Cichlid Experts Needed!

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GermanRam

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Feb 5, 2009
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East Texas
Help from all Cichlid Experts. I have a cycled 55 gal. I will be doing a lot of rock work. I'm using two filters.#1 is a Whisper 60 #2 is a Emperor bio wheel 280. One hang on heater that is for the 55 gal. It's in the middle and I have two smaller heaters, one at each end as a backup. I will use sand as a substraight. I have a long background in the aquarium hobby but not with this size tank or these fish.
The fish are 1 lubidochromis sp. (hongi island) 5"....1 redtop albino zebra 5"...... 3 synodontis pentricola catfish (cuckoo catfish) 4.5".....1 nimbochromis polystigna 9".....1 cvrtocara moorii 9" .....1 fire or strawberry peacock 5"? ...1 lebopheus trewavasae ob.7" ....1 pseudolropheus sp (elongatuc chewere) 5"...1 haplochromis sp. "thickskin" "44" 5".....

Thats 11 fish total and a total of 64.5 inches at adult max size. They are all on the aggressive side so I would like to over stock just a bit to keep it under control.
Will this combo work well together long term in the 55 set up? All info and sugestions will be great. ............Thanks
 
I personally would not keep that combination of fish in there. Specifically the polystigma and the moori which can both get up to about 11". The polystigma is going to be very aggressive and try to bully every other fish in the tank. The catfish will be lucky to survive at all unless if they are bought near full size. Even then they are likely to be picked on excessively.

The moorii is a much more timid fish, but in my opinion is too large for the tank especially with aggressive fish with it. Maybe in a much larger tank where it has room to swim and get away to break aggression. Mixing a bunch of aggressive fish with some more timid fish in such a small area I think is asking for problems.
 
In my humble opinion your pushing your luck. I'd stick with either "peacocks" or, Mbuna, or Haps; not all three species in a 55. You'll have a dangerous pecking order forming with the Haps/Nimbo ending up on top.
 
Thanks for the replys. If you liked all the fish on my list, what would you cut to have the perfect tank of color, shape and action and what would you add if anything?
 
I agree, you really need to pick mbuna or peacocks. You can keep some peacocks with haps, but mbuna don't really get along with either group.


The catfish will be lucky to survive at all unless if they are bought near full size. Even then they are likely to be picked on excessively.
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I really disagree. Synoi petricola are one of the better species of catfish to keep with aggressive rift lake cichlids. I have 4 in my mbuna tank and they are never picked on. They do eat all the fry though so no babies.
 
ash54876;3830271; said:
I really disagree. Synoi petricola are one of the better species of catfish to keep with aggressive rift lake cichlids. I have 4 in my mbuna tank and they are never picked on. They do eat all the fry though so no babies.
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Thats great, but most mbunu are much smaller than the 11 to 12 inches that a polystigma gets. If you have a 55 gallon mbunu tank full of 1 foot long mbunus then I would be surprised. The polystigma will eat anything that fits in its mouth and if the petricola is obtained small this is a good possibility.
 
Your original post made it seem like the petricola were not a fit at all instead of just saying they won't get along with the nimbochromis polystigma.
Petricola are a fine fit for mbuna, peacocks and some haps just to be clear.
 
:headbang2I sure do thank everyone for there input and great info. It helped me see where I was going wrong and what and how I needed to direct my studies. Today I will compile a new wish list of Mbuna and pop it on this sight to see if it still needs tweaking. Thanks again, Jay
 
COOL, Please check out my new thread, Thank You....Jay
 
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