Mixed cichlid setup (3ft)

[bradleyjh]

Hi everyone,

I've kept fish in the past, I had a 3 foot mixed barb setup but never really bothered much with PH levels (did at first but it never really seemed to change much) or ammonia/nitrite/nitrate levels (mostly because I only learned about the nitrogen cycle after I'd had the fish for awhile and it seemed safe to assume the tank managed to cycle fine and all was balanced.

A bit of background out of the way, I currently have no aquarium and would really like a nice mixed cichlid setup, I have room for a 3 foot tank but have a local custom tank maker that I'll probably get a 42x18x18 tank made by because that's the most I can fit and the bigger the better. I have a few questions mainly because of contradicting things I've read and seen, I wanna set this up right and if that means measuring levels and waiting with an empty tank for a few weeks I'm fine by that, so first I'd really appreciate a rough guide as to what my first steps should be, I know I could probably search the forum and find threads with what I need but I figure there may be certain things unique to the fish and tank size etc.

As for my questions, first, I've read a lot of stuff saying what you can and can't mix but then gone to see youtube videos of cichlid setups with those exact species mixed, additionally I've read a lot of "you need this many minimum of this species" but then seen tanks where there are only a small number of each species, sometimes only 2 or 3, is this wrong or right? I'd love to have as much diviserity as possible and there are a lot of different colours and patterns with cichlids, I feel that needing 5 of each species would be a bit much to achieve when I want diversity, I'd probably have some species with higher numbers but then I may want only 2 of another species, so I need to know what the facts are on this.

Second, I see a lot of 1:4 male:female stuff, I asked at my local pet store and they said most species of cichlids are really difficult to determine genders, I'm not sure if they meant at their current size or just in general but this seems like it would be a pain to overstock a tank if you could end up with way too many males, is this a strict rule (1:4) or is it more flexible but miserable? Also is determining gender in cichlids really hard or are they just misinformed/inexperienced?

Finally, how strict is overstocking, if I provide plenty of places for the fish to hide and swim around and through (rocks, tunnels, etc) will that cut down aggression and let me have less fish? I really love the look of cichlids and it's not really possible to have such a beautiful tank with other fresh water fish but from what I've read most people overstock to the point they need to do multiple water changes within a single week, I'm fine with maintenance but once a week would be my limit, is this just something that is possible so people go crazy or is it necessary?

Sorry for the huge post, thanks in advance for any help! As I said I love the look of cichlids and wanna do things right with the setup. One more thing, if it's not too much hassle could someone who has kept a diverse cichlid tank let me know what they kept so I can get an idea of what species will go together happily to produce a nice mixed tank? Cheers!

 

[pls1210]

I have a 55 gallon Mbuna tank. 48" long x 13" deep x 21" tall. Most people will recommend atleast a 48" long tank but 42" should suffice. I have several different species of mbuna in my tank and I do not do the 1:4 male to female ratio. I have a mostly male tank from what I can tell so far.
I have
1 yellow lab
1 cobalt blue
2 albino red top zebra cichlids
2 OB zebra cichlids
2 salmon pink zebras
2 jewel cichlids
1 albino bristle nose pleco
1 regular pleco
I don't see any aggression at all but they have only been together for around 3 months. One of my OB zebra cichlids is the dominant male in the tank, but he doesn't beat up on any of the other ones. If I add a new fish he will start swimming around the new fish and literally shaking but after a few minutes everything is back to normal. As far as sexing most cichlids are difficult to sex unless you vent them and I am not experienced in venting so I cannot help you there. The problem you may run into in an all male of different species tank is that if you do add a female (accidentally) they will more than likely harass her to death (literally). Also, when adding a new fish it can help to cut down on aggression if you rearrange some things in the tank. This is all just my own experience I am by no means an expert at any of this. Hope this helps.

 

[pls1210]

This is a picture of a few of them.

 

[bradleyjh]

thanks for the reply, lots of good info I'm glad to hear, it sounds like you have a setup very similar to what I want which is exactly what I was hoping to find, awesome to know I can do it

I think in regards to the female being harassed to death I'll be fine as naturally getting new fish should result in a ratio roughly 50-50 male-female, maybe 60-40 but I doubt I would end up getting male after male for 10+ fish until one lone female, I'll keep an eye out for ANY excessive harassment or aggression anyway.

Also good to see you aren't having aggression issues and seem to be at a nice stock level, how did you go about starting the stock, did you get a big number straight up or a small number and add over time? that's another thing I needed to know, I don't wanna get say 4 fish to start with only to have them attack each other because the numbers are so low.

Interesting to see you have plecos, i like the idea of having a small school of otos but wasn't sure if they would do well in the mix.

 

[pls1210]

I got three fish to start with then a week or so later I got a couple more. I did not get them all at one time. It should be perfectly fine to get a couple here and there. I'm not done stocking mine. My end goal is going to be around 12-15 fish.

 

[bradleyjh]

Good to know, I like the sound of 12, I like the look of a more relaxed tank, I've seen a lot of cichlid tanks and the more stocked ones look too busy for my taste, just wanted to make sure the lower stock was manageable and healthy for the fish.

What kind of filtration are you using? I'll probably just get a high flow canister, something around the 2000L (528gal) per hour range just because I've heard you can't really have too much filtration with these guys and it seems best to have as much water circulation as possible

 

[pls1210]

HOB marineland 350

 

[Quest84]

in a mbuna tank you should have groups of fish, not singles of each species. I made that mistake myself when I first started with african cichlids. The males will get very aggressive and kill off other males they see as a threat. The colors also will not be as vibrant, because there isn't enough females. You want 1 male for every 3-4 females.

Don't mix lakes, malawi stay with malawi. Tanganyikans with Tanganyikans etc.. they each require different water parameters and different food.

peacocks can be kept with mbuna but the mbuna are very aggressive and could cause the peacocks to not color up and look dull. It might work, but it also might not.


venting the fish to sex them is not hard. Flip the fish over in your hand or a net. A male will have two holes, the anus and the vent will be the same size o o

a female will have one larger hole o O

 

[bradleyjh]

Thanks for the info, this is what I was worried about, it looks like a lot of people have success with the kind of tank I wanna set up but at the same time it looks like there are risks of it going bad.

I like lake malawi and am happy to stick with that range, I just wanted a really nice mix of colours rather than a tank flooded with yellow and blue, for example, they look great and I do want them as part of my tank but at the same time I want others in the mix too. I guess all I can do is do everything right tank wise and then just try with the numbers and mixture, a lot of people including pls1210 have success with basically the exact setup I'm after so hopefully I don't have too much trouble.

Hopefully a few more people with that kind of setup can share what fish they have and in what tank size. Even if people have success with smaller groups like 3 of each species, from what I can see a "group" should be 5+ and that hits my limit with two species because as I said I don't want a tank with a crazy number of stock. I know someone will probably post sooner or later that if these are my requirements than cichlids aren't for me, and maybe that's true, but if a lot of people do have success with the setup I want then I think it's worth trying

 

[mikem691]

Thanks for the info, this is what I was worried about, it looks like a lot of people have success with the kind of tank I wanna set up but at the same time it looks like there are risks of it going bad.

I like lake malawi and am happy to stick with that range, I just wanted a really nice mix of colours rather than a tank flooded with yellow and blue, for example, they look great and I do want them as part of my tank but at the same time I want others in the mix too. I guess all I can do is do everything right tank wise and then just try with the numbers and mixture, a lot of people including pls1210 have success with basically the exact setup I'm after so hopefully I don't have too much trouble.

Hopefully a few more people with that kind of setup can share what fish they have and in what tank size. Even if people have success with smaller groups like 3 of each species, from what I can see a "group" should be 5+ and that hits my limit with two species because as I said I don't want a tank with a crazy number of stock. I know someone will probably post sooner or later that if these are my requirements than cichlids aren't for me, and maybe that's true, but if a lot of people do have success with the setup I want then I think it's worth trying

keep in mind that pls1210 stated that its only been 3 months. I would hardly call that success. If its been a year or more then yes. A lot of the aggression don't start until they reach maturity. Not saying it wont work or it will. There use to be a member on here that did something like this and it worked for a while then one day he posted about his tank turning into a blood bath. Always consider how long it has been working. A bunch of juvenile fish working for 6 months means nothing.

 

[bradleyjh]

That's a good point, thanks for pointing it out. I have a better way of approaching this, let's just go with is considered to be ideal and could someone who has kept a lot of different species of cichlid tell me what they would consider a good number of stock and which species to mix to have a colourful but (mostly) happy community? As said the tank will be 42x18x18 which works to be just over 58 gallons, if it's possible to have a stock level low enough that water changes only need to be done once a week that would be ideal.

Thanks for the help guys really appreciate it

 

[Quest84]

once a week is perfect. Google dwarf mbuna species and pick ones that you like. I would do 3-4 different groups of 6-8 fish

 

[bradleyjh]

Awesome, thanks for the advice I'll probably go with 3 groups of 6