stocking help for 90 gallon

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HeatherW

Aquarium Advice FINatic
Joined
Dec 27, 2011
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Location
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HI I am starting a fishless cycle on my 90 gallon tank but wanted to figure out my stocking plan. could you help me and tell me if these will go together well? any suggestions are very welcome!!

3 electric yellow (labidochromis)
3 cobalt blue zebra (metriclima)
3 bumblebee (pseudotropheus)
3 demasoni (pseudotropheus)
3 featherfin catfish (synodontis eurpterus)

what else can I put in here?
 
Not sure about the comparability, but you'll definitely want more fish in a 90. I think you will want at least 20-30.
 
HeatherW said:
HI I am starting a fishless cycle on my 90 gallon tank but wanted to figure out my stocking plan. could you help me and tell me if these will go together well? any suggestions are very welcome!!

3 electric yellow (labidochromis)
3 cobalt blue zebra (metriclima)
3 bumblebee (pseudotropheus)
3 demasoni (pseudotropheus)
3 featherfin catfish (synodontis eurpterus)

what else can I put in here?

If you choose demasoni, you need 10+ to spread their aggression. I've also heard they will attack other blue fish.
 
joel618 said:
If you choose demasoni, you need 10+ to spread their aggression. I've also heard they will attack other blue fish.

+1 on the dems you need at least 10 to make them work.The bumblebees can be pretty aggressive too and I wouldn't do 3 Featherfin catfish in a 90.Id just go for the 1 and maybe get a couple of smaller synodontis to go with them like petricolas.
 
garfy said:
+1 on the dems you need at least 10 to make them work.The bumblebees can be pretty aggressive too and I wouldn't do 3 Featherfin catfish in a 90.Id just go for the 1 and maybe get a couple of smaller synodontis to go with them like petricolas.

I have petricola and I love them. Get 4+ imo. There are other psuedotropheus that are pretty and way less aggressive.
 
so my revised list is:

3 electric yellow (labidochromis)
3 cobalt blue zebra (metriclima)
3 bumblebee (pseudotropheus)
1 featherfin catfish (synodontis eurpterus)
4 synodontis petricola (y)
3 yellow tail Acei (Pseudotropheus)

how am I doing so far? what else should I put in here? should I pull out the bumblebee?

thanks for helping me!!
 
HeatherW said:
so my revised list is:

3 electric yellow (labidochromis)
3 cobalt blue zebra (metriclima)
3 bumblebee (pseudotropheus)
1 featherfin catfish (synodontis eurpterus)
4 synodontis petricola (y)
3 yellow tail Acei (Pseudotropheus)

how am I doing so far? what else should I put in here? should I pull out the bumblebee?

thanks for helping me!!

For a 90 gallon tank you are going to want to stick with 15-20 fish no more than three different species. I would say yes to the Labs and Zebras, negative on the bumblebees they can be pretty mean. Acei need a 6' tank IMO they are much to active for a 4' tank. Pick either eurpterus or Petricola and get 4-6.
 
For a 90 gallon tank you are going to want to stick with 15-20 fish no more than three different species. I would say yes to the Labs and Zebras, negative on the bumblebees they can be pretty mean. Acei need a 6' tank IMO they are much to active for a 4' tank. Pick either eurpterus or Petricola and get 4-6.
I thought you could overstock with the mbuna and that would be better and cut down on the aggression. If I only have 15 fish wouldn't that be "understocked"? I was thinking a minimum of 20 fish was what I was looking for.
why do you say I only want 3 species? when I was reading "the cichlid recipe" it had a suggestion of MANY different species and that was for a 75 gallon. that was what I was kind of using as a guide to how to stock my tank. is this not a good method??
 
HeatherW said:
I thought you could overstock with the mbuna and that would be better and cut down on the aggression. If I only have 15 fish wouldn't that be "understocked"? I was thinking a minimum of 20 fish was what I was looking for.
why do you say I only want 3 species? when I was reading "the cichlid recipe" it had a suggestion of MANY different species and that was for a 75 gallon. that was what I was kind of using as a guide to how to stock my tank. is this not a good method??

If you want Mbuna and cats then you are going to only want 15-20 Mbuna otherwise with the cats you are going to have fairly poor water quality. To me in a 75 that is stocked/overstocked, you have a 4' tank that's 18" deep and your fish are going to stay fairly close to the to rocks. So by that logic the area of the tank they are occupying is in-fact overstocked.

The reason I say only 3 species to to cut down on hybridization. I personally don't like having a large mix of fish, I enjoy a mix of 2-3 species of fish that will provide contrast.
 
If you want Mbuna and cats then you are going to only want 15-20 Mbuna otherwise with the cats you are going to have fairly poor water quality. To me in a 75 that is stocked/overstocked, you have a 4' tank that's 18" deep and your fish are going to stay fairly close to the to rocks. So by that logic the area of the tank they are occupying is in-fact overstocked.
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are there any fish that I can add that will swim at the top? I would like them to utilize the whole tank
 
I have a 90 gallon tank with 19 fish at the moment but I want to overstock so when I'm fully stocked I'm thinking 25-30 fish. I have one feather fin syno, one rainbow shark and I may add a bristle nose pleco.
 
Why are you doing a fish less cycle? Do you know of the risks you are taking - much longer time to get a stable tank sometimes and the possibility of losing fish.

Why don't you start the cycling process and figure out what you want to stock it with while you wait. Research is only going to save you money in the long run.
 
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