Cichlids, pleco's and Colomiain Shark??

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r_nichols7

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Mar 9, 2011
Messages
37
Location
South Florida
I have 55g w/2 cichlids (recently lost 6 due to water supply), 2 plecos, 1 bb cat... recently, my daugter bought 2 colombian sharks from the lfs for my son (it's his ft...but...) They said the col cats would do fine but I found conflicting info... What do I do if anything? Keep the cats, return them??? Will they be fine?
 
From what I've read online they're peaceful but...I'd return them, I don't think two ten inch fish will have enough swim room in there. What kind of plecos? Plecos produce lots of waste? Alos what kind of cichlids?
 
From what I've read online they're peaceful but...I'd return them, I don't think two ten inch fish will have enough swim room in there. What kind of plecos? Plecos produce lots of waste? Alos what kind of cichlids?


Common plecos, lake milawi afr 1 arautus and 1 blue cobolt and a bumble bee cat
 
Okay...I'm no cichlid expert but shouldn't there be more than just two fish in there? Unless they're a breeding pair? Also I though african cichlids aren't suppossed to be with other fish due to their aggressiveness...
 
I am an African Cichlid person, but not an expert yet. That being said, there are a few basics you should know.
1) Never mix cichlids from different lakes or different countries. If you have a Cichlid from Lake Malawi, never add a cichlid from Lake Victoria.
If your Cichlids are from South or Central America never add an African.
2) Africans tend to be aggressive towards each other. To keep them happy you need to have 3-4 females for every male. If your Blue Cobalt is male then he will need at least 3 female Blue Cobalt's.
3) Your Arautus is HIGHLY aggressive, although beautiful. But, not only will the males kill each other, the females will also kill each other.
They actually require a minimum 75g tank, the 55g is to small.
An interesting side note on the Arautus is, the females are Bright Yellow while the male are brown and grey, very rare among fish. The male to female ratio needs to be a bit higher with these guys, a 1:5 will do. When the males are young they look the same as the females. This protects them from being killed by the larger males. And from what I've read about them, if there is an imbalance of males to females, the Arautus can change gender to repair the imbalance. In nature at least, I'm not sure if they do this in captivity.
The Cichlids from Lake Malawi don't have mating pairs, each male has a small harem to call his own, they're polygamists.

Now, about those Common Plecos of yours. At full growth they are an average of 22-24" long and require a minimum of 125g tank. To raise them in a 55g tank will cause a condition called stunting. It deforms their spine and internal organs, along with dramatically shortening their lives.
They are great pets and if you have the room, are well worth having.
We were given one that we had for years. He would come up to the surface of the tank when we walked in, so that we would pet him, just like a puppy. He was hand fed, and insanely friendly. But they put out about 5 times the amount you feed them. Basically they are a constant poop machine, but a friendly poop machine.
There are countless smaller Plecos that do great in a 55g tank. I have a Regular Bushynose Pleco, he's 5" long and full grown. I also have 2 very cool Green Dragon Plecos, that will be 5" when they grow up. And 2 Long Fin Bushynose Albino Plecos, who will also be 5" long as adults. They too have a large bio-load for their size but it's nothing when compared to the bio-load of a Common Pleco.
I don't know anything about the cats, other than they need to be in a bigger tank.
As is, none of your fish should be in the same tank and only your Cobalt Blue Cichlid can thrive in a 55g tank. The others should find a new home.
The Mbunas are great fish. There are many beautiful colors and they are active interesting fish. And as long as you have the correct male:female ratio,their shouldn't be a lot of fighting.
But like any other pet there can be personality conflicts between fish. When that occurs, you will usually have to get rid of one of them.
I had a Red Zebra early on that turned out to be a psycho serial killer. He killed both males and females whenever he could. My LFS took him back and I never got another RZ, again.
I know it isn't easy to re-home fish, especially ones that get to be two feet long. But it's torture for them if you don't.
First, check with your LFS that isn't a chain. They are, in general, more willing to take them off your hands than a big chain PS. You can also put them on craigslist for re-homing. Some area's still have those free Penny Saver papers, if you do, they are also a good place to put an add for re-homing.
Best of luck to you.
 
Wendi pretty much covered it all very well. In that size tank I would stick 2-3 smaller Mbuna that stay right around the 5" mark 1 male to 5 females. If you want something for the bottom go with one of the smaller Synodontis catfish. When setting up a lake Malawi tank make sure not to mix Haps, Mbuna and Peacocks, each type of fish needs its own tank and Haps need a 6' tank because they grow larger and need that extra swim room.

I have also attached a picture of what happens to a common pleco when raised in a 55.
 

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Wendi pretty much covered it all very well. In that size tank I would stick 2-3 smaller Mbuna that stay right around the 5" mark 1 male to 5 females. If you want something for the bottom go with one of the smaller Synodontis catfish. When setting up a lake Malawi tank make sure not to mix Haps, Mbuna and Peacocks, each type of fish needs its own tank and Haps need a 6' tank because they grow larger and need that extra swim room.

I have also attached a picture of what happens to a common pleco when raised in a 55.

As grotesque as the photo is , I'm glad you posted it.
A picture is worth a thousand words.

I added a couple of photos of what a Common Pleco should look like if raised it the correct size tank.
The first 2 I found online the third on was ours his name was Goldie. This is just before we re-homed him. He would soon need a lot more room to swim, so my LFS took him back.
I would think that the BIG BOY on the right is quite old, in order to grow that large. He is an awesome specimen.
 

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wendi why do they need a 75 over a 55 the only diffrence is height and they are bottom to middle level swimmers?
 
T-man02 said:
wendi why do they need a 75 over a 55 the only diffrence is height and they are bottom to middle level swimmers?

Incorrect, 55 gallons are 48x12x21 and 75s are 48x19x22. Mbuna will swim in all levels of the aquariums especially if the rocks go about 3/4 up the tank. The extra 7 inches in the footprint makes it so you can have allot of hiding spaces and still provide swimming room.
 
Incorrect, 55 gallons are 48x12x21 and 75s are 48x19x22. Mbuna will swim in all levels of the aquariums especially if the rocks go about 3/4 up the tank. The extra 7 inches in the footprint makes it so you can have allot of hiding spaces and still provide swimming room.

Yep, what he said. Extra floor space is crucial when aquascaping for Mbunas. They each need a section to call home, where they can hide away at night. They actually lie down and go to sleep and don't want to be bothered.
During the day when the lights are on, these guys swim everywhere they will even do an occasional Dolphin type jump out of the water. Only to swim to the very bottom to cruise around the decorations.

The tanks that are similar are the 75g & 90g. The floor dimensions are the same, 48"L x 19"W for the 75g, with a depth of 22" & 48"L x 19"W, with a depth of 26" on a 90g. Which makes the 75g great for the Mbunas housing needs and a 90g is great for Angelfish and Discus that need the extra depth.
 
Great input... thank you all. I did fail to mention that the fish are juvies and I do have plans for a 200g tank. All the fish are currently @2-3 inches long. How soon should I change tanks? Yes, the sooner the better but bigger aquarium means bigger $$$. I am also going to replace the cichlids I lost (6) but not the red z's.
 
Great input... thank you all. I did fail to mention that the fish are juvies and I do have plans for a 200g tank. All the fish are currently @2-3 inches long. How soon should I change tanks? Yes, the sooner the better but bigger aquarium means bigger $$$. I am also going to replace the cichlids I lost (6) but not the red z's.

With a 200g tank the Pleco will be very happy. But the Common Plecos and Mbunas can grow pretty quickly. My male Red Top Zebra & my male Kenyi grew really fast. Charlie, my RTZ was 5.5" at 9 mo. old, and Angelus, the Kenyi, was 5" by 6 mo. old. Angelus especially, grew so fast it was like watching him be a little bigger every day. He was the smallest fish I ever bought from the FS, I didn't think I would be able to even keep him alive. So he went from just under 1" to 5" in the first 4 months I had him. He reached 5" before he turned to his boy yellow. We all still thought he was a girl, just a big girl.
My point is, with the fish you have, you will need that BIGGER tank in less than a year, if you get anything close to the growth rate that I did.
But for the sake of the fish you need to get them into that tank as soon as you can spend the money and get it cycled. If you can't swing the 200g then try for the 125g, it is big enough for even your Common Pleco to grow up in.

As a small side bar, why did you decide to not replace the RZ's?
 
Bubbles... My last original cichlid... got along with everyone but the RZ's??? I don't know if it was species or the color orange.

I had the same problem with the RZ's. I loved their look but the male behaved like a serial killer. In a weeks time he killed more than half my female stock. He would lie in wait, as soon as a female swam by be lunge out and in one bite, kill.
It was awful, I finally caught him doing it and that was it. I QT'd him until I got rid of him. The FS took him and all the other RZ's I had. I won't ever have another one.
I don't think it's the breed, some people have no trouble at all. But when you do, it seems to really be bad.
I've been very picky about any fish that bullies since then. If they show signs of being a bully, beyond normal territorial stuff, they go back to the FS.
I have a peaceful Mbuna tank now. But with peace come a slew of fry and I don't have it in me to let them become food. So peace has it's problems too.
 
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