How Many SAEs shoud I buy?

[cowman345]

I've had my 75gal wall mounted planted tank up for a few months now, and it's going pretty well: I pretty much have fertilization down, water changes are a cinch, and plants are growing like nuts, including a nice fluffy lawn of glosso with intermittent riccia patches.

However, I recently discovered I miscalculated the amount of iron I'm supplementing, so I'm overdosing iron by about 250%. Result (I think), is a bunch of staghorn algae, and some other algae here and there...

I have no fish yet and am making a purchase today. Question is, how many SAEs do I need? Goal is to buy several (maybe 12-16) mbuna cichlids of 3-4 species to populate the tank. Also, I'm purchasing a bushy nose pleco.

Opinions?

-dave-

 

[travis simonson]

Be careful Dave. I did the same thing with SAEs and mbuna. There was a bit of a feeding frenzy and only two of the SAEs were big enough to avoid becoming lunch. And then the mbuna who ate the SAEs died of Malawi Bloat because they couldn't digest that much protein. I called it the "Atkin's Diet Tragedy."

My advice would be to get the SAEs first and let them grow for a few months. Once they reach 1.5-2" they should be outside of snack size for mbuna. I would get at least a dozen of them. They are a schooling fish and find safety in numbers. You will love what they do to your algae

 

[azn_fishy55]

What kind of algae do they eat,or do they eat all kinds.My LFS sells the juveniles for 2 dollars apiece and I was gonna get 2 or 3 for my 30 gallon since alot of people say they are great algae eaters.But I dunno if they will be okay in a tank that is 30 gallons as they do get as big as 6 in.Do you think I could at some SAEs to the tank???

 

[travis simonson]

You should be just fine with SAEs in a 30G. Mine are over a year old and they're only 3" long. And they eat just about anything. I've seen mine eat BBA which is inedible to most fish. They are, bar none, the finest algae eaters I've seen. And I would recommend getting at least four or five of them. They are a schooling fish and do much better in groups.

 

[azn_fishy55]

I'll get four of them,so how big do they get?

 

[travis simonson]

I would say 3-4" is pretty good-sized for them.

 

[cowman345]

Thanks Travis, as always... I'll get a dozen then and give it a couple months or so before adding cichlids... but with 12 2" fish in there, how many cichlids can I feasibly add so as not to overload the system? (I have one filstar XP3 loaded with plenty of biological filtration media).

-dave-

 

[travis simonson]

With a planted tank your capacity is slightly increased because of the additional O2 provided so I would say you could go with three to four species groups. You can keep a total of maybe fifteen or possibly a few more full-sized Africans IMHO. Just go slowly when adding fish because Africans put a big hit on your biofilters. They are just messy

 

[cowman345]

Hmm.. considering that, which species would you reccommend introducing first (i.e. least aggressive) in order to establish territory (versus subsequent more aggressive additions)?

I was considering Ps. Acei, Lab. caeruleus, Ps. Demasoni (or elongatus) and perhaps one other group, something less usual perhaps...

-dave-

 

[travis simonson]

You're a man after my own heart Dave. I keep all of those species in the prison riot that goes for mbuna harmony I would put the L. caeruleus in first, along with the Ps. acei. The demasoni are fairly small in comparison but are very aggressive, so I would add them last. You might also consider one of the Ps. elongatus variants, they are very beautiful and aren't as aggressive as the common zebras you see. I can send you some fry if you're interested

 

[crazycat]

actually i believe they grow to about 6"--i have 3 that are pushing 5.5". and i actually don't think they eat staghorn algae--but they DEMOLISH bba! and i totally agree with travis that they are the absolute best algae eaters around. and dentertaining to watch as they twist around to nibble at juicy tidbits. i have 6 in a 125g and that is quite sufficient.

 

[cowman345]

interested! how small are the fry? i have dragonfly nymphs in there now that hitchhiked in with the plants, and several leech things... i wonder if i should put a big fish in there to clean up before adding the cichlids

-dave-