Need African advise for 75g

[MrsE88]

I feel so lost when it comes to African cichlids. There are so many, and so many crosses.
My husband likes the look of African tanks(more fish and movement then with ca/sa)
But do any Africans have good personalities? What I mean is, do any of them interact with you the way sa/ca cichlids do?
What ones are suitable in a 75g for life?
How the heck do you decide how many to put in? I asked a store owner(not my normal store I get fish from) and he said about 20 That sounds insane and can’t be right at all.

I’ve been in the African forum on and off looking for ideas. Googled many times too. I just still haven’t found what I’m looking for. Maybe because my heart isn’t in it right now. That’s why I need help.
I’d love to see pictures and hear about everyone’s favorites.

 

[kewpiefishypewpie]

I'd recommend searching through http://davesfish.com/ they have nice pictures of everything they have for sale and are great to do business with and even ask questions, Dave is a very knowledgeable and kind person.

 

[duanes]

I agree about Dave's.
Although I don't think you will find many Africans to have as engaging personalities as Centrals, with most of the Central American and South American's it is the larger, loner type riverine species with the most engaging personality as individuals(anthropomorphically speaking).
Most (not all) of the very colorful Africans are much smaller, and tend to be shoaling species in nature (much more like dither fish) so in my opinion, more group think, than individual radiance .
The Africans with a more personal attitude are often large, riverine, and less colorful, and destructive and as such less available. With the exception of the popular buttikoferi.
You might also find Heterchromis multidens an exception, if you can find it, and let it mature (they get 15") another might be any from the genus Serranochromis (very rare in the trade)
Another great cichlid resource site is The Cichlid Room Companion, available with a membership to the American Cichlid Assn.

 

[Gourami Swami]

I agree that africans don't tend to be as owner-interactive as many ca/sa cichlids are. But they can still be lots of fun to keep, and make a beautiful display. There are many different kinds of African setups
Mbuna are the most commonly available and cheapest, fish like the blue zebra and yellow labidochromis. For these fish, 20ish actually sounds about right for a 75. 2-3 species, 6-10 fish, is what I would do. Try to limit males and get a few f for every m.
Peacocks and haps are generally larger than mbuna, and while you still want to crowd them a bit, you'd want to reduce the numbers a bit, more like 12ish for a 75. The males can be very hard on each other, you don't want more than 1 male of the same species in a tank. Lots of people do all-male tanks of dissimilar looking species. There are plenty of varieties to choose from.
Tanganyikans are probably my personal favorite. They have more of an "oddball" look to them than the mbuna, and many don't look like cichlids at all. Eretmodus are a species that look and act like gobies, for example. There are different types of tangs that occupy different parts of the tank. I would go for a shell-dweller colony on the bottom (occelatus, etc) a rock-dweller for the middle like A. compressiceps, and a top-dwelling cyprichromis, which are cichlids but will remind you more of rainbowfish or characins. I have always wanted to do a big tang setup like this, the cost of buying the fish is what has stopped me.

Then another option would be tropheus, which live in big species- only breeding colonies. Very cool fish, you would need about 20 in a 75, in small numbers they rip each other apart. They swarm like piranha at feeding time.

 

[Joshomaru]

Africans usually start out really bland looking as juveniles, and develop more striking colors as they grow. One important thing is sticking your tank with like sized fish. Price goes up as more color develops, so, if you have a few more mature fish and put in some smaller juveniles, they will most likely get harassed to death.
Also, if you go all Male, they won't have as much to fight over. If you I introduce a female, gloves come off, so to speak.
I like peacocks and haps myself. Haps generally can get bigger depending on the species.
There is a Madagascar cichlid (I think the common name is starry night cichlid) that gets to like 10-12" and reminds me a lot of SA cichlids.
You can also get sydontus (sp?) also known as cuckoo catfish, that coexist with the cichlids. They are called cuckoo, because they lay their eggs with the cichlids, cichlids mouth up the eggs and hatch them, and the baby cats proceed to eat the baby cichlids in the mother's mouth. Like how the cuckoo bird lays its eggs in a different species nest, and the hatched cuckoo chick kicks the host birds babies out of the nest.
My experience with Africans is that they are very enjoyable. They may not generally be a wet pet personality per se, but they can be strikingly beautiful and have their own personalities and are active fish. I enjoy doing my tank maintenance for many reasons, and one is that such beautiful swimming paintings deserve a nice framed, if you can dig what I'm saying.
One other thing I would recommend is, don't mix cichlids from different lakes! I have never personally been able to make that work!
Good luck!

 

[kewpiefishypewpie]

I'd like to add that while Rift lake cichlids don't have as boisterous of a personality as many SA/CA they still have huge personalities and are extremely entertaining to interact with. They beg like Oscars, are constantly active and bicker with one another. I had a peacock that would jump out of the water towards my fingers when I was about to feed them.

 

[tlindsey]

I would suggest KG Tropical as a source of info also. Agree with the above.

 

[duanes]

When I made references to some of the more personality enhanced Africans, I wasn't thinking about the tank size you have, for the ones I referenced, a 75 is way too small.
I agree with the posts above, a group of Peacocks or Tropheus would however work in that size tank, and make a stunning display.

If you get peacocks (which are mild mannered), best to use a species only tank, and not mix with the more aggressive types like Mbuna, same with Tropheus, a group of a single species, and maybe some cats like Synodontus.


Above Lepidiolamprologus elongatus an African with a interesting personality, yet quite lazy, and below Nimbochromis livingstoni

I have kept many over the years, but tend to gravitate toward non-community type
Below a beautiful but very aggressive African (not fit for a community)
Ctenochromis horei

 

[tlindsey]

My favorite Peacock

 

[MrsE88]

Thank you guys for the references. I’ll check them out.
I could see my husband leaning towards the peacocks. They are very colorful.
And I am excited that having an African tank will mean finally getting a synodontus I’ve wanted one for some time now.