stocking suggestions for 55g

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Thats what makes this difficult..if the sale is still going on ill bring my 55 back n grab the 75 i knew i shoulda grabbed it but the 55 came with filter n heater n all while the 75 didnt ..i shoulda just stuck to my gut n got the bigger tank .. i knew even if i didnt need it i could use the extra room til it was needed....a far as sand goes i have never use it ... i have a gravel vac for my 10.. but i wanted to try sand out ..just alil nervous about it cause i havent used it .. was gonna do a planted tank before we chose cichlids...but im gonna pass on that now.
 
Oh also how many should i get of each... k was thinkin mayb 4 yellow labs , 3-5 acei , 3-5 kenyi, 1 syno, 1 bristlenose... thought about doing 4 of the top 3 ..but idk..if i should do smaller numbers or take out 1 group all together
 
I think that's a good number... You don't wanna know how many I have in mine lol. Best to do 1m 3-4f ratios. And I would t sweat the breeding, odds are the fry will be eaten if u leave them in the main. You will love sand! Sooooo easy to clean, waste just sits on top so it's easy to get out :)
 
Just make sure you have lots of rockwork so the less aggressive fish can get away from the aggressors. Kenyi's are pretty tough dudes, my male and female don't take no crap from anyone :)
 
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A lot of people prefer the all purpose sand over the play sand but I wouldn't know as play sand and live saltwater sand is all I've ever used. When cleaning the sand you do a swirling action a couple inchs from the sand. It will get the debris to float up off the sand so you can suck it up otherwise you end up sucking sand up aswell.


It can be done with a 55 gallon but that's really the starting point for most Africans. The longer the tank the better because that creates more area. They can claim an area as territory and it could be a pretty big space and they won't let some in or past that space without getting chased, picked on, beat on or killed. I have one that has claimed a 2'x2'x1 foot section of my 180 gallon. It will only let a few in that area it even beats on the catfish bit not the turtle.
 
Andrew McFadden said:
A lot of people prefer the all purpose sand over the play sand but I wouldn't know as play sand and live saltwater sand is all I've ever used. When cleaning the sand you do a swirling action a couple inchs from the sand. It will get the debris to float up off the sand so you can suck it up otherwise you end up sucking sand up aswell.

It can be done with a 55 gallon but that's really the starting point for most Africans. The longer the tank the better because that creates more area. They can claim an area as territory and it could be a pretty big space and they won't let some in or past that space without getting chased, picked on, beat on or killed. I have one that has claimed a 2'x2'x1 foot section of my 180 gallon. It will only let a few in that area it even beats on the catfish bit not the turtle.
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Isn't that funny? Mine tolerate certain species in theyre territories too haha! My tank is broke into 3 territories, each boss claims 1/3 of it.
 
kjacks said:
Oh also how many should i get of each... k was thinkin mayb 4 yellow labs , 3-5 acei , 3-5 kenyi, 1 syno, 1 bristlenose... thought about doing 4 of the top 3 ..but idk..if i should do smaller numbers or take out 1 group all together
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I would skip the acei they get over 5" and they love to swim I believe it is actually a open water swimmer.
 
AndrewsPistol said:
Isn't that funny? Mine tolerate certain species in theyre territories too haha! My tank is broke into 3 territories, each boss claims 1/3 of it.
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I know when you get the 6' tank set up your going to be soo much happier. Things like aggression will more than likely calm down a little. ;) since there will be more room
 
Andrew McFadden said:
I would skip the acei they get over 5" and they love to swim I believe it is actually a open water swimmer.
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I almost said something about them... Mine are super docile, couldnt stand up to the bunch... I got one left out of 4 :(
 
AndrewsPistol said:
I almost said something about them... Mine are super docile, couldnt stand up to the bunch... I got one left out of 4 :(
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I believe that kenyi is listed at aggressive or maybe more not sure as I don't keep it so I know its not in the mild group. An acei is in the mild group and same with the electric yellow. So in all reality I'd think twice about the stock list. If you have to have the kenyi I'd go with a more aggressive fish that can hold their own.
 
Andrew McFadden said:
I believe that kenyi is listed at aggressive or maybe more not sure as I don't keep it so I know its not in the mild group. An acei is in the mild group and same with the electric yellow. So in all reality I'd think twice about the stock list. If you have to have the kenyi I'd go with a more aggressive fish that can hold their own.
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It's too bad she couldn't do bees cuz my Kenyi's are aggressive and bees would fit right in. My labs are tolerated by everyone weirdly enough haha. They beat each other up tho lol.
 
AndrewsPistol said:
It's too bad she couldn't do bees cuz my Kenyi's are aggressive and bees would fit right in. My labs are tolerated by everyone weirdly enough haha. They beat each other up tho lol.
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What about Kenyi, demasoni, and maybe some snow white socolofi's??? That's a lot of blue but the demasoni could hang with em, well from my experience anyway!
 
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AndrewsPistol said:
Or maybe Afra's?? Mine are pretty tough...
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Depending on what afra :)

Ya labs are goofy lol they do seem to get along with almost anything for some reason or another. I think they are just really smart at what they do. My labs are one of the only ones that can go into into my ones territory.
 
Andrew McFadden said:
Depending on what afra :)

Ya labs are goofy lol they do seem to get along with almost anything for some reason or another. I think they are just really smart at what they do. My labs are one of the only ones that can go into into my ones territory.
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I believe mine is Jalo Reef, not sure if he is a tough cuz he hangs with a rough crowd or if that's the temperament lol. They are pretty tho and have the barring they like with a splash of yellow :)
 
Lol...im so lost in yalls conversation...i dont know any of the names of these fish except the ones.i.have at my petsmart...but i could drop the kenyi or.the acei ..i would like some other colors thn yellow n black though.. i dont want a tank of all the same colored fish.. but ill check into the ones yall.mentioned n see .. it wont b too much longer n i can leave work.. today has been so slow all i have done is research fish
 
kjacks said:
Lol...im so lost in yalls conversation...i dont know any of the names of these fish except the ones.i.have at my petsmart...but i could drop the kenyi or.the acei ..i would like some other colors thn yellow n black though.. i dont want a tank of all the same colored fish.. but ill check into the ones yall.mentioned n see .. it wont b too much longer n i can leave work.. today has been so slow all i have done is research fish
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Lol! Demasoni and Kenyi are popular at Petsmart, I believe they stock Afra too, not sure what kind tho.
 
kjacks said:
Lol...im so lost in yalls conversation...i dont know any of the names of these fish except the ones.i.have at my petsmart...but i could drop the kenyi or.the acei ..i would like some other colors thn yellow n black though.. i dont want a tank of all the same colored fish.. but ill check into the ones yall.mentioned n see .. it wont b too much longer n i can leave work.. today has been so slow all i have done is research fish
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Hahahaha I feel ya sorry about the conversation ill try to make it easyer. I go to work tonight so I have a few more hours of talk time lol.
Are you against ordering online? I had the same problem with my stores in my are so I ordered online from WWW.livefishdirect.com
What I did is picked out all the fish I liked then wrote all the names down. I decided next that I wanted to go with the mild aggressive group. So then I looked up all the profiles and wrote down next to the names the aggressiveness and size. And went from there. If you do order or pick any fish from them ask me because I have almost all of them lol
I'll post my.stock list so you can see in a min.
 
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