Tanganyikan 200+ community stock

[bobblehead27]

So I finally convinced my wife to let me get a huge tank. Like at least 240 gal. She doesnt even care if its bigger. Once we can afford it so probably start looking in March.

Anyway I'll be looking to fill it with tanganyikan cichlids. I'm not sure what yet tho. I want a mini almost self sustaining ecosystem in there. And want to do it right. I was thinking of starting with some shrimp. Let them get a decent colony going then with some shellies and let them get some numbers. I also definitely want some Altos probably comps and some cyps I'm contemplating syn petricola and maybe a sand dwelling cichlid like xenotilapia papilio. Is that too much.

I'm not sure what shellies I want. I was thinking I really want something with cool behavior like occies. But I was also thinking in such a big tank maybe I should go for a larger shelldweller plus occies don't really do the colony thing which I think is pretty cool.

Any ideas?

 

[celebrist]

If you want shrimp to survive you should look into a refugium for them otherwise I think that the introduction of the cichlids could be an extinction level event

 

[bobblehead27]

I'm aware. I'm hoping they last a while just as a constant food supply. I'll have a ton of hiding spots. I also will have another tank where my main colony is. Just an idea. Not necessarily attached to the shrimp idea

 

[celebrist]

I think it's a cool idea, there are hob and internal refugiums that could do the trick and would be fun to watch as well.

 

[bobblehead27]

I've been doing research on the refugiums. I really like that idea. I might do that for the shrimp

 

[Pred-Finatic]

Comps and calvus with cyps is awesome route to go with. Currently have a group of congo black calvus with a pair of gold heads comps, some Karilani Island leleupi and Kigoma frontosa.

Lamprologus.ocellatus are really neat. Have a breeding group of golds and a pair of purples in a species only setup. Really brave little shellies, not afraid of charging and nipping any fish that approaches their territory (even if the challenger is x10 their own size haha). Think the smaller shell dwellers would do better in their own setup though.

Julidochromis are really cool if you like those, can't go wrong with any species.

 

[bobblehead27]

I really like Julies but wasn't sure I'd have room for them with the comps and shellies and sand dwellers. If so that'd be great

 

[Pred-Finatic]

I really like Julies but wasn't sure I'd have room for them with the comps and shellies and sand dwellers. If so that'd be great

I'd swapped the shell dwellers and do julies instead. Not much experience keeping sand sifters though, they look interesting though.

 

[bobblehead27]

I'd swapped the shell dwellers and do julies instead. Not much experience keeping sand sifters though, they look interesting though.

Why do you say swap them? It seems like they'd be interesting to keep.

 

[Pred-Finatic]

Why do you say swap them? It seems like they'd be interesting to keep.

Just personal preferences/experience. I tried to keep shellies with my some of my calvus in the past, but things didn't go too well for me.

My dominated male yellow calvus got curious about my gold ocellatus pair and decided to check them out. The male ocellatus started guarding his shell and nipped my calvus a few times. Guessed my calvus got fed up, and just engulfed the ocellatus male. Spat him him out minutes after all tattered up.

After that experience I just kept my shellies in separate species only setups. Easier to collect their babies this way too

You can try housing them together, but I just thought I give you a heads up. I do know some hobbyist who have successfully housed them with other tangs with no problems though. Maybe just a little bit of bad luck on my part.

Another issue I ran into was the shellies not being able to compete with my larger tangs for food.