Stocking question on JD's/African Cichlids/etc.

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cgcaver

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
Jan 2, 2005
Messages
71
Location
Starkville MS
Some of you may have read my post about my plans to redo my 55g. Well at the moment, I'm having a hard time deciding between stocking it with 2 Jack Dempseys, various African cichlid species, or possibly even something else. Here are my questions:

1) I've heard you can put 10-12 Africans in a 55g... but yet I see that most can grow to 4"+... so how does that work? Do they have a small bioload compared to other fish or something? Basically, if I decide to stock Africans (yellow labs, electric blues, demasoni, etc) , how many can I put in a 55g? If I have a lot of filtration, can I put more? I currently have an AC500 and was thinking of possibly adding a Fluval204 or some kinda canister.

2) Are there any other fish you guys think I may wanna consider stocking? I'm mainly going for color. Also, can anyone recommend any red, green, etc. colored cichlids? Was hoping to find some other colors to go with the blue/yellow.
 
In your shoes I'd choose between the Africans and the JD's and not mix them, but there are plenty who mix new world with African cichlids - that's just my personal opinion.

Here is a link to the "cookie cutter" section of cichlid-forum.com where they make suggestions for different sized tanks. Check out the 55gal "smaller, less aggressive Mbuna" option.
 
Definitely not a JD with Africans. They like different water conditions. The cookie cutter that TG sent is very good advice for a 55-gallon tank.
 
OK, I defintely wanna do a Malawi tank. So far, I'm looking at:

3X DEMAISONI
3X YELLOW LAB
3X COBALT BLUE (or possibly Acei, needed another "blue" fish -thoughts?)
3X RED ZEBRA


This seems like it would give me a very nice display of colors. However, I do have 2 questions:

1) What bottom feeders would be best in this tank? And how many of them?

2) Would ghost shrimp be able to survive in this tank? I've heard they are fantastic scavengers and they add a lot to a tank's ecosystem.


As usual, all help is sincerely appreciated!
 
Syno cats are typically found in tanks like this. I would say one would be plenty.

Ghost shrimp do not stand a chance in this type of setup. Also, you don't really need much in the way of scavengers if you feed a quality pellet food like New Life Spectrum, which is not messy and the Africans get every pellet. I do not have a single missed bit of food left in my tank at feeding time - they are voracious.
 
I'd recommend that you purchase from a reputable online dealer. I have been sold incorrectly ID'd Africans from my own favorite LFS, whom I trusted, but they did not breed them and often the juvie colors are misleading as to identity. Unless it is something like N. brichardi, or some of the other fish that I am confident I can ID in juvie stage, I won't get Africans locally anymore.

These online breeders know their fish and know what they have, and in general the health is better and likelihood of hybrids is minimal. Some places to check out:

bluegrasscichlids.com
boesterscichlids.com
armkes.com
bluechipaquatics.com

There are probably some reliable breeders on Aquabid or ebay as well, but I don't know who they are.
 
Have you looked at www.liveaquaria.com? They have all of the fish you're looking for at basically the same prices as fish2u and I can attest to their quality, their excellent shipping methods, and the way they back their fish up if you receive any DOAs. They are the live fish branch of www.drsfostersmith.com and do an excellent job IMHO. Most of my Ps. demasoni come from them and I couldn't be happier with their color and quality.
 
Petricolas are the best Syno cats IMO... They get about 4" long and have very nice leopard type spots. They are the smallest syno cats... Multis can get twice as big as that. They are social with each other. If you get 2 or 3 they will swim around the tank quite a bit together. But with only one you may find him hiding all the time.
 
Also... you might want to check www.thatfishshop.com... They have a very wide selection of africans and cats at the best prices I have seen. I can't vouch for them yet as I haven't ordered... But I plan to and they are local to me (so cal), and allow for pickup at their warehouse. They don't have a store front location. But I will follow up on this thread if I fill an order with them. Hopefully next week
 
With regard to JD's and Africans. I have to disagree about water conditions. Most Central American cichlids can tolerate hard alkaline water. "WATER: pH 6.5-8.5 (7.0), 2-18 dH (6), 72-82°F (22-28°C)" from http://fish.mongabay.com/species/Cichlasoma_octofasciatum.html

I believe the decision to keep them together should be based on behavioual considerations.

I do agree that you have to choose healthy fish and look for a reputable source as African tend to be a bit "specialist" and the bulk of LFS would make most money from goldfish, danios, livebarers and tetras and the specialist fish often play second fiddle due to the volumes of sales of other fish.
 
Just a followup on my prior email. I opted against thatfishshop.com. Had a very hard time getting in contact with them. Takes them about 10 days to reply to any emails. I searched around and found www.ecichlids.com I emailed them, and got a reply by Kevin, the owner, in about 5 minutes. Very cool guy. They actually have a storefront in Northridge. I drove the 75 miles to check it out. He specializes in Africans of all kinds. The nicest and largest selection I have ever seen of Africans. Bought about $100 worth of fish. Bout 3 syno petricolas for $10 each. Never seen them for that cheap. All the fish looked very healthy, did not see one dead one. When I got there, he was filling some live delivery shipments, seemed very thorough and professional
 
I went with bluegrasscichlids. Put my order in on Saturday night. I will let you know how they do with the order.
 
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