Alright, alright.

[Malak]

After reading so many good things about Cichlids on this forum, I've decided to do a cichlid tank with my new 55G.

I have a 55G 48x13 fishtank with an Eheim Filter 2217 on my way. I will be buying a visi-Therm Stealth Heater with some sand from home depot and will be picking up some rocks in the nature with some shellfishes that I already have. I will rinse the sand of course and boil the rocks and shells prior to setting up the tank.

Now, the stocking... ;)

What interests me:

Electric Yellows
Blue Peacock
Electric Blues
Yellow peacock
demasoni
kenyi
red zebra

Alright, my objective is to be having a lot of color variants like blue/yellow and maybe a little bid of red so the Electric Yellows are probably a must unless I go with Yellow peacocks.

Another objective is to get as much fishes in the tank that I can, let me explain, I don't want to overstock. I'd rather have a lot of smaller fishes than less big fishes.

Any suggestions with this information?

[Weezer]

Looks pretty good, the last 3 are considered aggressive and may cause some trouble, we have a red zebra and he is the boss of the tank, he does allot of chasing but doesn't cause any injury's. i have seen the combination you posted being used in other tanks, quantities also make a difference, the fish in our sig seem to get along fairly well, the gouramis were given to us and so far no problems with them........:)

[Malak]

With how many do you think I could get away with?

Let's say at least 1 Red Zebra
xx electric yellows
xx blue peacocks
xx different colored mixed cichlids for other colors

No fishes too big, though.

[Weezer]

Like you said, let them grow into the tank, if you have 1 ey male and 1 ey female he will chase her constantly, thats why it recommended 3 females to 1 male, we have only experienced this with them, but probably would happen with the other types also, i would say 10-12 fish total in a 55.That comes out to about 5 gallons per fish.Our fish have been together since they were small and we change the layout once in awhile, this seems to help to keep the fish in order.....:)

[Malak]

Great. I think I will be going with all males though, aren't they more colorful? If not I will follow the 3 female/1 male ratio.

As for stocking, once my cycling is done, can I stock them all at once or should I do it by groups?

Would it be a good idea to get a bottom feeder like a pleco for the sand and is it compatible with the said fishes? Any tiny fishes that would go with these fishes?

[Weezer]

If you stock all at once you may cause a spike, we stocked at 2-3 per week with no spikes, Males generally are more colorful, our female peacock is brown with black stripes, Male ey's have more black on there fins, it can be difficult to determine the gender when the fish are small, Bushy Nose plecos like some wood in the tank to naw on, When i change substrate i will probably go with sand also......:)

[Malak]

Great, thank you for your help :)
If you have any other suggestions please feel free.

I will try to get some driftwood, it ain't cheap around here in fish stores, though.

[Weezer]

Yep no problem, there maybe other suggestions out there also and experiences with these type of fish.....:)

[Coler]

Great. I think I will be going with all males though, aren't they more colorful? If not I will follow the 3 female/1 male ratio.

As for stocking, once my cycling is done, can I stock them all at once or should I do it by groups?

Would it be a good idea to get a bottom feeder like a pleco for the sand and is it compatible with the said fishes? Any tiny fishes that would go with these fishes? Nice thing about these is that the females are not drab.

All Male Peacock tank = great idea. The idea is there are no females, cutting down on aggression, and you keep one male of many species, avoiding similar colouration, cutting down even further on aggression. Of course you still may get personality issues.

All male mbuna = little different I think. You still need to stick to the only one of each colouration by and large and it can be tough to find enough different males to do that.

I see you like the blue/yellow mix. Think about 1/2 male and 8/10 demasoni, 1 male, 4 female labs, and maybe albino socolofi, or red zebras (again 1 male and 3 or 4 females).

Mixing Peacocks and Mbuna is problematic except in a very large tank - different behaviour & habitats (Mbuna aggressive & rock work, Peacock less aggressive and wants more open swimming space).

Check out www.cichlidforum.com (http://www.cichlidforum.com) for some stocking recipes, under the discussion and then lake malawi tabs.

For bottom dwellers I reccomend synodontis catfish species, perhaps 2 or 3.

I personally would not have driftwood - prefer rocks. But there's no reason not to have it; look at Weeser's tank; the driftwood looks really nice and the fish don't mind as long as there is sufficient caves/hiding spaces.

[Weezer]

Thank's coler for the plug....:) http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=111651

[Malak]

Thanks!

Great community around here :)

[Malak]

Wow, what is the light blue cichlid in your vids?

[Weezer]

If your referring to mine, it's a Cobalt ....:)

[MbunaFishKeeper]

i have a mbuna tank which had 4 red zebras 2 demasonis and 2 acei i also have a killer. i not sure which fish it is but i think the big red zebra has killed both of my aceis, red zebras and demasonis are aggressive IME. but each fish is different. also post us some pics when its done.

[MbunaFishKeeper]

If your referring to mine, it's a Cobalt ....:)
off-topic sorry.

weeser i was just wondering if you have ever had any black things on your red zebra. one of myn has got alot of black things on him but all different shapes and sizes also some silver things but not so many, when i first bought him i noticed when he was swimming around he had 1 black thing. i thought this was nothing to worry about now he has loads. i dont think its black spot and i have raised my temp but they arent going..

do you know what this is?

what can i do to get rid of it?

[Weezer]

off-topic sorry.

weeser i was just wondering if you have ever had any black things on your red zebra. one of myn has got alot of black things on him but all different shapes and sizes also some silver things but not so many, when i first bought him i noticed when he was swimming around he had 1 black thing. i thought this was nothing to worry about now he has loads. i dont think its black spot and i have raised my temp but they arent going..

do you know what this is?

what can i do to get rid of it?
Nope. he is actually a bright orange, he has some black markings but nothing like your describing..This is the best pic i have at the moment...:)

[Coler]

i have a mbuna tank which had 4 red zebras 2 demasonis and 2 acei i also have a killer. i not sure which fish it is but i think the big red zebra has killed both of my aceis, red zebras and demasonis are aggressive IME. but each fish is different. also post us some pics when its done.

off topic - mate, the demasoni/acei (whether yellow fin or white, but especially white) is a little bit too close for comfort in my view. I'd suspect the demasoni, but if it wasn't them this time, that colour combination could very likely cause you problems medium term.

[MbunaFishKeeper]

off topic - mate, the demasoni/acei (whether yellow fin or white, but especially white) is a little bit too close for comfort in my view. I'd suspect the demasoni, but if it wasn't them this time, that colour combination could very likely cause you problems medium term.
ok thanks.

[MbunaFishKeeper]

Nope. he is actually a bright orange, he has some black markings but nothing like your describing..This is the best pic i have at the moment...:)
nice fish, i have tryed to get pics of him but he sits at the back of the tank in the rock most of the time so its hard to get a pic.