My 120 setup

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sweeTang21

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Mar 10, 2007
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Wisconsin
Ill have some more pictures in a bit. My landscaping keeps changing lol. And im only working with a cell phone so please be patient :)

Stock list
2 8inch Oscars
2 6inch JD's
1 Pictus Catfish
2 Venustus
1 Mbuna
2 Plecos

Im looking for some other tank mates for the africans. Done with the south americans for now.

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This is a strange set up, I'd ditch one if not both of those pleco's. This "Mbuna", do you know what species it is? Which ever it is it should not be on the carnivorous diet that the Venustus needs. And, probably should not have the omnivorous diet of the O and JD. This could fixed by feeding NLS and fasting for one day probably. I would probably swap those plecos out and put in a 1:3 Male to Female ratio for whatever "mbuna" species that is. Depending on the species this mbuna might end up as a snack to an oscar. Depending on if its something like an Auratus or Kenyi it will probably kill the other fish, especially if it doesnt have any females to defuse aggression. If you ditch the Mbuna i think N. Livingstoni, N. Polystigma, D. Compressiceps, Super VC-10, would also do okay with the set up you have. The picture above is blurred but the body shape on the 3rd blue fish looks like Nimbochromis Livingstonii not Nimbochromis Venustus. But, I would have to see a still shot to confirm. I've seen many LFS selling Livingstoni as Venustus or having them in the same tank.
 
yeah strang was my thought as well. the mbuna is a kenyi. Waiting for my LFS to get some quality females in. They always seem to get fish that are all beat to crap. The Mbuna will be pulled when i can finally get a few females for him. Im thinking 5 total. they will be in the 65 gallon while the females get big enough. The mbuna now is about 4 inches. the oscars pay no attention. Aside from the venustus chasing each other, there is no aggression in the tank. The oscars were in the 65 and were getting far bigger, faster, then i expected. So the 120 was needed. The layout has changed since this picture was taken. Much less plants, and much more rock added. Im currently soaking driftwood for the tank, so it will start to look better. I got rid of the ugly plastic decorations as well. Not very suited for a cichlid tank imo.

The diet for my fish is varied. once a week ill feed live feeders. twice weekly i feed either worms or crickets. Crickets mainly for the oscars. All fish will eath the worms. Otherwise its a mix of pellets, cichlid crisps, and freeze dried bloodworms. Anything else i could add to that? i have done ocean plankton, or mysis but thats low in protein so i dont tend to feed that a lot. They like it, but still.
 
If you are going to move the kenyis then I would say give it a shot. I know people say water parameters are different... but I've had them both in what comes out of my tap (mind you my tap is very hard). O's come from soft water but they are hardy fish and live in just about liquid rock here in SoCal. Then they are gonna say but the diet is sooo different.... That's not true for predatory Haps... they have a diet closer to a jag maybe even more carnivores since they are strict piscivores (sp?) in the wild. Malawi predatory haps will have a temperament on par with that JD imo.. When i had mine i didn't have problems until i tried mixing them with centrals on the level of Salvini and Louiselli. My Livingstonii put up a good fight against the Louiselli but the tides were not in his favor and he eventually would have died (but it was close enough to maybe be an individual fish basis, neither on would always win, it was in the air.) The Salvini totally dominated the tank as he grew and would have killed every fish in the tank if I didn't get rid of him.

Also, by the body shape and color of that fish in the picture above I'm 75% sure its a Livingstonii. Could you post a clearer picture of him?

I'd add more predatory haps; N. Livingstonii, N. Venustus, N. Polystigma, N. Fuscotaeniatus (These are monsters, I had one, they will soon be reclassified as Tyrannochromis), D. Compressiceps (males are impressive and can hold there own unlike what some people say about them, and they can easily outrun any fish you add to the tank if it can't, also they tend to hang around the top of the tank and look different so other fish don't pay much attention). I would say Red Empress but idk about the food requirements due to it needing more percent veggies in its diet. Maybe a Blue Dolphin but I hate how they look.

Also, if you add more Centrals id do something on the mid or low aggression spectrum tons of them out there. Wonder if Amphilophus Lyonsi would work... would add a lot to the color to the tank with the haps also in there.
 
I wouldnt mix african with american. The oscars are hardy but soft bodied and may get nibbled on by the africans. They are nippers and may cause harm and infection

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I was looking at some Amphilophus. Pretty fish. Never seen them around my neck of the woods though, so they will likely be an online purchase. Not particularly a fan of online shopping since your basically stuck with what you get. DFS will probably be where i shop, since i have a good past with them. Ill try and get some good shots tomorrow morning during first light.

I have had good luck in the past with mixing. Not a typical suggestion of mine either, but its working, so i will be changing things around in the future, but wont make a big rush out of it.
 
Have some new pictures for everyone. Some close ups of my jack dempsey to confirm species. And a few of my oscars. The tank is still a bit bare for woodwork and rock work. Wood is soaking and rocks are in a test tank to ensure there safe for the fish. Hope to have the 65 finished cycling so i can get the africans back in there. Last picture is a recent addition. Suppose to be a petsmart red texas but i was hearing that there not texas.

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Can u get a better pic of the new cichild?
 
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