What Order Should I Stock These?

[chazeman2]

just thought i'de post a photo to give be an idea of what we're working with. 7 really good caves in all and other hiding behind the rocks.

 

[Zactheninja]

Love the scape.

I think I saw the word shell dwellers above, (just kinda skimmed) but that tank would look awesome with shell dwellers. Maybe some tropheous?

 

[Convict2161]

Just a civil discussion on the OP ideas.

BTW... I like the scape just if it were me I'd paint the background black. But it looks good non the less.

Good luck OP in your decision.

 

[Dean jones]

I think there will be fireworks once they reach adults,and want to breed.

 

[Convict2161]

I think there will be fireworks once they reach adults,and want to breed.

Yes once they all mature there may be issues to deal with. The OP knows and understands all of this. Again I wish the OP best of luck and would love to see pics when it's stocked. I'll be following along.

 

[Wyomingite]

I have kept breeding groups of saulosi, flavus and some of the smaller Labidochromis sp. in a 33 long. A 33 long has the same footprint as a 55 though, and it was packed with cover to the top.

All the fish ya have on yer list will hit 5" or more. My big yellow lab is almost 6", and my adult red zebras are around 5". Aceis can hit 6". I've heard of 'em getting 8", but have never had nor seen one that large. Instead, ya might consider a group of saluosi. They generally stay 'round 3" or so with males pushin' 4". IME, they also tend to be a bit more mellow than a lot of other species. You'll get bright yellow from the females and a nice blue and black striping on males. Eventually you'd want to work yer way down to one or two males.

Maylandia lanisticola is the small Malawi shell dweller Andrew mentioned. They stay a bit smaller than the saulosi. If ya happen to find any, they would be another option. I had some special ordered years ago, and was only able to obtain three. Not an easy fish to get a hold of. Maylandia livingstonii is the other some time shell-dweller, but they get larger. Again not an easy fish to get a hold of.

To answer yer original question, I'd stock those species acei first, labs second and zebras last. In a large enough tank with plenty of cover, I wouldn't hesitate to stock all three at once.

WYite

Edit: BTW, nice scape on the tank.

 

[isiah1820]

Or maybe! lol get em as juvies while there small and calm and upgrade later when there older. Just an idea.

 

[chazeman2]

I think there will be fireworks once they reach adults,and want to breed.

If you read all the posts you would realize that i'm open to dwarf mbunas.

 

[chazeman2]

I have kept breeding groups of saulosi, flavus and some of the smaller Labidochromis sp. in a 33 long. A 33 long has the same footprint as a 55 though, and it was packed with cover to the top.

All the fish ya have on yer list will hit 5" or more. My big yellow lab is almost 6", and my adult red zebras are around 5". Aceis can hit 6". I've heard of 'em getting 8", but have never had nor seen one that large. Instead, ya might consider a group of saluosi. They generally stay 'round 3" or so with males pushin' 4". IME, they also tend to be a bit more mellow than a lot of other species. You'll get bright yellow from the females and a nice blue and black striping on males. Eventually you'd want to work yer way down to one or two males.

Maylandia lanisticola is the small Malawi shell dweller Andrew mentioned. They stay a bit smaller than the saulosi. If ya happen to find any, they would be another option. I had some special ordered years ago, and was only able to obtain three. Not an easy fish to get a hold of. Maylandia livingstonii is the other some time shell-dweller, but they get larger. Again not an easy fish to get a hold of.

To answer yer original question, I'd stock those species acei first, labs second and zebras last. In a large enough tank with plenty of cover, I wouldn't hesitate to stock all three at once.

WYite

Edit: BTW, nice scape on the tank.

Thank you for being constructive. Are the saulosi pretty widely available?

 

[Andrew McFadden]

Thank you for being constructive. Are the saulosi pretty widely available?

For the most part

http://www.davesfish.com/images/Pseudotropheus saulosi Taiwanee Reef.jpg

You'll find it listed under lake Malawi mbuna
http://davesfish.com/

 

[Andrew McFadden]

For the most part

http://www.davesfish.com/images/Pseudotropheus%20saulosi%20Taiwanee%20Reef.jpg

You'll find it listed under lake Malawi mbuna
http://davesfish.com/

Those with the afra cobue would be a good mix

 

[Wy Renegade]

kind of yes. i have been preparing for this for some time now and have gotten lots of mixed reviews.some people say go for it and some people yell at me. i have seen a lot of tanks this size on youtube with far more diverse selections of mbunas even mbunas mixed with johannis. so I'm at the point where Im gonna go for it. maybe add less. more like 6

Hopefully the civil folks here have changed your mind. You can probably find a lot of mixed tanks like this on you-tube or elsewhere, but most have two things in common; they haven't truly been set up for long and the fish are not adults. Generally speaking, a mix of immature fry will do ok (not great) in a smaller tank of mixed variety. However as these fish mature and begin to stake out territories, disaster strikes (sometimes this can take up to three years to happen, depending on the species). 3 feet is the minumum size most mbuna males will stake out as their territory, so in a smaller, mixed tank like this you suddenly have multiple males who are trying to establish a territory, they begin hammering each other and any other fish that swims into their territory - death is the result. If you're limited to a 3' tank, as has been suggested by multiple people here, the dwarf cichlids are your best bet.

 

[chazeman2]

Just a civil discussion on the OP ideas.

BTW... I like the scape just if it were me I'd paint the background black. But it looks good non the less.

Good luck OP in your decision.

Yeah i don't mind a black background, but i have a few friends with them and you can see anything floating in the water even bubbles which i find annoying. Also the blue brightened up the room a bit as I am using it for a piece of furniture not just a tank on a metal stand in my room or something.

 

[Wyomingite]

Those with the afra cobue would be a good mix

+1. Would be a good combo.

WYite

 

[bcurlacher54]

I'd take the advice, I don't know about other people's tanks but in mine I've found that once one fish is considered weaker then they seem to gang up on the poor weak one. A tank that small doesn't leave much from for running and hiding. I've had to quarantine fish to let them recover and that's with a 75.

 

[garfy]

I'd take the advice, I don't know about other people's tanks but in mine I've found that once one fish is considered weaker then they seem to gang up on the poor weak one. A tank that small doesn't leave much from for running and hiding. I've had to quarantine fish to let them recover and that's with a 75.

+1 I first started out with a 2 1/2 foot tank (25 g) I was new and naive.I stocked it with around 16 Mslawi cichlids including 4 Auratus.The dominant fish soon appeared (a male Auratus) He killed one of the other male Auratus over night and then started on the others.I lost 8 fish before I came to my senses and bought a 143 g tank.With the right aquascaping all was fine.I will not make that mistake again.

 

[chazeman2]

what if I did rustys with tiger barbs and a small syno cat or two? If yes what kind of numbers would I be looking at?

 

[Andrew McFadden]

I know they say rusty are pretty peaceful. Imo they are not and I wouldn't try. I had one as a new fish wipe a couple out till someone said that's it and put a stop to it.

 

[chazeman2]

so is there any fish i can keep?

 

[Wyomingite]

Have ya thought 'bout a Tanganyikan tank rather than a mbuna tank?

A half dozen multies or other shell-dweller, a pair of Julidochromis dickfeldi, a pair of any of the smaller Neolamprologus species (check out N. helianthus, N. cylindricus, N. leleupi and N. caudopunctatus, for starters) or Telmatochromis species ( T. dhonti, Telmatochromis sp. orange scribble), and a group of six barbs wouldn't be a bad set-up. Ya still get the rocky Rift Valley look with a a heckuva lot less aggression issues. Maybe a small group of Altoloamprologus compressiceps "dwarf sumbu" instead of the shellies. The smaller Tanganyikan cichlids generally don't need harems (except for the Tropheus, Simochromis and Petrochromis species) and allow for greater variety without half the aggression issues.

WYite