55 Gal Equipment Questions

[vitacrux]

Over the course of the next week I am going to start buying things for my new 55 gal. (48'L,13'W,)

I was hoping someone could give me some advice on which equipment to use based on this stock list.

4 Yellow Labs
1 Red Jewel
1 electric blue
Common Pleco
And a peacock eel

For the filter I was looking at this,
Emperor Power Aquarium Filters - Filters - Fish - PetSmart

Along with this heater,
EHEIM Jager Aquarium Heater - Sale - Fish - PetSmart

Has anyone had good or bad experiences with these? Or have something better I should use? All help is appreciated.

 

[garfy]

Sorry to interrupt but how do I start my own thread on here?

 

[vitacrux]

Sorry to interrupt but how do I start my own thread on here?

Go to the forum under which you want it placed, ex: freshwater, cichlid discussion. Then click new thread.

 

[garfy]

Thanks very much

 

[HUKIT]

I'm currently using all Eheim heaters since the Stealths went south and I'm extremely happy with their looks and performance.

The Emperor filter is decent but if your going to use a HOB I along with most will recommend a AquaClear over the Marineland. You'll find better results with biological filtration over your first choice. The best choice IMO is a canister filter, they're more money but the performance is much better. For that my choice would be a Fluval 405. On amazon.com they can be purchases for around $150.

Last thing needs to be addressed is your stock list. A common plec will reach sizes of 18" and is far to large in a 55g. The Jewel's don't mix well with the rock dwellers of Malawi due to different aggression levels. The Ahli hap will also be to large to be housed in a 4ft tank but rather should be housed in a 125g or larger. I would bump up the lab count to 5-7 with one male and the rest female. There are alot of other mbuna to stock in a 55g.

 

[Mogurako]

I agree with Huk, the Eheim heaters are very nice, canister also the way to go over HOB IMO. The Fluval 405 is a good filter check out Dr foster and smith they are having a sale on their Eheim classic canister filters. I bought a 2217 for my 90 and love it.

 

[vitacrux]

Last thing needs to be addressed is your stock list. A common plec will reach sizes of 18" and is far to large in a 55g. The Jewel's don't mix well with the rock dwellers of Malawi due to different aggression levels. The Ahli hap will also be to large to be housed in a 4ft tank but rather should be housed in a 125g or larger. I would bump up the lab count to 5-7 with one male and the rest female. There are alot of other mbuna to stock in a 55g.

I understand the issue with my stock list, unfortunately I do not have anywhere to return or exchange fish near me. Is there anyway I could divide the stock list between my 55 gallon and my 29 gal to make it better?

 

[HUKIT]

I understand the issue with my stock list, unfortunately I do not have anywhere to return or exchange fish near me. Is there anyway I could divide the stock list between my 55 gallon and my 29 gal to make it better?

I'm not familar with the eels, but everything else would be better where they're are over the 29g. I always use Craigslist to sell and rehome my fish, so maybe that's a option. Depending size they'll be ok for a while but not long term. What size are the fish now?

 

[vitacrux]

I'm not familar with the eels, but everything else would be better where they're are over the 29g. I always use Craigslist to sell and rehome my fish, so maybe that's a option. Depending size they'll be ok for a while but not long term. What size are the fish now?

They are all still small:
Jewel 2.5"
Pleco 3-4"
Electric Blue 2" (I keep calling this an Electric blue, but Im not positive if I upload a picture could you possibly tell me if Im right or not?)
And all the labs are under 2"

 

[Mogurako]

That fire eel will end up being 24-40" + depending on how well it is taken care of and can reach that length with in a year. My LFS has some monsters in their show tanks that are roughly 36" long. Also fire eel proably not the best to keep with Africans they are fairly shy and like a PH of 7.0-7.5. I suggest rehoming the eel as well.

Edit: sorry thought I read fire eel not peacock. The peacock while smaller 12" is still fairly shy and likes a 7.0-7.2 ph and is from Asia. I don't think he will do very well with the aggressive African cichlids.

 

[vitacrux]

That fire eel will end up being 24-40" + depending on how well it is taken care of and can reach that length with in a year. My LFS has some monsters in their show tanks that are roughly 36" long. Also fire eel proably not the best to keep with Africans they are fairly shy and like a PH of 7.0-7.5. I suggest rehoming the eel as well.

Its a striped peacock eel, only supposed to be 12-14" at the maximum.

 

[vitacrux]

This is the mystery cichlid if anyone could help me out figuring out it actually is.

 

[HUKIT]

This is the mystery cichlid if anyone could help me out figuring out it actually is.

They're all still babies at this point, so you have some time to decide on a tank upgrade or rehoming some of them.

Your fish looks like a cobalt blue zebra...I'm on my iPhone so the picture is small.