Cichlid recomendations for a 55gal.

[Bigougit]

I have a friend who has nothing but cichlids and plecos and its amazing how beautiful his tanks are. I already have some experience under my belt and am willing to try fish that might be a bit more challenging to care for. I am mostly interested in the Lake Malawi, but I'm open to suggestions. I originally wanted oscars but having only 2 fish in that tank seemed like a waste to me. Thanks in advance for your help

 

[rich311k]

You can't have two oscars in a 55 anyway so the Afircans are probably a better idea.

 

[Bigougit]

oh, I guess that helps narrow down my options then ^^; I really like the yellow labs my friend has but he says that the last time he bred that they didnt release the fry from their mouth so he had to force their mouth open

 

[Fishyfanatic]

If you are interested in labs you will want to stick with other peaceful Mbuna. Have you checked out Acei's or Cobalts? They are both very beautiful fish that have great coloration.

 

[Bigougit]

they look amazing, my friend had a malawi tank that also had fish that had a weird looking spotted pattern but I cant remember what it was called

 

[hsherman1986]

don't mean to butt in, but about how many mbuna's can you fit in a 55g? I am wanting to start one myself in the near future. I know I want yellow labs, and I was thinking about the cobalt zebras to go with them.

 

[Menagerie]

how many mbuna's can you fit in a 55g?

There's no set number. It depends on tank decor, fish aggression and "luck of the draw." Some fish, regardless if they are more peaceful in general, will not tolerate certain other fish or will simply decide the whole tank is theirs.

weird looking spotted pattern

Like a giraffe?

I really like the yellow labs my friend has but he says that the last time he bred that they didnt release the fry from their mouth so he had to force their mouth open

From what I understand, mouth brooding is a learned behavior and with more breeders stripping the fry from the mother, the resulting adults don't do well brooding. However, if the fry are big enough, they will get out. Do you know how long the mother was holding before your friend felt compelled to force the mouth open?

 

[maxwell1295]

As Menagerie said, "luck of the draw" is a big part of any Malawi mbuna setup. How uch filtration you have is also a factor when it comes to stocking levels, since these are pretty messy fish. My 55G plan is as follows:

6 Yellow Labs (2M/4F)
4 Maingano (1M/3F)
4 Albino Socolofi (1M/3F)
4 Red Zebras (1M/3F)

I have everything but the Labs in QT right now. The tank should be up by the weekend, at which time I will start introducing the fish. I'd like to put the labs in first since they are the least aggressive. I have a male Maingano that is an absolute beast and he is only 2.5" long right now. I will obviouly put him in last in hopes that he will chill a little. Somehow I doubt that will be the case...

Initial filtration will be 2 Fluval 304's and a Ehiem 2217. Fluvals are seeded so I will run them both for a couple of weeks and then remove one and replace it with a AC70 for mechanical filtration. I also have 2 AC30 powerheads to help with circulation.

 

[Bigougit]

Like a giraffe?

it looks most like a Fuelleborni Cichlid but I dont think thats what it was

From what I understand, mouth brooding is a learned behavior and with more breeders stripping the fry from the mother, the resulting adults don't do well brooding. However, if the fry are big enough, they will get out. Do you know how long the mother was holding before your friend felt compelled to force the mouth open?

I think he said it was over a month and even when he forced her mouth open 2 were still in there. She finally let those go a few days later

 

[triazole]

there's some debate about stripping females when they are holding, with some strong reasons from both sides of the camp.
but stripping is indeed necessary when the mother might starve herself to death.

 

[Bigougit]

He's been breeding fish for a long time and the only fish i've ever heard him having trouble with were German blue rams, He didnt really get much into the deals of it with me but if this is a common problem with yellow labs then I might want to reconsider getting them.

 

[triazole]

i'm pretty sure it's a trait in some mbuna females. so son't worry about it. besides, yellow labs are great fish, suited for any malawi tank.

 

[Bigougit]

I guess I'm going to have to keep a closer eye on this tank to know if they've bred so the females don't starve to death.

 

[triazole]

believe me, as soon as they feel comfy in your tank, they're going to breed like rabbits. now the choice is yours -
- if you want to raise the fry, don't put too much rockwork or decor in the tank. its going to be next to impossible to catch the holding female unless you tear the tank apart.
- if you want to take the path of natural selection and survival of the fittest (fry), do put a lot of hidey holes, for the holding female to retreat to and the fry to hide when they begin their lives.
- if you don't want any fry at all, well, that's a different question altogether

 

[JustOneMore20]

Maxwell, you are giving me ideas about having 4 types of Mbuna. I was under the impression that 3 would be the limit...but I would like to have 4 in my 55g.

Bigougit, when I started planning my Mbuna tank, I browsed the profiles on cichlid-forum.com to get an idea of what I liked. If you don't know what all you want in the tank, that may be a good place to start. Also, you can get ideas and then ask about combinations on here.

 

[Bigougit]

About the fry, I dont know what I'd do with them but I might provide a few hiding places and hopefully either my friend can take them or they wont become a big problem.

To JustOneMore20, I usualy do look around at database sites like that but I was having trouble finding information on malawi cichlids, but I will definately check that site out.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

Also check out www.malawimayhem.com for pictures of Africans. They have TONS of pictures. Don't be concerned about the breeding. They will only breed like crazy if you make the conditions right for them. Hard water, high pH, rock structures, flat surfaces, and temps in the lower 80s. If you do get a holding female, you will know it. It is VERY obvious when they are holding fry. I believe I have a really old pic in my gallery of our cobalt holding her first batch. And you may be lucky enough to watch the Cichlid Shimmy. They basically look like they are being electrocuted. Entertaining to watch. Don't avoid labs just because your friend may have a stubborn female.

 

[Bigougit]

OH! I saw my friends cichlid shimmy, it was hilarious. He was shocked that the fish were going to mate with people sitting in the room, but apparently the female didn't want to mate, and his labs were doing it allot to fight for dominance. The only thing i'm worried about is what if the fish ends up starving to death or something? But some fish are just stubborn. My girlfriends first swordtail jumped out of the tank at least 3 times and killed 2 other fish.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

The fish will release when it is ready. To avoid prolonged holding it is advised to set up a seperate tank just for the female. When you can see that she is holding, remove her from the main tank and put her in the QT. It will keep her from getting stressed out by the other fish. You can try to feed her 1 pellet at a time, but most likely she won't eat. If she is by herself she will feel more secure and will spit. We had a female peacock in the 29 gal tank with Cobalt fry. She would NOT spit after about 5 weeks. We took her out and bagged her to move her to the QT which had just been emptied. I set the bag down for about 2 minutes. When I picked it back up there were about 25 fry in the bag. She didn't feel comfortable spitting in the tank with the other fry.

Edit: Wanted to add, I do not find it difficult to pull a female that is holding from the main tank. We have a 150 tall and I find it easier to remove a holding female than a non-holding. We also have plenty of rock work in the tank. Pull her first thing in the morning. She will be slower since she is just "waking up". She will also be slower since she will be weaker from not eating. We only had to take the tank apart once and that was to get the FRY out of the tank.

 

[Bigougit]

Cool, I dont know If I can really set up a QT tank right now but I've got a bucket I can put her in so that she feels more comfortable.

Just from looking at pictures I'm really interested in getting yellow labs and blue peacocks.