125 makeover! (African or South American)

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D-Fish

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Jul 15, 2018
Messages
236
Hello everyone this is my first post in a while so I hope everybody is doing well!!

So my 125 is currently in need of an upgrade and makeover.

It was mainly an angelfish tank but with my angel population not as high as it was and an empty 80gal I'm thinking about moving them into the 80 gallon and doing a full makeover of the 120.

I have never done a successful African cichlid tank before mainly because the last time I tried it I was very young and just thought they was pretty fish lol

So here is my dilemma. Do I keep it South America and maybe just get a couple of additional fish and maybe spruce up the tank a little bit. I could move my two red spot severums that I have in a different 90 gallon tank in with the angelfish as they grew out in that tank to begin with.

Or do I do what I have always secretly dreamed of and have a colorful African cichlid tank with black sand and white rocks dead coral and seashells.

My first thought was using a yellow lab population supplemented with Rusty cichlids or Yellow Tail Acei. Then I thought a peacock cichlid tank could be also fun. The red eureka are especially pretty.

What do you all think? Any recommendations along one of those lines?
 
Okay update time. I've decided that I'm going to make the 125 into the South American cichlid tank and move the severums and threadfin acara (one male) over to it and maybe add a couple of additional severums to grow out in the tank.

That means the 90ish gallon custom-made acrylic tank will be empty and I will set it up as the Mbuna tank.

I was thinking some small mbunas and maybe a few rusty cichlids. Maybe 15 Total? Would that be too much? From what I understand Mbuna tanks are typically overstocked to a degree to help with aggression but I don't want to overstate that degree.
 
Been a while.

So right now this is how things look.

Driftwood is still trying to float some so I tied it down. But so far I think it's looking pretty good and the fish seem to be doing well.

20220208_191557.jpg
20220208_191545.jpg
 
Nice ! What is the complete stocking ?
I'll warn you that if you are considering this stocking I am definitely overstocked once they are all full grown. And in fact once pairings occur I will have to do some moving around and maybe rehoming.

Currently I have
3 red spot gold severums (hoping to form a pair)
2 green severum
6 electric blue acara
2 polar Blue parrot (only two that survived of the initial six I got)
2 angel fish
1 threadfin acara
4 giant dianio (these guys are around 5 years old and been though several tanks)
3 apple snails (accidentally got these thinking they were mystery snails)
2 baby BN pleco
 
I'd be worry that over time those apple snails will snack on anything and everything green in the tank; of course i suppose the plastic plants you have will prevent that... Interesting stocking; i can see a bit of aggression in the future ;)
 
I'd be worry that over time those apple snails will snack on anything and everything green in the tank; of course i suppose the plastic plants you have will prevent that... Interesting stocking; i can see a bit of aggression in the future ;)
Oh yes aggression is a given lol

Yes only plastic. Though sometimes I I throw in some actual vegetables. When I had fresh kale in my garden sometimes I would throw a couple of leaves of it in and they like the zucchini slices also. Not to mention the cichlids would pick at the vegetables also.
 
In my experience with Mbuna, you need more females than males. Start with the easy, less aggressive species. I have a 55g Mbuna tank, with Yellow Labs, Rusties, Yellowtail Acei, and Red-red Zebras. The Zebras are the most aggressive of the lot, and can interbreed with Yellow Labs. For a 55g, you need 15 fish, so scale it up to your tank's size. 3-5 fish of each species, with 3-5 species for 15 fish total. I don't like my Zebras, if I could rehome them I would, and I'd replace them with Maingano. Never have two species with similar coloring. Johanni have blue males, and yellow females. They can interbreed with Maingano, and Auratus. Auratus is the worst option, highly aggressive and can suddenly kill off everything else in the tank tank overnight, after getting along fine for 6 months. Maingano are blue, and look a lot like male Johanni.
 
In my experience with Mbuna, you need more females than males. Start with the easy, less aggressive species. I have a 55g Mbuna tank, with Yellow Labs, Rusties, Yellowtail Acei, and Red-red Zebras. The Zebras are the most aggressive of the lot, and can interbreed with Yellow Labs. For a 55g, you need 15 fish, so scale it up to your tank's size. 3-5 fish of each species, with 3-5 species for 15 fish total. I don't like my Zebras, if I could rehome them I would, and I'd replace them with Maingano. Never have two species with similar coloring. Johanni have blue males, and yellow females. They can interbreed with Maingano, and Auratus. Auratus is the worst option, highly aggressive and can suddenly kill off everything else in the tank tank overnight, after getting along fine for 6 months. Maingano are blue, and look a lot like male Johanni.
Thanks for the info. Unfortunately I am not sure how to tell the sexes of mine right now. I just ordered a mixed lot of small mbuna online. I think I have 20 in there. I'll have to re-count I ordered 25 and have a few die off shortly after I got them and a few DOA.

I know I have yellow lab, yellow tail Acei, rusty, red zebra, ob zebra, golden auratus cichlid

Not sure?
MAINGANO, PSEUDOTROPHEUS CYANEORHABDOS?, ALBINO SOCOLOFI, PSEUDOTROPHEUS SOCOLOFI (ALBINO)?
 
D-I know I have yellow lab said:
:facepalm:The Auratus is the absolutely worst one for your tank. They can hybridize with the Maingano, and have been know to be perfectly peaceful. Then fast forward six months, and they suddenly kill off everything else in the tank overnight.



You'll also want to be careful of the Red Zebras and Yellow Labs, they can interbreed.



You can't sex them until they're bigger, and you'll need a jeweler's loupe. I've also noticed that male Red-Red Zebras have a very slight hump on their forehead, the most dominate sexually mature male has the most obvious hump. Male cichlids, from what I've seen, also have what I call ribbons or streamers. The first bone in their anal fins are very long, with the more dominate males having longer streamers. You can't always tell, cichlids have a habit of biting them off of each other. Or, the outermost bone in their fins is the longest.


Never get two species that look similar, they can and will confuse them for their own species and kill them. Or create hybrids.



I'm not an expert, I've not even tried with the more aggressive Mbuna species. my Red-red zebras are my most aggressive Mbuna. The more hiding places the better. Add in the least aggressive ones first, and save the most aggressive for last. Any time you add or remove fish, take every single fish out of the tank, rearrange the rocks, then add them all back in. I made the mistake of not doing that when I got a new female, and the rest killed her.
 
:facepalm:The Auratus is the absolutely worst one for your tank. They can hybridize with the Maingano, and have been know to be perfectly peaceful. Then fast forward six months, and they suddenly kill off everything else in the tank overnight.



You'll also want to be careful of the Red Zebras and Yellow Labs, they can interbreed.



You can't sex them until they're bigger, and you'll need a jeweler's loupe. I've also noticed that male Red-Red Zebras have a very slight hump on their forehead, the most dominate sexually mature male has the most obvious hump. Male cichlids, from what I've seen, also have what I call ribbons or streamers. The first bone in their anal fins are very long, with the more dominate males having longer streamers. You can't always tell, cichlids have a habit of biting them off of each other. Or, the outermost bone in their fins is the longest.


Never get two species that look similar, they can and will confuse them for their own species and kill them. Or create hybrids.



I'm not an expert, I've not even tried with the more aggressive Mbuna species. my Red-red zebras are my most aggressive Mbuna. The more hiding places the better. Add in the least aggressive ones first, and save the most aggressive for last. Any time you add or remove fish, take every single fish out of the tank, rearrange the rocks, then add them all back in. I made the mistake of not doing that when I got a new female, and the rest killed her.
I can take out and remove some. I don't have a problem with that. I did not choose what I got either. I just placed an order for a mixed lot and got what I got.

So the auratus is the only one that needs to be removed at this point? I can do that. They are all small and I had not planned on adding more later but if I have to remove several later I may need to do that. I can add more hiding areas and change things up later to add more if needed.
 
I can take out and remove some. I don't have a problem with that. I did not choose what I got either. I just placed an order for a mixed lot and got what I got.

So the auratus is the only one that needs to be removed at this point? I can do that. They are all small and I had not planned on adding more later but if I have to remove several later I may need to do that. I can add more hiding areas and change things up later to add more if needed.


If they're less than 2", they're too small to be vented. Mbuna have been known to spawn at 1.5", 2" is about the smallest that you can properly vent them. You'll likely have to rehome some of them at some point, unsexed juveniles can give you way too many males. You need at least two females, per male, per species.



The more rocks/hiding places, the better. Look up Underwater Galleries, they have ceramic cichlid stones that are great for Mbuna. If you're lucky, you can find a 15 pack for about $65, they typically run about $75 and up. That gives you plenty of hiding places, and they stack really easy. They come in a a variety of shapes and sizes.
 
If they're less than 2", they're too small to be vented. Mbuna have been known to spawn at 1.5", 2" is about the smallest that you can properly vent them. You'll likely have to rehome some of them at some point, unsexed juveniles can give you way too many males. You need at least two females, per male, per species.



The more rocks/hiding places, the better. Look up Underwater Galleries, they have ceramic cichlid stones that are great for Mbuna. If you're lucky, you can find a 15 pack for about $65, they typically run about $75 and up. That gives you plenty of hiding places, and they stack really easy. They come in a a variety of shapes and sizes.
Thanks for the advice. [emoji106]
 
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