37g stocking help

[Mr.Pleco]

I setup my 37g tank to find it leaking a week later, so now it's finally ready. I'm very interested in cichlids. I've been doing serious researching for weeks trying to figure out tank sizes but everyone has their own opinion on every forum. I saw on here threads about 29g and then 50g and up but not 37g. I don't exactly have a preference yet as to which continent, but the lfs's are mostly south african. Just wanted to know if 37g was big enough, and if so, what could I stock?

The water is naturally on the hard side here so that would not be a problem and I have more rocks than I know what to do with. So it's just a matter of what I can stock.

 

[toddnbecka]

A 37 gallon tank (assuming it's 36"x12") is just a little bit taller 30 long. That size tank is suitable for an established pair of quite a variety of small to mid-size cichlids. You can also fit a group of tetras or barbs, and a pleco or 2 to clean up leftover food. You do need to pick a species to start with, then work around that for the other stocking.

 

[Mr.Pleco]

It's actually 30"W x 12"D x 22"H. Would you just recommend that I switch my tanks and make the 50g for cichlids? I'm kind of leaning towards that option at this point, only because I'd want more than just a pair and other filler fish.

 

[toddnbecka]

You won't be able to keep more than one species of most cichlids in a 30" wide tank, 2-3 in a 48" wide tank. The footprint/floorspace of the tank is the main thing to consider for territorial fish.

 

[Mr.Pleco]

For my 50g tank I tried to start researching but there is so much stuff on cichlids I don't know where to start.

If I give you some info do you think you could tell me which group would fit?

 

[The_Desacrator]

You can put convicts in a 37.

 

[Mr.Pleco]

I've decided to stock my 50g tank with cichlids after I re-model it.

I'm looking for cichlids that aren't super super aggressive like Jack's and Red Devils, as well as what will allow me to stock the most fish.

Can you point me in the right direction?

 

[toddnbecka]

Back to the tank dimensions again, there are several different styles of 50 gallon tanks.
I'm not a fan of aggressive fish either, prefer variety and diversity rather than 1 or 2 big/nasty fish in a large tank.
There are some small to mid-size African, SA and CA species that should be suitable for your tank size. Hard, alkaline water narrows it down a bit to African or some SA species.
Do you want to breed and/or raise fry, or just set up a mixed community with several different species that won't kill each other?

 

[Mr.Pleco]

The tank is 48lx19h. I'm def looking for a few species. I am soaking a 46 inch piece of driftwood to put in the tank with lots of rocks. I know driftwood tends to lower ph. Do you know how much it can change ph? Its on my list of things to research.
From what i read, im not ready for breeding and fry til i have a 4th tank. But if there are species that dont breed as easily that'd be great. I know if you keep different water temperatures or feed them more, but not overfeed so they bloat, they wont want to breed.

 

[toddnbecka]

Driftwood may lower pH over time, but it also depends on your water chemistry and frequency of partial changes. Coral, shells, or limestone in the tank will buffer the pH to 7.4-7.6, which is probably close to your tap water anyway.
How deep is the tank from front to back. 12-13"? Height isn't critical for stocking.

 

[Mr.Pleco]

My water is naturally between 7.5-8. The tank is 12 3/4 wide.

 

[toddnbecka]

Good water for African cichlids. I'd collect a good number of rocks for the scape and stock 3 groups of smaller mbuna.
Saulosi are easy to find, and with the blue males/yellow females add a double shot of color to the tank:
Species Profiles -- Cichlid-Forum

I recently picked up a group of perlmutts, they're another smaller and less aggressive mbuna:
Species Profiles -- Cichlid-Forum

I'm still looking around for the specific variant of the afra I want (there are at least 18, from different collection points), will grab some when I find them for a good price. Here's a general profile:
Species Profiles -- Cichlid-Forum

There are a couple other species you could mix and match, these are what I'm thinking to stock in a 75 with some peacocks after I get the 220 up and running. If you want a really active and eye-popping display you could stock 12-15 demasoni and 5-6 yellow Lab's in the tank. The demasoni are extremely conspecific-aggressive, and need to be kept in a large enough group to spread it around. Stocking 4-6 will result in 1 that has killed off the others. The yellow Lab's aren't nearly as rough, but still mix well with the demasoni simply because they look too different.
Species Profiles -- Cichlid-Forum
Species Profiles -- Cichlid-Forum

 

[Mr.Pleco]

Thanks a lot! Big help. I'll read it all later after class, but I researched a lot on yellow labs after I saw they had them at my lfs. They are very nice to look at.
But are Mbuna easier to breed? I'm trying to avoid breeding until I have a 4th tank to transfer fish to.
Rocks aren't a problem, I'm looking forward to scaping my 46in. driftwood and rocks.
Another big thing, I know semi-off topic, but as far as plants. I really want to buy real plants, although I've read some cichlids eat vegetation and the fact that co2 systems are expensive. I have plenty of fake plants that look real though. I'm going crazy trying to plan this whole thing.

 

[Mogurako]

Thanks a lot! Big help. I'll read it all later after class, but I researched a lot on yellow labs after I saw they had them at my lfs. They are very nice to look at.
But are Mbuna easier to breed? I'm trying to avoid breeding until I have a 4th tank to transfer fish to.
Rocks aren't a problem, I'm looking forward to scaping my 46in. driftwood and rocks.
Another big thing, I know semi-off topic, but as far as plants. I really want to buy real plants, although I've read some cichlids eat vegetation and the fact that co2 systems are expensive. I have plenty of fake plants that look real though. I'm going crazy trying to plan this whole thing.

If you want to add plants with Mbuna they have to be very tough plant and pile large rocks around the base of the plants. If you stick to medium/low light plants you won't need co2

 

[toddnbecka]

Mbuna will most likely eat live plants, though if you feed them veggies like canned green beans a couple times weekly along with a good pellet like NLS it should curb their appetite for the plants somewhat. Fast-growing plants that can live in hard water like Najas or hornwort are good, you can also try floating plants like Salvinia. True aquatic plants don't require CO2 or high light levels.
You wouldn't want to mix yellow Lab's with saulosi, but could swap out the saulosi for rusty's. They're also fairly mellow, popular, and shouldn't be too hard to find:
Species Profiles -- Cichlid-Forum

Most likely the fish will breed, but I doubt that many fry will survive long enough to grow out. Probably a few among the rocks.

 

[Mogurako]

Vals also work well in hard water, there's some plants that one of my friends had in his Mbuna that his fish didn't touch I'll ask him what plants he had in there.

 

[Mr.Pleco]

Thanks for the help so far guys, I'll get back to picking fish in a few posts.

As far as filtering. I know you are supposed to overfilter cichlid tanks. I have a Top Fin 300gph filter for up to 60g tank. I've never had serious water problems, my water has actually been quite stable after the first month or two. Am I fine with that filter, or should I go buy another? I don't really want to buy a canister until I have a bigger tank.
I'm also going to buy another 12in bubble wand so it goes across the back so there are plenty of bubbles for oxygen.

 

[Mogurako]

Vals also work well in hard water, there's some plants that one of my friends had in his Mbuna that his fish didn't touch I'll ask him what plants he had in there.

Java fern, Anubis and Vals is what my friend used a had great luck with it in his Mbuna tank.

 

[Mogurako]

Thanks for the help so far guys, I'll get back to picking fish in a few posts.

As far as filtering. I know you are supposed to overfilter cichlid tanks. I have a Top Fin 300gph filter for up to 60g tank. I've never had serious water problems, my water has actually been quite stable after the first month or two. Am I fine with that filter, or should I go buy another? I don't really want to buy a canister until I have a bigger tank.
I'm also going to buy another 12in bubble wand so it goes across the back so there are plenty of bubbles for oxygen.

You want the filter to turn over the total volume of your tank 8-10+ times a hour. So you want 370-400 GPH of filtration. A Fluval 405/305 plus your current filter would work quite well.

 

[Mr.Pleco]

Java fern, Anubis and Vals is what my friend used a had great luck with it in his Mbuna tank.

Thanks for cheking. I'll go check out those. I have one anubis in my tank now that I had to take out of my 37g when it started leaking.