55g african cichlids

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FWFishTanks

FWFishTanks

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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? :thanks:
 
I have never kept mbuna or any lake Malawi, but if your going for personality, I'd recommend looking into the lake tangs. My ocellatus will come out of their shells and flare up at me when I walk up to the tank. But as long as you get the right amount of rock work, you could setup a pretty successful community tank.


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So you can get pretty much any kind of Mbuna as long as you have good combinations of fish. I've heard that Yellow Labs and Acei are great pairs. I have a malawi tank right now with three yellow labs, 1 demasoni, and 1 melanochromis auratus. This is a great example of what not to do. lol I had 2 albino peacocks in the tank before I got the demasoni and the auratus, but they started picking on one forcing it to cower to the top corner of the tank by the filter day and night. This went on for two nights before I took it back for a demasoni. They immediately started picking on the other peacock. Same thing, he hid by the filter outlet at the top day and night. I traded him in for the auratus. I knew nothing about auratus', and I found out that they are one of the most aggressive malawi cichlids. So far this has actually worked out well because the dominant fish in my tank is the male yellow lab. The other two are female. All three yellow labs are slightly larger than the auratus. The only one that's smaller is the demasoni, but he dont take no ****. I seen the auratus was in a mood one time just flying around the tank like a nut and he charged the demasoni, and the demasoni (3/4 the size) chased it right back. lol Haven't had much aggression lately so I think my combination is working out ok for now. By the way, regardless of combination, malawi cichlids will sometimes "buck" at each other every once in a while. It's just their nature. They talk a lot about peacocks in this thread:
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forum...chlid-tank-help-and-advice-needed-339044.html

Good Luck
 
So I have decided I would like to do peacocks only of possible. What kinds and ho many? I like sunshines and lemon jakes
 
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?
 
FWFishTanks said:
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?
Click to expand...

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!
 
You should go for a 75 gallon because you get more surface area. 55 gal tanks are very narrow

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G890A using Aquarium Advice mobile app
 
An old one of my 55gl peacock tank.... It does work well, you just need proper ratios and layout.








Sent from my LGLS991 using Aquarium Advice mobile app
 
Daven said:
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!
Click to expand...

3 groups isnt a bad idea Do you think aceis, labs, and zebras would work?
 
FWFishTanks said:
3 groups isnt a bad idea Do you think aceis, labs, and zebras would work?
Click to expand...

I love my acei and lab groups! Which zebras were you thinking? Red zebras are generally more aggressive, although a beautiful orange. I have a small group in my tank right now, but they are young so we'll see how they are when they mature. Not saying they cant work, but if theres a bully in the tank, theres a much higher probability of it being one of them lol
 
PoppaRyno said:
Yes to all males. Yes to 5 if its all male. I did 2m to 5f.

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Click to expand...

Thats great! I will likely do peacocks then! Do you know about syno. Decorous? Would they work you think? :thanks:
 
I do think... They live in unison with peacocks in malawi. Albeit in a spawn stealing swapping hiding kinda way. But i kept eupterus with mine for a loooong time.

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Mine does now reside in a 150gl. I was just giving a syno living w/ peacocks example. But they're are other types of synodontis that will work.

Sent from my LGLS991 using Aquarium Advice mobile app
 
But also.... My german red peacock males got to abt 6.5".

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