is this weird mixing?

overcrowding is to an extent, and Im afraid you have crossed it. 30 gallons is not enough for mbunas/haps/peacocks, 55 gallon minimum in most cases. but with your stock you are going to need closer to 200 gallons, maybe even more I dont really know, as those frontosas will get large, sometimes over 12" but usually closer to 10-12". Trpheus are also quite aggressive among their own speceis and need larger groups to curb aggression. That pleco may or may not be the target of the cichlids...sometimes it works, tohertimes it is a very bad mix.

also, did you cycle? two weeks seems awfully fast unless it was seeded from another established tank. with your stock your ammonia is going to be very high, posing many problems for your fish...I recommend returning your fish and reading up on fishless cycling before getting any more.

wow ! way to many fish that will out grow a much larger tank in the near future.some of those fish you have get giant !

REYNAN said:

I just did the tests right now and my ammonia and nitrate both read 0. (I did a 20% water change yesterday?) My pH is at 8.1.

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Are you sure you're not confusing nitrites and nitrates? If not, what is your nitrite level? What test kit are you using? I have doubts on your results. You did not say how often you feed your fish.

Until i get the bigger tank, should i do smaller water changes daily?

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40-50% daily with your stocklist. Feed only once a day and fast one day per week preferably Sunday.

My real concern is will i run into aggression problems within the next few months due to the wide variety of cichlids i have? They are small now so space inside the aquarium doesnt seem to be a problem. They've seem to have found their own hole within the piles of rocks i've set up to call their own...

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You will find yourself having aggression issues once they become completely settled in your tank. They're still young but as they mature, their aggression will also increase. Do not buy any more fish.

Am I being paranoid? I just havent seen a cichlid tank with this much mixing, so i wonder if i've created a bad situation where i've put in a snake, iguana, frogs and geckos in the same terrarium.

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A lot of your cichlids are known for belligerence. Keep a close watch. If possible, get another tank which will serve as your hospital tank. Expect some serious injuries as they squabble for territories.

P.S. Just to add, a colony of frontosas will require you a 100 gallons by themselves alone.

Sounds like an interesting tank. Obviously you need something bigger, but I don't know about 200 gallons and it doesn't have to be over night.

its not an advisable mix, and not just because there are tanganyikans and malawis in the same tank.

your issues are :

1. tank size - 30 gallons is incredibly small for those fish. they (except the frontosa which grow a bit slower but that is relative to their enormous size at adult) really do grow exceptionally quick for the first year and by keeping them cramped you will have difficulty maintaining water conditions and feeding them all adequately and you may end up with fish that will not reach adult size.

2. tank size - within 3 - 6 months you will have moved from very juvenile fish who are content enough just to be able to flit around and be fed to far more aggressive territorial behaviour generally and 30 gallons is no where near enough to contain this. you will have losses due to aggression.

3. stocking ratio/mix - the frontosa are large, placid and timid fish. tropheus & mbuna are particularly bad tank mates in anything but a huge tank. they will likely be stressed and may not feed well leading to ill health. the tropheus generally should be kept in a colony of 2 males or so to about 10 or 12 females. absolute minimum tank size for that is 55 gallons, and 75 would be far better (you can of course have other fish in with them its just that the inter-species aggression is extreme). smaller groups of tropheus usually result in just one tropheus, especially in a small tank.

you could not keep those fish happily in a 55. a 125 would be much better. bear in mind that some will say you shouldn't mix malawis and tangs at all, but you have much more fundamental issues to address.

I presume you meant you have 0 nitrites, and not 0 nitrates. 0 nitrates would indicate your tank has not cycled.

your pleco has been commented on already.

If you are intent on keeping all those fish I would be doing at least twice weekly water changes of 30% - its not like that would take a long time in a 3 - and moving to a 125 gallon tank as soon as possible (you could of course have more fish in there than your current stock). the longer you leave it to move them the more likely the stress and overcrowding will begin to cause ill health and death.