55g African advice

[Whiteboi_J]

So i broke down my 20g cause tank was leaking and when i went to reseal it, i put my stock in a rubbermaid, forget to drop the heater in there, and it got 30 degrees outside that night, which that means it was about 50 in my house. lol. all that survived were a pair of cory's, which i took to lfs and now a friend hooked it up w/ a 55g so i thought i'd go cichlids.

ANYWAYS, so went to lfs and they had a nice selection of Africans, and I think I found what i want to stock the tank with, but wanted to see if it sounded good, or if there might be any problems.

here's what they had. Firemouths, JDs, Texas, Jeweled, Bumble Bees, Electric Yellow Labs, Kennyis, Electric Blue Johanni, Red Zebra, Sunshine and Red Peacocks.

I'm thinking i might wanna go Malawi

3 - electric yellow labs ($10 a pop)
3- electric blue johannis ($11 a pop)
3 - sunshine peacocks (blue mouth/yellow body) ($10 a piece)
2 - jewels

wanted to do a Red Zebra but heard they can get pretty nasty....but either way, i'm thinkin the above might make the tank look too yellow n blue....anyone else have any suggestions or websites i might check out?

thanks in advance

 

[Bazinga]

i wouldnt just make sure you dont over stock make sure you have enough rock work for the fish, and dam those fish cost a lot down there all the ones you posted are under 5$ canadian

 

[Whiteboi_J]

ya the JD, firemouths, n texas are all $5. but this lfs is a bit on the high side.

 

[Whiteboi_J]

oh ya, and the friend that hooked it up wit the 55 gonna hook it up w/ some holey rock.....but i figure somewhere around 10 or 11 fish should be fine.

 

[bobblehead27]

3 - electric yellow labs ($10 a pop)
3- electric blue johannis ($11 a pop)
3 - sunshine peacocks (blue mouth/yellow body) ($10 a piece)
2 - jewels

wanted to do a Red Zebra but heard they can get pretty nasty....but either way, i'm thinkin the above might make the tank look too yellow n blue....anyone else have any suggestions or websites i might check out?

thanks in advance

Yeah, this is a problem i have found with Malawi's as well, they're all so similar in color and shape. At least the mbuna. It's hard to find other colors. You should be fine with what you have... if you want to add the zebra wait a while and let your fish establish territories, and then go for a zebra... This may or may not work out...

 

[Mokujin22]

here's what they had. Firemouths, JDs, Texas, Jeweled, Bumble Bees, Electric Yellow Labs, Kennyis, Electric Blue Johanni, Red Zebra, Sunshine and Red Peacocks.

I'm thinking i might wanna go Malawi

3 - electric yellow labs ($10 a pop)
3- electric blue johannis ($11 a pop)
3 - sunshine peacocks (blue mouth/yellow body) ($10 a piece)
2 - jewels

wanted to do a Red Zebra but heard they can get pretty nasty....but either way, i'm thinkin the above might make the tank look too yellow n blue....anyone else have any suggestions or websites i might check out?

Leave out the jewels. They are west African riverine cichlids. Stick with all Malawi fish imo. You can go with a couple of the red zebras... they are not as aggressive as some of the others you mentioned. Definitely stay away from Kenyi and bumblebee (Ps. crabro).

 

[JteSchertz]

So i broke down my 20g cause tank was leaking and when i went to reseal it, i put my stock in a rubbermaid, forget to drop the heater in there, and it got 30 degrees outside that night, which that means it was about 50 in my house. lol. all that survived were a pair of cory's, which i took to lfs and now a friend hooked it up w/ a 55g so i thought i'd go cichlids.

ANYWAYS, so went to lfs and they had a nice selection of Africans, and I think I found what i want to stock the tank with, but wanted to see if it sounded good, or if there might be any problems.

here's what they had. Firemouths, JDs, Texas, Jeweled, Bumble Bees, Electric Yellow Labs, Kennyis, Electric Blue Johanni, Red Zebra, Sunshine and Red Peacocks.

I'm thinking i might wanna go Malawi

3 - electric yellow labs ($10 a pop)
3- electric blue johannis ($11 a pop)
3 - sunshine peacocks (blue mouth/yellow body) ($10 a piece)
2 - jewels

wanted to do a Red Zebra but heard they can get pretty nasty....but either way, i'm thinkin the above might make the tank look too yellow n blue....anyone else have any suggestions or websites i might check out?

thanks in advance

Where in TX are you? The cost is pretty high on all of those and I live in TX as well.

 

[cichlid_starter]

Leave out the jewels. They are west African riverine cichlids. Stick with all Malawi fish imo. You can go with a couple of the red zebras... they are not as aggressive as some of the others you mentioned. Definitely stay away from Kenyi and bumblebee (Ps. crabro).

I agree but add the RZ's last. Should look good though! post pics when it goes up!

 

[Whiteboi_J]

Where in TX are you? The cost is pretty high on all of those and I live in TX as well.

I live in Arlington. The two closest LFS are Petsmart and a smaller chain called Petland. Petsmart by me has poo for Africans....they mostly push CA/SA, and Petland is typically a few dollars more expensive then Petsmart.

Also went to another place a bit further away called True Percula which is a huge salt store....they in the process of converting a bunch of their salt to African Cichlid tanks, but it was sounding like that may be 2 months out....which i'm letting my tank cycle anyhow, but may be ready to stock my tank sooner.

But I'll prolly venture further away from my place to see if i can find some better deals.

 

[Whiteboi_J]

after the wife checked out all the colorful fish the salt has to offer she wanted me to make the 55 into a salt....which then i told her would cost way more money, n i'm not quite ready to go down that road yet.....plus we'll hopefully be moving into a house w/n the next 6 months, so i figured it'd be easier to break down and transport a cichlid tank versus a salt tank w/ corals.