New Tank/Stock List

[curry76]

So I posted in the South American cichlid forum about a new tank I am buying...

...I am however, debating over the SA tank or a African one.

I would like to purchase a 150-180 gallon tank (150: 72x18x28, 180: 72x24x24)

If I go the African cichlid route I would want a Peacock and Hap tank.

I don't really want to deal with fry so I guess this would be an all male tank.

Any ideas or suggestions as to how I might like to begin this build would be appreciated. I am not new to fishkeeping (15+ years exp.) but I am new to Malawi cichlids.

I guess like most who are interested in Peacocks and Haps, I am really drawn to the almost saltwater fish-like colors.

Lastly, a Peacock and Hap tank would be a greater expense than a SA tank to setup, mainly in the stocking of fish, is this correct??


thanks. -Curry

 

[steakman]

I have a 90 gallon Malawi Peacock, and Haplochromis as follow:

1-Protomelas taeniolatus

1-Placidochromis Milomo vc-10

2-Aulonocara jacobfreibergi sp. “Eureka”

2-Aulonocara sp (Dragon Blood)

2-Nimbochromis, Venustus

2-Fossorochromis rostratus

2-Copadichromis borleyi

1-Sciaenochromis ahli

Tank size: 48x18x24 (2) Eheim 2026 Pro II filters.

They are all roughly about 12-18 months.

The 2 biggest ones are the Venustus about 6+ inch, but they are the nicest community fish.

The 2 smallest are the Aulonocara Sp. (Dragon Blood) roughly about 4 and a half inch, but they are the most terrible tank mates.

Each one of them claim a quarter of the tank, and beat up everyone every now and then. They seem to enjoy chasing the "Eureka" all over the place.

I ordered them from Cichlid Station Store. They are very good in picking out any specific fish for you although they are a little pricy.

The problem with these fish is the aggressiveness. It's very hard to get the fish you like all of which live peacefully in the same tank.

And they die with "bloat" very easy and very quick.

Good luck in putting them together.

 

[curry76]

...thanks for the reply. It may seem a little to daunting of a task for me to "put together" an all male Hap/Peacock tank.

I'm not sure I have the extra tank space to buy groups then pull out males, or the extra money it would take to just buy bigger sexed males.



...maybe Mbuna??? ...I kind like all of the activity seen in Mbuna tanks and they have great colors too.

If I went the Mbuna route would I have to stock the tank with all the fish from the start?

Also, I could do about 5 or 6 species? + multipunctatus?

I'm okay with the idea of overcrowding to help with aggression but, I have also seen many use this "technique" as an excuse to horribly overstock their tanks.


What kind of lower limits of overcrowding would I need for 5-6 species of Mbuna in this size tank?

 

[steakman]

Some of the Haps are very hard to sex until they are 3-4 inch or more, but most of the Peacocks can be easily ID and sex by the time they are about 2 inches.

I had some Mbuna before until they turned into monsters, a bunch of killers on the loose. I did not enjoy it any more and gave up.

They have tiny teeth so they really do the damage with their smaller, weaker tank mates.

One had no tail, and bleeding. One had no scale on its sides. And one had to stay close to the top of the power head like a Ninja hanging on the wall. I don't have the gut to see them like that.

A friend of mine has a nice Mbuna tank with all kind of aggressive cichlids but they seem to be very peaceful because he overstocked them. He has roughly about 35 of the full grown from 3 to 5+ inch Mbuna in a 110 gallon tank with no rock, decor, cave or whatever, not a single piece of rock above the sand, nothing, nada.

His reason is very logical: no spot for claiming territory. And it works.

So far that's the only way I see to control aggression.

I don't mean to rain on your parade, but I hope people might have a better way to make the "water world" a better place to live.

 

[Blue2Fyre]

I have an 80 gallon mbuna tank that is just wonderful. The key is stocking fewer species in larger groups with fewer males. It also helps to match up species with similar aggression levels. I have very little aggression, just some chasing here and there. Most of the fish are close to 4" and up and are breeding.
You have to beware of what you are buying since some of the most aggressive and murderous mbuna species are commonly sold in lfs. Many of mine came from members of my fish club and online. It takes some work but a successful mbuna tank is VERY possible.


Here's a video of my 80 gallon.
[YT]HN8eJoeFGIk[/YT]

 

[curry76]

Blue2Fyre ....your tank is awesome!!

I really like that it isn't SO overstocked like many tanks I've seen.

Your tank really looks great and I would be happy to have one look so good. Thanks for the inspiration.

 

[curry76]

I don't mean to rain on your parade, but I hope people might have a better way to make the "water world" a better place to live.

I know what you mean.

...I don't really want to deal with chewed up and dead/or dying fish either.



Perhaps I am just ignorant of what constitutes acceptable aggression. Are we talking about aggression like chasing or like what steakman has seen, as in blood and guts, torn fins, dying fish?

Which of the above scenarios do most Mbuna owners deal with?

 

[Blue2Fyre]

Thank you

The aggression in my tank is pretty much only chasing with occasional lip locking. My current dominant male is awesome, he settles most arguments just by flaring his fins. It helps that he's the biggest fish in the tank. For me this is acceptable aggression, the battles are short and rarely are there injuries.

When I had a less balanced group I dealt with way more aggression. Chewed up fins(one female had her entire tail removed) and fish killing each other. My OB zebra decided it would be fun to start killing his females right after he bred with them.

Since I didn't like that aggression I removed the whole group and tried something else. It took a little while for me to find the right balance. That was mostly because I was dealing with moderately aggressive species. If you stock with less aggressive species(yellow labs, Ps acei, rusties ect) you will have a higher success rate IMO.

For me pretty much every zebra type I tried just became too aggressive once they were sexually mature. Ps socolofi was also just too much once grown. I've had a lot of luck with Ps acei and Cynotilapia afras.

 

[steakman]

If you want a good looking tank, one might have to add a few Peacocks and/or Haps.

With these species there will be hard to control the aggression.

Specially if you have 2 or 3 males about the same size even though different species, they will end up ignoring one another, then take turn to chase everybody else.

I thought in the beginning, you wanted to have all male tank.

If that's the case, then overstocking is only option, IMO.

I don't have any problem in term of water condition, because:

1- They will pick whatever food you put in the tank clean. Nothing get a chance to fall to the bottom. Pleco has no business in here ...
2- Triple the rate of filtration to handle their waste.
3- I don't know why, but the overstocking tank will have a whole lot less diseases than the others for some reason.

Hope it'll help

 

[steakman]

Thank you

Since I didn't like that aggression I removed the whole group and tried something else. It took a little while for me to find the right balance. That was mostly because I was dealing with moderately aggressive species. If you stock with less aggressive species(yellow labs, Ps acei, rusties ect) you will have a higher success rate IMO.

For me pretty much every zebra type I tried just became too aggressive once they were sexually mature. Ps socolofi was also just too much once grown. I've had a lot of luck with Ps acei and Cynotilapia afras.

I agree with you here. You have to choose a few species which are not very aggressive to begin with.

But it's still not 100% certain because you never know one out of thousands, there would be one super crazy shows up in your tank, then all hell breaks loose.

That's why it's still a better chance to raise them all from small. The less aggressive ones have to be bigger in size.

Then, once the tank grows peacefully, leave it alone. DO NOT ADD or REMOVE ANY FISH, or else you'll be sorry.