55- 75 gallon stockings

[boomerjr91]

I have a huge basement and I'm thinking of getting my parents a 55- 75 for Christmas. I'm thinking cichlids of some kind (I like mbuna but my mom likes the blood parrots.) I have a couple of questions that I'm going to need answered eventually.

1. What kind of mbuna can I get?
2. If we go blood parrots, what other cichlids get along with them?
3. What is a good filter, I was thinking the Eheim wet/dry pro 2227 but thinking now of the magnum 350 pro, but I like hearing people's opinions.
4. What substrate can I use?

I think that's it for right now. Thank you everybody for the suggestions.

[livebearerfreak]

well if ur getting it for ur parents let them decide what they want but make sure its with the right lake and they get along well...

[steve p]

Hi, If you decide to go for mbuna you will need to provide plenty of rockwork for them. IMO its best to go for an all male set up as this will help to keep aggression down try not to get fish that look similar. If you go for blood parrots you should be ok to keep a couple of them with a jack dempsey and maybe a cuple of convicts or a couple of blood parrots with a couple of fire mouths and maybe a couple of severums.
Any tank that you intend to keep cichlids in should be overfiltered if you go with a 75g your filters need to be rated for a tank of 150g, The reason i say filters is IMO its a good idea to run two just incase one packs up also you can alternate the cleaning.
The type of substrate you go for realy depends on the type of fish you are going to keep, If you go for mbuna they like hard water with a high ph so crushed coral is good as it helps to buffer the water. Parrot fish are hybrids of american cichlids and require water with a ph around neutral so you wont require the buffering effect and can either go with gravel or sand.

Steve

[Rbishop]

Mag 350, one, with RUGF driven by 2-4 power heads.

Parrots with JD or silver dollars.

[boomerjr91]

one last question... would a school of clown loaches work in this size tank and with the parrots and sevs. I was also thinking of a black ghostknife. Thanks for all the previous and future responses.

[zachjohnson65]

The black ghost really does like a slower tank, Both the parrots and severums may pick on him. They really need a tank devoted to them with some dither fish.

PS I drive through your town as i travel to Ontario NY. Two small towns.

[Dwarf Puffers]

BGKs get something like 20", clowns 12-16", and need large groups. No and no. And why 2 threads that are the same?

[boomerjr91]

thanks every1. That's neat zach. what a small world.