My wife lost the last fish in her 36 gallon aquarium, so I'm taking ownership, buying the filters I like, and moving it to the basement with my 75 and a 125 SA chichlid tanks. Originally I was going to set up a species-only Tiger Barb tank, but I really like non-psycho cichlids like Sevs and Angels. Yesterday at a LFS and started looking at Africans for the 1000th time. After a little research I found that Saulosis are probably my best bet considering the small tank size.
A few questions:
- Is 36 really OK for a small group of them?
- Are they OK in smaller groups with something like a 1:3 M/F ratio? I was thinking about 6-9 total fish.
- At what age do the males and females take on their colors? I don't want to get a half dozen or so only to discover that I have 5 males and one female.
- I've seen most African tanks with rocks and sand. Currently she has black gravel, driftwood, and live plants (she lost fish constantly but can grow a plant anywhere. I'm the opposite. My fish are very healthy, but I think I could kill plastic plants). Should I swap the gravel for sand and get rid of the driftwood and plants or can I just keep what we have and throw a few rocks in there for them to hang out in?
Thanks for any advice you can give me.
A few questions:
- Is 36 really OK for a small group of them?
- Are they OK in smaller groups with something like a 1:3 M/F ratio? I was thinking about 6-9 total fish.
- At what age do the males and females take on their colors? I don't want to get a half dozen or so only to discover that I have 5 males and one female.
- I've seen most African tanks with rocks and sand. Currently she has black gravel, driftwood, and live plants (she lost fish constantly but can grow a plant anywhere. I'm the opposite. My fish are very healthy, but I think I could kill plastic plants). Should I swap the gravel for sand and get rid of the driftwood and plants or can I just keep what we have and throw a few rocks in there for them to hang out in?
Thanks for any advice you can give me.
