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Michael

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Jul 2, 2005
Messages
199
Location
Bristol, Connecticut
Hi all,

I have a 120 gallon planted aquarium. It is home to a territorial CAE, about 7" long. I've had him for 6 years. Also in the tank are a bunch of small fish. Fish that won't go into his territory.

I am bored with the tank. I want to make it into an African Cichlid tank. I will move all the fish exept the CAE, he will stay. I will remove all the plants and change out the gravel.

Filtering is 2 Ehem 2026 canisters rated at 90 gallons each. This was once my main show tank, now I have a 180 and 300 that are my main show tank.

I'm looking for suggestions for stocking. I don't want real aggressive fish and I will be doing all males. If I mix males and females I know that I will have more trouble with my CAE cause they will probably try to occupy his caves.

Any stocking suggestions would be very welcome. I want to get all juveniles to fully stock right at the beginning and let them grow into the tank.

So, what would you do???

Thank you, Michael
 
hmm - you want a mildly aggressive all-male tank. i'm guessing you are more interested in colorful fishes - since to observe the full gamut of cichlid behavior, you need to have females with the males, which might be drab.
so i think the best species that fit your bill is an all-male peacock tank. and you won't need to uproot your plants too!
[quote = Michael]I want to get all juveniles to fully stock right at the beginning and let them grow into the tank. [/quote]
its impossible to sex (well, i'm ruling out venting of course) juvie peacocks, so the best bet would be to buy a batch of juvies and grow them out to sell the females later. buying males are another option if you have the moolah.

the 2nd option would be to stock it with mild mbuna - yellow/white labs, acei, rusties, and so on. these achieve adult coloration from day one (well, not all). but then its hard to sex them too, unless you see the females holding.

good luck with choosing, and have fun while you are at it...
 
Thank you Triazole,

Do you think, since you mentioned keeping the plants, that I could leave my fluorite gravel and add something else to buffer the water if I do Peacocks?

Also, is a Aulonocara sp. 'Stuartgranti Maleri' a Peacock? I saw a pic of this fish and feel in love. I would like to build around this fish. As you can tell I am new to Africans but not new to aquarium keeping. My main fish keeping experience is with Dwarf Cichlids, Loaches, Gouramis, Corys and Tetras. This is a new experience for me.

Thanks for your help and suggestions.
 
you're always welcome.
if your tap water is sufficiently hard, you may not even have to buffer it for the peacocks.
and yes, the genus aulonocara are generally called peacocks. i have little expertise in keeping these wonderful fish, but i have kept mbuna before. peacocks are less boisterous than mbuna, and do well in an all-male tank.
and on a personal note, i think dwarf cichlids are harder to keep than peacocks. once you get the water chemistry right for peacocks, all you need is regular feeding and pwc's. since they are omnivores, the dreaded 'malawi bloat' is not that big an issue.

i'd recommend you this article for further reading -
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/peacocks.php
 
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