New 75 Gallon (thinking african)

[Zaedon]

Been cycling for just under a month. Ammonia = 0, Nitrites = 0, Nitrates = 10ppm. Currently there is 2 rainbow sharks in the tank (used them for cycling) they alway seem to do well while cycling. So I am thinking Africian! It's been about 7 years since I had an aquarium running, but I don't feel like having another dull community of random fish. I think I like Lake Malawi best and will be starting by adding 4 electric yellow labs (1 male 3 female) and 4 Synodontis Petricola. So here's my question.

What would make good tank mates (I like color, lots of color) lol. But seriously, any suggestions? The information available seems to be very misleading depending on which book you read or who you ask.

Tank info:
75 gallon
Ammonia 0, Nitrites 0, Nitrates 10ppm
Filteration: Whisper 60(already had this laying around) and Marineland 360
Heat: Eth 300 inline (main) Top fin 300 watt (back up)
Substrate: medium sand
Decoration: stone structures built from natural slate and lime stone (adding more)
Plants: none added yet, adding java fern as soon as they get here
Lighting: fluoresent (max 8 hours per day)

Thanks in advance
Zaedon

 

[Jmedic25]

Labs, Demasoni, zebras Are good Mbuna...With good lighting they look amazing. But if you want to spend the dough, get peacocks. You cant beat them until you go reef. IMHO

 

[Zaedon]

Peacocks are kind of nice. The females are definitely a bit plain though. I don't see having much variety with peacocks without creating an opportunity for hybridization. I considered adding a few to the overall population, but changed my mind due to potential diet issues.
Demasoni and zebras could be interesting.

I was also looking at:
Pseudotropheus minutus

Pundamilia nyererei (Lake Victoria, I know) but environmental and diet needs are very similar.

Xystichhromis phytophagus (Also lake Victoria with very similar requiremtents)

Melanochromis johanni

So what do you think? I would very much appreciate opions/ideas.

 

[gman42]

acei cichlids are very bright, and they are active swimmers. i recomend you get a couple of them.

 

[Ckennedy37]

Acie are very colorful and when you have multiple fish they school together which I like. Filebournie are good to.


If you mix yellow labs with zebras they with hybridize. My red zebra breeds with my yellow lab. They produce a cool looking hybrid but I don't know If you want that to happen.

 

[Zaedon]

Acie are very colorful and when you have multiple fish they school together which I like. Filebournie are good to.


If you mix yellow labs with zebras they with hybridize. My red zebra breeds with my yellow lab. They produce a cool looking hybrid but I don't know If you want that to happen.

I'm going to do some homework on Acie and Filebournie to see exactly what they are.

I prefer not to hybridize and am very careful about not buying hybrids. I was at PetSmart the other day looking at some Synodontis Petricolas that were obviously not Petricolas. I actually called over the sales associate and asked that they change the name as they were hybrids. She wasn't to happy about it. She was even more annoyed when I asked to speak to the store manager about false advertising laws. I wonder how many people bought them thinking they were Petricola.
I tend to order fish shipped overnight or directly from local breeders. Unfortunately I can not find a good source for Petricolas that I trust.

Do you mean Labeotropheus fuelleborni? Thye look kind of nice, but the information available seems to vary as to the overall size of these fish. Seems that maximum size varies between 4" to 8". Electric yellows seem to be around 4" to 5" max. I don't know how comportable I would be with a 8" fish in there to kick them around.

Acei's seem to be a bit closer in size and I will be looking at them a lot closer. Thanks for the suggestion!

 

[Jmedic25]

I think you should look at some more peacocks...There is many many species of them...And by no means are they plain...I think you saw some thing else...check this .Not plain lol
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.aquariumfish.net/images_01/lemon_jake_091020a4_w0480.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.aquariumfish.net/catalog_pages/cichlids_african/cichlids_african_peacocks.htm&h=384&w=480&sz=150&tbnid=DYuM-9WYJQNw6M:&tbnh=101&tbnw=126&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dpeacock%2Bcichlids%26tbm%3Disch%26tbo%3Du&zoom=1&q=peacock+cichlids&docid=sBZzs9XZcMZnuM&hl=en&sa=X&ei=doMtT5-MK8S7tweIybTcDw&ved=0CC4Q9QEwAQ

 

[Litos]

South American .... Electric blue jack Dempsey.... Fire mouth.... Texas cichlids

 

[Zaedon]

I think you should look at some more peacocks...There is many many species of them...And by no means are they plain...I think you saw some thing else...check this .Not plain lol
Redirect Notice

I got it to work! I don't mean they are all plain, just females are mostly plain. I see there are a lot of different species, however most of those species are of the same genu. I am under the impression that being from the same genu lends way to hybridization.

 

[Zaedon]

South American .... Electric blue jack Dempsey.... Fire mouth.... Texas cichlids

I don't think they will go so well with the elcetric yellows. Different environmental needs and huge size difference.

 

[Zaedon]

Found a couple of Synodontis Petricola that acutally look like the real deal. Now I just need to find a few more lol. Well that and decide what cichlids are all going to call this aquarium home.

 

[a.tetreault]

If you are going to keep yellow labs I would reccomend maingano instead of johanni (if you were wanting them) the males look almost exactly the same and often in fish stores maingano are sold as "electric blue johanni" I reccomend them because they are less aggressive and because I see potential trouble with yellow labs looking like the female johanni. Just my opinion tho

 

[Zaedon]

If you are going to keep yellow labs I would reccomend maingano instead of johanni (if you were wanting them) the males look almost exactly the same and often in fish stores maingano are sold as "electric blue johanni" I reccomend them because they are less aggressive and because I see potential trouble with yellow labs looking like the female johanni. Just my opinion tho

Excellent point

 

[Zaedon]

Thanks for all your suggestions guy/gals. Here is what I decided.

Electric yellows
Rusty's
Acei msuli
Synodontis petricola
synodontis eupterus
Rainbow Shark
and thinking about adding Ngara Flametail. (Friend has 3 female and one male in with his mbuna) Its been working for a couple years now. So I might try it.

Now I just need to figure out all the numbers. lol

 

[mattrox]

Rustys, Yellows and Acei are fairly peaceful so you should be able to get away with Peacocks in the tank too.

 

[Zaedon]

Rustys, Yellows and Acei are fairly peaceful so you should be able to get away with Peacocks in the tank too.

That's what I was thinking. Thanks for the input.

 

[didysis]

So many fish options so little space always

 

[joel618]

So many fish options so little space always

And that's what makes this so addicting imo. Im constantly hunting for a 100+ gal tank bc I have so much I wanna do.

In my 75 and 40b (for grow out) I currently stock Acei, afra cobue, greshaki, labs, synodontis, and bristlenose plecos.

 

[Zaedon]

That's the truth. I use to have a room full of aquarioums ranging from 20gal to 320gal. I gave them up because my son was born and needed a room. Now he is 6 and I feel like its time for aquariums to come back. He can sleep in the garage. lol j/k