What Kind of Cichlid Tank Should I Set Up?

[spitz006]

I have a 90 gallon tank cycling and I'm trying to decide what type of cichlid tank I want to run.

I want only wild-type fish, nothing line-bred or man-made hybrids.

I don't think I want to to tanganyikan cichlids because I don't want to worry about buffering my water super hard.

I want as colorful of a tank as possible. What would be more colorful, All-male peacock tank, mbuna tank, or some kind of mixed malawi tank?

I was looking into an all-male peacock tank, but I think that might not be colorful enough. Maybe a mbuna tank would be better.

Thanks for helping me decide on a system within these parameters.

 

[DJRansome]

What is your pH, GH and KH? Not all Tangs need water that is harder than what Malawi need.

A mixed gender mbuna tank is extremely colorful, even if limited to 4 colors (4 species). I find the fish are more comfortable in a mixed gender tank so there are less problems and more color.

Do you want color or just max variety? I don't like mixing mbuna with haps and peacocks. How much experience do you have? How many spare tanks do you have?

 

[spitz006]

What is your pH, GH and KH? Not all Tangs need water that is harder than what Malawi need.

A mixed gender mbuna tank is extremely colorful, even if limited to 4 colors (4 species). I find the fish are more comfortable in a mixed gender tank so there are less problems and more color.

Do you want color or just max variety? I don't like mixing mbuna with haps and peacocks. How much experience do you have? How many spare tanks do you have?

my pH is somewhere around 7.6 I think. But I'll be adding cichlid sand so I'm sure it will be fine for whatever.

It does seem like the wild-type mbuna tank would have more colors than a wild-type peacock tank. So I guess I'm gonna need a bunch of rock work if I do mbuna, wheras with peacocks I wasn't planning on having too much decor.

 

[DJRansome]

An all-male hap and peacock tank would have more variety of colors, but the individual fish would be more brilliant among mbuna.

 

[spitz006]

An all-male hap and peacock tank would have more variety of colors, but the individual fish would be more brilliant among mbuna.

Should I make sure to choose the most peaceful smaller haps? In my mind, the aulonocara will show their best colors if they’re just on their own.

 

[DJRansome]

Aulonocara are not intimidated by haps IME. If you are considering all-male make sure you have extra tanks and a rehoming plan...plus patience for swapping out fish for the first 2 years. It is unusual for all fish in the tank to show good color...the least dominant fish or two may be muted.

Since you want fish that look nothing alike, and you want twelve fish in a 90G, there are not enough aulonocara that look nothing alike to fill the tank. Once you have a red, a yellow and a blue you are mostly done. Many haps are more timid than the aulonocara, the trick is to find the balance.

I like the timid haps so I stocked only stuartgranti aulonocara...no jakes. If you like the jakes, stock more assertive haps.

Size is often not a factor in aggressiveness, but in a 48" tank I would avoid fish that mature more than six inches.