Help me decide my stock!
- Thread starter sidman24
- Start date
And I don't know if 12 of each fish would work! Haha that is gonna be very expensive.. Could I do just one of each and add others ?
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You wouldn't add them all at once. But I have have at least 12 or 15 in a 70.
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I found this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78dUwDu4ZUs ... Would all these fish work together? Also, could any peacocks be added to the bunch? Thank you!
Everything he listed can be housed together. I had an ob peacock was mean as hell. And heard of other accounts where obs are super mean. I actually had to remove him from the tank. I would try an ob peacock to the mix.
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If you want africans then put mbunas with mbunas and no peacocks. The only exception would be OB peacocks, dragonsblood, fire peacock could go with the mbunas. Only put peacocks with peacocks and haps. The three mbunas I would not get would be kenyi, auratus, and bumblebee. I know Petsmart sells a lot of them but they will raise terror in your tank and are more suited for a 6' tank. Labs, hongis, rusties, accei's would work well together along with the 3 exceptions I already spoke about.
Here is a link that can really help with choosing a stock. <http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/?region=NONE> Just choose which region you want (Choose Lake Malawi if you are thinking peacocks or mbuna).
This list is pretty comprehensive, and will have just about any fish a local fish store would have. Basically, as you are stocking the tank, try to keep the aggression levels similar (each species profile tells you the average aggression level). If you look, the Kenyi (Metriaclima lombardoi) is one of the most aggressive species, while Yellow Labs (Labidochromis caeruleus) is one of the most docile. I would not mix these two species, even though every local fish store sells them, and will usually recommend them together.
So, basically keep aggression levels similar and if possible try to keep species groups of about 1 male to 3 females (ex. 2M:6F). This will give you breeding, but unlikely that you would get cross breeding - assuming you don't pick fish that look extremely similar.
Last thing, when thinking about cross breeding, a lot of people don't care and just pick fish throwing them together, without giving cross breeding a second thought. There is a lot of debate surrounding cross breeding (whether it is good for the hobby or otherwise), but my opinion is more geared towards practicality. The VAST majority of cross-breeds are going to be dull in color and likely downright ugly. Why would anyone want a beautiful, colorful mbuna tank (that many people will mistake for a saltwater tank depending on how you aquascape) that in a little over a year will be overrun with dull colored cross breeds?
Hope I didn't overwhelm you, it really isn't as hard as you might think. I was where you are about 4 years ago, except I didn't do any research ahead of time. Started with fancy goldfish (they all died of a parasite after a tank move), then moved to african cichlids. With tank bred and raised fish, there is much less to worry about then if doing wild caught fish - so spend some time perusing the link I put above and choose 2-3 species (maybe 4 depending on what you choose) that you think would look good together - paying attention to what I mentioned.
This list is pretty comprehensive, and will have just about any fish a local fish store would have. Basically, as you are stocking the tank, try to keep the aggression levels similar (each species profile tells you the average aggression level). If you look, the Kenyi (Metriaclima lombardoi) is one of the most aggressive species, while Yellow Labs (Labidochromis caeruleus) is one of the most docile. I would not mix these two species, even though every local fish store sells them, and will usually recommend them together.
So, basically keep aggression levels similar and if possible try to keep species groups of about 1 male to 3 females (ex. 2M:6F). This will give you breeding, but unlikely that you would get cross breeding - assuming you don't pick fish that look extremely similar.
Last thing, when thinking about cross breeding, a lot of people don't care and just pick fish throwing them together, without giving cross breeding a second thought. There is a lot of debate surrounding cross breeding (whether it is good for the hobby or otherwise), but my opinion is more geared towards practicality. The VAST majority of cross-breeds are going to be dull in color and likely downright ugly. Why would anyone want a beautiful, colorful mbuna tank (that many people will mistake for a saltwater tank depending on how you aquascape) that in a little over a year will be overrun with dull colored cross breeds?
Hope I didn't overwhelm you, it really isn't as hard as you might think. I was where you are about 4 years ago, except I didn't do any research ahead of time. Started with fancy goldfish (they all died of a parasite after a tank move), then moved to african cichlids. With tank bred and raised fish, there is much less to worry about then if doing wild caught fish - so spend some time perusing the link I put above and choose 2-3 species (maybe 4 depending on what you choose) that you think would look good together - paying attention to what I mentioned.
