Fresh Start

[TehNonX]

I'm new to these forums but not to fishies. I recently have lost my 30gallon Gourami tank to a heater malfunction. I was at the LFS and was setting the 30gallon to be a community fish tank of sorts. While I was there my wife purchased me a 55gallon. With some new kind of L.E.D. Hood,it Has this "lunar" setting where it goes from white to blue LED, Its cool stuff. It also came with , Umm ... A penguin Power Filter 350 bio wheel thing ... Never heard of it. As well as a heater .... It came with out a package. So I have no idea what it is other then that. The substrate is just black gravel sized rocks. and there's absolutely nothing else in it.

I'm writing to a few forums at the same time so I'll explain what I'm after now. I want to set up a devoted Cichlid tank. I want to base everything that goes in it around the Cichlids. I want there to be as many as possible. but not over crowded.... I want it to be a paradise for them. I see a ton of Cichlids in the LFS but I know they get big, I also had thought about maybe a plant or two for them but the guy there said they eat them. This is the most recent forum I've written to looking for answers. For the last forum I was on I found out I want an African Cichlid tank setup. When I go to the LFS they said Limestone is a good stone to use and they said the more the better ... Is that true?

I've also been look up stocking info and well ... I'm not sure what charaistics I should be looking for so I searched Google for "Basic African Cichlid Stocking tips and basic lists" and, Well I've found a few pre made lists and I'm curious to what other people think. Is it to much, To little, I was kind of hoping for more colour but this is close. So if you have any suggestions on what to stock together I would appreciate that too.

Thanks again for your time from the people who read this to the people who respond. I appreciate all the help.

 

[TehNonX]

Out of all the lists and stocking tips. This is a list that I had found and am curious to what People think. Is it suitable? Can there be More/Less/Different Fish?

Select any 3 species (max 12 fishes):
• Metriaclima estherae
• Pseudotropheus saulosi
• Pseudotropheus sp. "Acei"
• Labidochromis sp. "Hongi"
• Labidochromis caeruleus
• Labidochromis sp. "Perlmutt"
• Labidochromis chisimulae
• Iodotropheus sprengerae
• Cynotilapia afra
Do not mix any Labidochromis species


Or this list.

1 trio Protomelas
1 trio Aulonocara
1 trio Copadichromis
1 trio Labidochromis or Cynotilapia
4 Neolamprologus (larger species)
2 Eretmodus or 1 trio Haplochromis
2 Julidochromis (larger species)
1 Synodontis Catfish
1 medium sized Plecostomus

 

[Attiland]

List 2 if you ask me as those are mostly from Lake Tanganyika lol

My advice would be keep fish from either from Lake Malawi of Lake Tanganyika. The reason is their needs are a bit different. Also I wouldn’t have the Plecostomus if you are having SA Chiclids there are is a native catfish you can keep as bottom feeder and you actually listed it already.

For the Malawi list (1st one ) there are many of people will give you first hand advice, for the 2nd list remove these: 1 trio Protomelas, 1 trio Aulonocara, 1 trio Copadichromis, 1 trio Labidochromis or Cynotilapia, 1 medium sized Plecostomus and have a look at these and you might like some of them.

Neolamprologus tretocephalus
Neolamprologus pulcher
Xenotilapia nigrolabiata “Red Princess”
Paracyprichromis brieni
Neolamprologus falcicula
Cyprichromis leptosoma
Lamprologus - any
Julidochromis – any
Callochromis – almost any
Chalinochromis brichardi
Ectodus descampsi

 

[TehNonX]

1st list.

So based off of the suggestions you had given me and the 2nd list.I'd like maybe a suggestion on a specific Red fish. Any pattern is fine ... Just A nice red species if possible.

Can anyone make me a "Mock" Stock List for a 55g Lake Tanganyika Cichlid tank. Something I realized was that some species were large. I was trying to stray away from large species to. I was also told that some tetra's could go in with some of them as well. Could I drop a cichlid for a hand full of tetra's, If so .. which kind? Please ... A mock list would be appreciated.

• Metriaclima estherae - Red/Orange Zebra
• Pseudotropheus saulosi
• Pseudotropheus sp. "Acei"
• Labidochromis sp. "Hongi"
• Labidochromis caeruleus
• Labidochromis sp. "Perlmutt"
• Labidochromis chisimulae
• Iodotropheus sprengerae
• Cynotilapia afra
• Cyprichromis leptosoma
• Chalinochromis brichardi
• Neolamprologus tretocephalus
• Neolamprologus pulcher
• Xenotilapia nigrolabiata “Red Princess”

 

[mudraker]

Tetras would be a very expensive snack for Africans Cichlids.

 

[TehNonX]

So since I've last posted on this particular forum I've layered out lava rock and Lime stone.

Take a look, Tell me what you think.

As for species I've decided on 3.
Pseudotropheus demasoni,Labidochromis caeruleus and Aulonacara.

 

[HUKIT]

The tank looks nice, but that stock list won't work. Demasoni need to be stocked different than normal mbuna, they need to be in schools of 12-13 fish seem to be the magic number to curb aggression. In that 12-13 fish you'll only get away with 1 maybe 2 males depending on each males tolerence of each other. Then peacocks have no business being mixed with the hyper aggressive demasoni or most mbuna for that matter. But the labs and demasoni make for one of my favorite mixtures of yellow and blue. So your final fish count should be around 18 fish with 12-13 demasoni and 5-6 yellow labs with those being stocked at 1m to 4f ratio.

 

[Attiland]

So since I've last posted on this particular forum I've layered out lava rock and Lime stone.

Take a look, Tell me what you think.

As for species I've decided on 3.
Pseudotropheus demasoni,Labidochromis caeruleus and Aulonacara.

List 2 if you ask me as those are mostly from Lake Tanganyika lol

My advice would be keep fish from either from Lake Malawi of Lake Tanganyika. The reason is their needs are a bit different. Also I wouldn’t have the Plecostomus if you are having SA Chiclids there are is a native catfish you can keep as bottom feeder and you actually listed it already.

For the Malawi list (1st one ) there are many of people will give you first hand advice, for the 2nd list remove these: 1 trio Protomelas, 1 trio Aulonocara, 1 trio Copadichromis, 1 trio Labidochromis or Cynotilapia, 1 medium sized Plecostomus and have a look at these and you might like some of them.

Neolamprologus tretocephalus
Neolamprologus pulcher
Xenotilapia nigrolabiata “Red Princess”
Paracyprichromis brieni
Neolamprologus falcicula
Cyprichromis leptosoma
Lamprologus - any
Julidochromis – any
Callochromis – almost any
Chalinochromis brichardi
Ectodus descampsi

I am afraid you will have to search hard for the red colour in Lake Tanganyika. With the size of your tank your choices are limited. The only fish I have found is the Petrochromis sp. "Red - Bulu Point" and some Moori but those not suitable for your tank size. So your choice of Malawi in this case is right.

Regarding your Tank pic I like it, though I would get rid of the lime stone in the middle and put some more lava stone on the left side. Once your plants will start to grow it will look wicked. Well done.

 

[alLexX]

you could try a crayfish,i doubt they would go after cichlids,but make sure it has lots of hiding places.

 

[TehNonX]

So my tanks set up ... It's doing great. Everyones getting along great as well.
I have 700g of filtration an hour. I couldn't narrow it down so I just paid a few extra bucks for my LFS stock the tank for me. The gentlemen that stocked the tank, I know is a huge cichlid fan. So I trust him. Here's what we got.

2 yellow labs
2 Kenyi
2 Jaconfrobergi
2 Cherry Spot Tropheus
2 O.B. Zebras
2 Red Dragon Peacock
2 Frontosa
2 Tropheus Moori
1 Cobalt Blue Zebra.

Been test stripping it every day to keep track of all the minerals. Everything seems to be going A Okay! Thanks for your advice in setting stuff up guys. xD

 

[HUKIT]

No offense as the LFS guy may be a fan but his stock list is way of base, each one or those fish you listed should be kept alone and certainly not mixed into one small tank with the "hey let's hope for the best" stocking method.

1. Mbuna and peacocks should not be mixed due to different aggression issues.
2. Mbuna should be stocked with 1m/4f. to prevent hybrids/aggression.
3. Frostosa's should not be stocked with mbuna or peacocks, they are passive and will have time competeing for food. They are also fish that form a tight structured colony.
4. The Tropheous should be stocked almost identical to Frontosa. Since they also form a social colony and heirarchy which is marvelous to watch. It's like having a king, queen, court members and jestor.

Your labs will hybidize with the zebras, your Kenyi when maturing will decimate the tank, and the Frontosa, Tropheous ,and peacocks won't flourish being under constant stress.

Not to mention Frontosa's get upwards of 14" and are carnivores. I would give some serious time researching this if you don't believe me but there's no way that stock works!

 

[Attiland]

No offense as the LFS guy may be a fan but his stock list is way of base, each one or those fish you listed should be kept alone and certainly not mixed into one small tank with the "hey let's hope for the best" stocking method.

1. Mbuna and peacocks should not be mixed due to different aggression issues.
2. Mbuna should be stocked with 1m/4f. to prevent hybrids/aggression.
3. Frostosa's should not be stocked with mbuna or peacocks, they are passive and will have time competeing for food. They are also fish that form a tight structured colony.
4. The Tropheous should be stocked almost identical to Frontosa. Since they also form a social colony and heirarchy which is marvelous to watch. It's like having a king, queen, court members and jestor.

Your labs will hybidize with the zebras, your Kenyi when maturing will decimate the tank, and the Frontosa, Tropheous ,and peacocks won't flourish being under constant stress.

Not to mention Frontosa's get upwards of 14" and are carnivores. I would give some serious time researching this if you don't believe me but there's no way that stock works!

I agree with HUKIT.
You are going to have big trouble later with this stocking list. My experience is that the moori is bullying the frontosa, when it gets a bit more mature, I had to say goodbye to my frontosas in the past for that reason. Not to mention both cichlid should be kept in a bigger (minimum 400l ~87us gallons) tank. Moori is should be kept in a group of minimum 8-10. Frontosa is working better in a bigger group too, they get shy if they are alone. And as I said earlier the cichlid from the two lakes are not good to mix.
Well all this are going to be a good reason for an upgrade later. Good luck and keep us up-to-date.

 

[TehNonX]

No Offense taken guys. xD

If there was .. I wouldn't have turned to forums

I honestly didn't want this to happen. Hence why I left the stocking to the "professionals". The problem now being ... He was paid to stock my tank and my tank is stocked.

What do I do?

I was excited to have gotten the tank set up ... I did not want to screw the stocking up in case I missed something ... And well ... :\ Just can't win. I put weeks into narrowing it down and narrowing it down ... to have a couple people on different forums tell me it wasn't going to work. So ... Please don't judge me for not wanting to screw this up.

I have little money in reserve left so setting up more tanks is out of the question.

Again ... ... What do I do?

 

[HUKIT]

I would discuss this with the shop that sold you the fish, they were paid to do a job, but that job was done poorly. My best advice is stick with mbuna or peacocks with that size tank. The frontosa really thrive in colony's of 12-13 fish and due to their size a 6ft. is always best. Tropheous are difficult to keep and like the fonts they really do better with colonys of 12 or more fish, they also has a very different diet than your other fish as they are prone to Bloat. Water conditions are very crucial to the health of the fish too. So at this point discuss the options of returning fish for a credit and stick with mbuna or peacocks.

 

[Maya]

I can't give specific freshwater advice because I only do saltwater tanks but I can give some good common sense advice.

First... I wouldn't feel too badly. Everyone of us (without exception) have made stocking mistakes. Most of us (and by that I mean almost all... Lol) still do on occasion.

Second... I would wait and watch. Fish personalities are like people. There are good and bad. And there are exceptions to EVERY rule. Keep a close watch on your tank. The aquarist who spends time with his tank daily is the guy who has the best luck. Get to know each of your fish. See how they act, behave, etc. When trouble starts you are one step ahead with early recognition. If one (or more) of your fish develops behavior problems.. Pull them out. From there you can decide what to do. Juveniles are way more easy going than adults so you probably have some time. And maybe.. Just maybe you might not ever have problems. I wouldn't panic just yet.
Every person on these forums has a different opinion. And a lot of them have great advice to offer. The new guys believe in the people that we think know more than we do but on occasion... Everyone can be wrong. Go with what sounds right to you. You'll do fine. You want the best for your new tank and with that kind of attention.... It'll work out. Good luck and keep us posted. These guys will try their best to guide you through any rough patches.

 

[HUKIT]

I can't give specific freshwater advice because I only do saltwater tanks but I can give some good common sense advice.

First... I wouldn't feel too badly. Everyone of us (without exception) have made stocking mistakes. Most of us (and by that I mean almost all... Lol) still do on occasion.

Second... I would wait and watch. Fish personalities are like people. There are good and bad. And there are exceptions to EVERY rule. Keep a close watch on your tank. The aquarist who spends time with his tank daily is the guy who has the best luck. Get to know each of your fish. See how they act, behave, etc. When trouble starts you are one step ahead with early recognition. If one (or more) of your fish develops behavior problems.. Pull them out. From there you can decide what to do. Juveniles are way more easy going than adults so you probably have some time. And maybe.. Just maybe you might not ever have problems. I wouldn't panic just yet.
Every person on these forums has a different opinion. And a lot of them have great advice to offer. The new guys believe in the people that we think know more than we do but on occasion... Everyone can be wrong. Go with what sounds right to you. You'll do fine. You want the best for your new tank and with that kind of attention.... It'll work out. Good luck and keep us posted.
These guys will try their best to guide you through any rough patches.

These are fish that require careful selection and stocking numbers due to aggression and health, with these selections you can't take a wait and see attitude. These are fish that can kill and decimate fish due to aggression and others that are prone to disease based on diet and stress, not something to take lightly.

 

[MonsterfishGuy]

Do you want natural plant in there??

 

[MonsterfishGuy]

If yes, mbunas are not a good choice.