New African Mbuna 55 gallon tank!

[kyle6367]

Hey all,
I'll be rinsing out my pfs tomorrow and finally arranging my slate... I wanted to run my list of future cichlids and see what you guys think of them. I was going to go with 3 or 4 species with a 1-3 M/F ratio.
Rusties
Yellow labs
Acei
Red zebra
Socolofi
One Male Johanni?

I plan of choosing 3 or 4 of those species for the tank, and ill be buying them when they are small(1-1.5"). Any advice on compatability or other interesting species is more than welcome!

Thanks!

 

[Mrc8858]

Scratch the acei and your good...they do better in a 6' tank

 

[kyle6367]

I was afraid they wouldnt go, and those are some of the ones i like the best.. So in the 4' 12-15 fish from the other species would be a good number? Also would if be ok if I added them all at once, or should I gradually add them so to reduce the bio load?

 

[CraigMac]

I would add all at once. As juvies they will have a smaller bio load. If you add the a few at a time you may have aggression issues.

Btw, I have 4 acei in my 4' tank and others do too and they do well. They do best in a 6' but I think a 4' is minimum acceptable IMO.

 

[kyle6367]

Good to know, I was hoping I could add them all at once... Have you had any aggression issues with your stock? Do you have any of the ones I plan on getting besides the Acei?

 

[CraigMac]

I have acei, red zebras, yellow labs, kenyis and mainganos. No issues. I had a male johanni before I got the mainganos but the johanni was a big bully and was getting worse by the day. So, I rehomed him and got the maingano.

 

[CraigMac]

Oh, and you know about cycling right?

I also have a red tailed shark, bristle nose Pleco and a feather fin catfish too.

 

[kyle6367]

Yea, I actully had a 29 gallon community tank that has been running for over a year. Ill be puting some gravel from that in my XP3 and ill put the filter on the 55 for a while to seed the tank. I'm hoping it should be good to go pretty quickly. I wanted to add a shark but wasnt sure if they would be ok in just a 55, sounds like they do just fine!

 

[Pton46]

Yea, I actully had a 29 gallon community tank that has been running for over a year. Ill be puting some gravel from that in my XP3 and ill put the filter on the 55 for a while to seed the tank. I'm hoping it should be good to go pretty quickly. I wanted to add a shark but wasnt sure if they would be ok in just a 55, sounds like they do just fine!

If you want you could use SeaChem Stability as well to cover the bases. I had to do that when I had a Tank leak in my 30 gallon and needed to seed my 60 Gallon quick. It worked for me 7 days straight and after the water changes for the month. Using the old substrate and Filters. I know a Lot of people aren't sold on it but it worked for me as advertised.

 

[kyle6367]

Thanks Pton46, I think ill stop and grab some tomorrow just to make sure it goes smoothly! I'm hoping the fact that the cichlids will be small when I get them and I'll be using colonized media it SHOULD be ok.

 

[Jess1ca]

I'm currently cycling a 55g with Mbuna's. Everything is going smoothly so far I ordered 2 active filters from AngelsPlus and cut them up n stuffed them into both of my hob's

 

[Malawi Freak]

If you want you could use SeaChem Stability as well to cover the bases. I had to do that when I had a Tank leak in my 30 gallon and needed to seed my 60 Gallon quick. It worked for me 7 days straight and after the water changes for the month. Using the old substrate and Filters. I know a Lot of people aren't sold on it but it worked for me as advertised.

Not many talk about stability on this forum. I actually just had a conversation today about it cause I have always used API stress coat/conditioner and Zyme. I finally decided to make the switch over with prime and some ferts.

 

[Malawi Freak]

I would say no acei or rustles. The rest would be fine together.

 

[Labenator65000]

Hey all,
I'll be rinsing out my pfs tomorrow and finally arranging my slate... I wanted to run my list of future cichlids and see what you guys think of them. I was going to go with 3 or 4 species with a 1-3 M/F ratio.
Rusties
Yellow labs
Acei
Red zebra
Socolofi
One Male Johanni?

I plan of choosing 3 or 4 of those species for the tank, and ill be buying them when they are small(1-1.5"). Any advice on compatability or other interesting species is more than welcome!

Thanks!

I would not get the Johannii. I had one with my labs etc in a 55 and it tore them up.

 

[kyle6367]

Alright, I'll hold off on those for now and see how the others do together. Update on the tank status: PFS is all rinsed and added as well as some of the slate structures! Let me know what you think, and if I shoul make any changes!

 

[Jess1ca]

Very nice!

 

[Lengelund]

Looks great! Wish I had a new tank to set up!

 

[kyle6367]

Here is the tank finally filled! I stuck some of my community fish in there after about 4 hours of the filters running with the established BB. They look happy and more engergetic than before, almost feel bad re-housing them for the cichlids!

 

[Zaedon]

Scratch the acei and your good...they do better in a 6' tank

This is true about most fish. More space to move and hide almost always = happier fish. However, Acei's will do just fine in a 4' aquarium.

It also comes down to the mix of species. For example: unless you want hybrids keeping Zebras and Yellow labs is not a good idea.

Also consider aggression. Try to group fish with the same level of aggression or less aggressive fish may get bullied or killed.

Grouped by aggression:

Group1
Acei
Yellow Lab
Rusty's
Socolofi


Group2
Red zebra
Johanni

Keeping fish of the same genu may result in hybridization as well. If your okay with this than it's not a problem.

 

[kyle6367]

That's what I was thinking. Scolofi wouldn't go at all with the first group you mentioned? I was hoping to keep four species with one male to 3 female ratios. Any suggestions?? Also which acei would go better, white or yellow tail??