55g African advice
- Thread starter Whiteboi_J
- Start date
Whiteboi_J;4761826; said:
I use to live in The Colony(near Plano) a while back. If I remember correctly there were some good LFS with good selection in Denton and Lewisville. I know that is a bit of a drive for you being in Arlington but it might be worth it.
I have a similar set up in a 65 g. tank and started with a stock level similar to yours. As the fish grew out, I found the starting stock level to be a little to much. I now have a total of 6 nearly grown African Chichlids in the tank and it is a quite stable tank requiring minimum maintenance to maintain water quality and fish health. The fish are active and at this stock level the tank dose not look empty nor dose it look like a can of sardines.
Whiteboi_J;4761834; said:
I put my RZs in at the same time as the yellow labs....they were just smaller. Haven't had any aggression problems yet(this was three months ago that I added them)
Was recommended a website (www.livefishdirect.com) and checked out their Malawi stock and might go through them, but w/ $35 shipping for entire order, may have to buy all the fish at once. lol.
But i've found some better looking ones and may decide to go w/ some combination of:
Yellow Fin Mbamba
Venustus
Tangerine Tiger
Electric Yellow Lab
Demasoni
Solid Electric Yellow Lab
still have some more digging through the site and researching to do. If i do 10 fish, i'll prolly just have 1 male (if they are sexed right)....I was thinking maybe 1 male yellow and 2 solid yellow females...i really liked the yellow fins and tangerines.
But i've found some better looking ones and may decide to go w/ some combination of:
Yellow Fin Mbamba
Venustus
Tangerine Tiger
Electric Yellow Lab
Demasoni
Solid Electric Yellow Lab
still have some more digging through the site and researching to do. If i do 10 fish, i'll prolly just have 1 male (if they are sexed right)....I was thinking maybe 1 male yellow and 2 solid yellow females...i really liked the yellow fins and tangerines.
If you're willing to do mail order, check out www.davesrarefish.com out of San Antonio.
Dave's a really great guy who has some hard to comeby fish. He would be willing to give you some good tips for compatibility of fish he has in stock.
Unless you're willing to upgrade to a 75 or larger in the next year, try to avoid the large haps... venustus, tangerine tiger included. Demasoni are small, but intensely wicked.
Dave's a really great guy who has some hard to comeby fish. He would be willing to give you some good tips for compatibility of fish he has in stock.
Unless you're willing to upgrade to a 75 or larger in the next year, try to avoid the large haps... venustus, tangerine tiger included. Demasoni are small, but intensely wicked.
I have the following fish living together
3 Electric Yellow Labs
2 Demasoni
2 Kenyi
1 Jewel
1 Red Zebra
1 Auratus
1 Tinfoil Barb
2 Small bala Sharks
1 Albino Oscar
All the fish are fine together the Auratus is the meanest fish in the tank and no one messes with her. The Red zebra is second she chases the labs and the Auratus chases her every now and then. Nobody really bothers the Oscar. The bala sharks probably will not make it as they are attacked when I fast the fish for a day. I will probably try and remove them and bring them back to the LFS or try and grow them out in my quarantine tank a little as they are pretty small and dont seem to grow as quick as the other fish.
All the cichlids are 1.5-2" and the oscar and tinfoil are 2.5"
3 Electric Yellow Labs
2 Demasoni
2 Kenyi
1 Jewel
1 Red Zebra
1 Auratus
1 Tinfoil Barb
2 Small bala Sharks
1 Albino Oscar
All the fish are fine together the Auratus is the meanest fish in the tank and no one messes with her. The Red zebra is second she chases the labs and the Auratus chases her every now and then. Nobody really bothers the Oscar. The bala sharks probably will not make it as they are attacked when I fast the fish for a day. I will probably try and remove them and bring them back to the LFS or try and grow them out in my quarantine tank a little as they are pretty small and dont seem to grow as quick as the other fish.
All the cichlids are 1.5-2" and the oscar and tinfoil are 2.5"
1) I don't see what filter you have, on the off chance that he gave you a UGF chuck it and get a canister filter, you'll thank yourself later.
2) I'm also running a 55 gal malawi tank with 14 cichlids and 1 pleco and everyone gets along as well as cichlids can. I have the following fish
2 yellow labs
5 Johanni
4 Kenyi
2 Red zebra
1 electric blue hap
I don't recommend this combo of fish, if I had it to do over I would stock differently but it's working fine at the moment.
I would recommend adding 1-2 more fish per species. you want 1 male of each and 3-4 females. some of them can be hard to tell apart but I'll try to help with what I know.
yellow labs- the male will have lots of black on his lower fins. the females should have none but might have just a tiny bit.
EB Johanni- can be hard to tell apart from normal johanni and maingano cichlids and the pet stores often mis label them. the only way I know to tell EB johanni apart is the males usually have more egg spots. Normal Johanni are easier as the females and juveniles are orange with the males are blue. if your looking at fish under 2 inches then the males may still be orange, you can still tell the males by more egg spots and longer pectoral fins.
the rest of the fish you have listed I don't know anything about.
A final note is to make sure the fish you buy aren't species that will cross breed. yellow labs and red zebra will cross on occasion as will many others. a good rule is to only have one species of each genus
2) I'm also running a 55 gal malawi tank with 14 cichlids and 1 pleco and everyone gets along as well as cichlids can. I have the following fish
2 yellow labs
5 Johanni
4 Kenyi
2 Red zebra
1 electric blue hap
I don't recommend this combo of fish, if I had it to do over I would stock differently but it's working fine at the moment.
I would recommend adding 1-2 more fish per species. you want 1 male of each and 3-4 females. some of them can be hard to tell apart but I'll try to help with what I know.
yellow labs- the male will have lots of black on his lower fins. the females should have none but might have just a tiny bit.
EB Johanni- can be hard to tell apart from normal johanni and maingano cichlids and the pet stores often mis label them. the only way I know to tell EB johanni apart is the males usually have more egg spots. Normal Johanni are easier as the females and juveniles are orange with the males are blue. if your looking at fish under 2 inches then the males may still be orange, you can still tell the males by more egg spots and longer pectoral fins.
the rest of the fish you have listed I don't know anything about.
A final note is to make sure the fish you buy aren't species that will cross breed. yellow labs and red zebra will cross on occasion as will many others. a good rule is to only have one species of each genus
ok, so im gonna buy the fish online. here's another possible stock list...all mbunas
Yellow Fin Mbamba
Electric Yellow Lab
possibly
Aurora
Maingano
Red Exasperatus
Red Face Mac aka red cheek
Rusty
Snow White
AGHHH soo many choices! lol. think i gotta find females that don't look doo doo brown cause the wife wants colors, and apparently brown isn't a color. lol
Yellow Fin Mbamba
Electric Yellow Lab
possibly
Aurora
Maingano
Red Exasperatus
Red Face Mac aka red cheek
Rusty
Snow White
AGHHH soo many choices! lol. think i gotta find females that don't look doo doo brown cause the wife wants colors, and apparently brown isn't a color. lol
