 29. the only way to tell if they are females and males in while they are spawning?

There is no sure way to tell at the age and size you'll be more than likely getting. When they.get a little older you'll be able to vent them or wait and see what happens. That could be a year from now. Why don't you want females? If you end up with fry in the tank and she has them they more than likely won't live. At the time you can figure it out just pull them out and take to a fish store.

 

[mariah]

There is no sure way to tell at the age and size you'll be more than likely getting. When they.get a little older you'll be able to vent them or wait and see what happens. That could be a year from now. Why don't you want females? If you end up with fry in the tank and she has them they more than likely won't live. At the time you can figure it out just pull them out and take to a fish store.

Okay, I dont want females only because I did guppies and all and I don't have another tank for the babies to be in. I can not see a fish be hurt or harmed so I would want to take care of them which in my case... I would end up buying another tank just for them. I just cant stand it when I dont think my fish dont have the best they can have.

 

[mariah]

another random question for you, Do they HAVE to have smooth rocks? I have rocks currently in my 55 gallon and will be adding more but they are from when we dug up our backyard and found them in the gravel bed? underground stream? they are big rocks but like rocks you would find at the river, are those fine? I dont have money to spend $300 on rocks

 

[Andrew McFadden]

another random question for you, Do they HAVE to have smooth rocks? I have rocks currently in my 55 gallon and will be adding more but they are from when we dug up our backyard and found them in the gravel bed? underground stream? they are big rocks but like rocks you would find at the river, are those fine? I dont have money to spend $300 on rocks

I.don't blame you there I made my own and the others came from my backyard. They are probably fine if they came from a river, stream or even your backyard. Can you upload a picture so I can see what your talking about.

 

[mariah]

yes i will try and take a picture, I will have to do it on my phone then send it to my email then put on my computer haha. I will take a picture of the current ones and some I have in my backyard