Stocking Advice 60 Breeder Tanganyikan Community

[DudeManWhat]

Hello everyone, I'm new to cichlids, though I have had a n multifasciatus tank (20 long) for a bit now, and I love it. I have been doing research on other tanganyikan cichlids lately and this past week picked up a 60 gallon breeder tank (48"×18"×17") with the intent of creating a multispecies community. The only species that I am 100% set on having in this tank is gold head altolamprologus compressiceps, but was interested in hearing some input regarding 1 or possibly 2 species that might coexist well with them long term.

julidochromis? Lelupi? caudopunctatus? paracyprichromis nigripinnis? Alternative Dithers of some sort? This is intended to be a cool tank to watch behaviors of
2 or 3 species interacting amongstthemselves and or others, not a proper breeding project. I may get a couple of 40 breeders for breeding projects and or thinning out initial stocking as pairs form, but this is meant to be a show tank. Any suggestions and or advice regarding species, stocking numbers, and ratios would be greatly appreciated. Looking forward to hearing from you, thanks everyone.

 

[Arget]

I can't say anything about Altolamprologus, but I've had Julidoshromis and Multis in the same 60g before. They all ended up spawning. I had a fine, dark sand as a substrate, at least 3-4 shells per Multi, and about 15 cichlid stones from Underwater Galleries.



There was two main issues. The Multis had a habit of spitting the sand straight on the hole where the sponge on the tanks intake went into it, straight into the filter.The Julies bred a lot, and the fry were slow growing. The fry that where chased out of the rocks lived in the no man's land between the rocks and the shells, and any that got too close to the shells were killed by the Multis.



Make sure there's a wide area of bare sand between the rocks and shells. If you're very lucky, you might be able to find some Cryprichromis leptosoma, otherwise called a Sardine Cichlid, that's native to Tanganyika and lives in the water column. They're a mouth brooder. They're not common, and need to be in a large group. If you find any, make sure you don't get the Jumbo variety, a 60g of any dimension isn't big enough for the bioload.

 

[DudeManWhat]

Thank you for the insight, it's appreciated. I think that I'm going to end up trying julidochromis, and caudopunctatus with the compressiceps. I plan to set up 4 distinct rocky areas with a bit of open substrate between and only a handful of shells considering all of the species spawn in caves and rockwork. If things get too hairy I've got a couple of 20 longs where I could potentially keep a pair of puncs and another for a pair of julidochromis as proper breeding setups, this is really meant to be a biotype community tank. I really do appreciate the advice, thanks again.