FWFishTanks
Aquarium Advice Addict
Thinking if getting a 55 gallon for cichlids. What mbunas should I avoid? Could I do peacocks, or would this tank be too small. Any recommended ACs?
After a lot of reasearch I think I will go with mbuna, just because peacoks in a 55 would be a bit tight. So here is a stocklist. What do you think?
1 Polit Cichlid
1 Red zebra
1 red top zebra
Albino socolofi
2 yellow labs
1ob zebra
1 Bumblebee
1 acei
Would a syno. Decorous work as well? I really like them, but hey get pretty big
Your thoughts?
If keeping multiple of a species, Mbuna should be kept in groups of 1 male to 3 or more females. Any extra males in the tank would not be tolerated and would end up bullied to death as they are very territorial. And at the same time, having too few females can lead to them being stressed out from the male constantly chasing them to mate. I see you listed one of each aside from the yellow labs, in that case you would be going with an all male tank. I have not personally done this myself, but you would have to make sure there are no females in the tank and that none of the fish have simular colourations (that could be mistaken for their species).
Mbuna can be really territorial, even the more peaceful personalities. And it is pretty widely advised that you overstock the tank a little to spread out the aggresion so no one fish is getting the brunt of it. Although it will still happen from time to time. While stocking my mbuna tank, ive had to rehome/lost probably close to 10 fish due to aggresion issues. And have ALOT of hiding spots/caves for them to set up territories and take cover if needed. Always have a backup plan since its not uncommon for fish to do well with eachother for months and then hit maturity and flip a switch on another. It can be a pain, and expensive at times (especially since where i am it costs $16 each). But with that being said, i love my tank and its been awesome seeing them grow and colour up, and their personalities are interesting to watch. Each one has its different quirks and personalities. It takes some time but once you get it set up where they all can co-exist they are some of the most colourful fish on the freshwater side
Now i dont know too much about the different synodontis catfish, aside from lucipinnis i beleive is the smaller one that most advise to get. For stocking your tank, Id personally try for 3 groups instead of alot of singles. The breeding habits are supposed to be awesome to watch, although i havent gotten to see mine go through quite yet. I beleive 14-15 is more or less around what people stock in 55 gallons? I am aiming for 18-20 in my 75 gallon once i sort out extra males in the youngest groups. Ive also found with my fish that giving a male more females tends to preoccupy him away from the others a bit, although thats just my thoughts on it. I do have a few singles male species in my tank and they seem fine, but they dont resemble the other species much at all. Definately feel free to look more into the all male mbuna tanks though! These are just my thoughts. Regardless of going all male or not, try to go for the more peaceful species like yellow labs, acei, or rusty. They tend to be generally more tame where some others like arutus and johanii have a bad rep for being bullies more often then not lol
Now im going to stop rambling on and let some other chime in lol Feel free to check out my album where i posted a couple more recent pictures of my tank and fish. If you have any questions on any kinds i have that youd want just let me know!
3 groups isnt a bad idea Do you think aceis, labs, and zebras would work?
So about how many peacocks would I be able to do? 5 or so? Could I do all males?
Yes to all males. Yes to 5 if its all male. I did 2m to 5f.
Sent from my LGLS991 using Aquarium Advice mobile app
Im debating cobalt blues or red top zebras