30 Gallon Suggestions

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aj2494

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Jul 31, 2008
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Buffalo, New York
I currently have a breeding pair of firemouths with fry. Along with them are a juvie green severum, two tiger barbs, and two queen loaches. I need to get rid of the cichlids. I want to replace them with multiple cichlids, hoping to have more than 2, but I might settle for two. What could go in with these fish in a 30?

PS. I have a ten gallon that I plan to have set up, and I wouldn't have a problem with putting the barbs and loaches in there. But if I do that, I have nowhere to raise fry if they should occur.
 

AfroCichlid

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Jan 10, 2008
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I currently have a breeding pair of firemouths with fry. Along with them are a juvie green severum, two tiger barbs, and two queen loaches. I need to get rid of the cichlids. I want to replace them with multiple cichlids, hoping to have more than 2, but I might settle for two. What could go in with these fish in a 30?
If you want to keep the barbs and loaches you'll need to up their numbers. I'm not familiar with queen loaches, but tiger barbs need a group of at least 6 to be healthy, happy, and not nipping at your other fish. If you plan on keeping schools of those two species, I'd recommend you choose a South/ Central American cichlid. Dwarfs of those species include Rams and Apistogramma species. Both can be difficult. Larger SA/CA cichlids will terrorize the rest of the community when breeding. I wouldn't trust Firemouths in a 30 gallon with other species.
If you want to keep a group of cichlids you should look into African dwarfs such as the shell dwellers ( N. multifasciatus, L. ocellatus, N. brevis ). Is the 30 a long or tall? If it's a long you could include some other small Tanganyikan cichlids, such as J. Transcriptus. Another option would be a N. Brichardi colony, or a single pair of A. Calvus.
 

aj2494

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Jul 31, 2008
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It is a regular 30.

If I ditched the TB's, and put the loaches in the 10 along with a third, how many brichardis could I have? I have always loved brichardis and how they colonize themselves, instead of just the parents raising the fry.

Since the general consensus is that TB's and loaches like groups, I do not doubt that. But I have never seen any of those four fish unhappy. The four of them actually interact a lot more than you would expect them to because of the laters they are supposed to inhabit.

If I started a brichardi colony, would there be a problem raising the fry to sellable size in the 30 if only brichardis were in there?
 

AfroCichlid

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I'd start with a group of four juvies. Eventually a pair will form. At that point I'd remove the other 2 fish and let nature take it's course. Removing the remaining fish will allow for more room to grow out fry. They'll quickly populate the tank once they start breeding. At this point start selectively culling, cutting down to just a few fish eventually. The parents will continue to spawn, and consecutive spawns will remain with the parents to help raise the fry. Keep culling until you have several generations, with just 4 or so growing to an inch before trading them in for goodies at the LFS. This way you get to witness the colony behavior while keeping the numbers down and getting some free food or something in the process.
 

aj2494

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Jul 31, 2008
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You have left me with a very tough decision. These all sound very interesting, although I would like to focus on the shellies and brichardis.
I checked out all of those species, and to be honest, I didn't know shell dwellers were that small. They are so interesting that I would have gotten them int eh first place.

Do you have a personal preferance to which would be best? I would like to have as many as possible.
 
Last edited:

efors

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Neolamprologus multifasciatus (Multis) are shellies that breed extremely easy and their behavior is very similar to the one of N. brichardi: you can have a few generations of them in the same tank. As they are so small, I think that you can start with 10 Multis, if your 30gal is 36 inches long (as I think).
 

aj2494

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Jul 31, 2008
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It is 30" long, so it might work. How many could I keep in there after the initial ten?

And I might not buy ten because that could get pricey.
 

aj2494

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Jul 31, 2008
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I now have narrowed it down the selection to the following:

This is in stock at LFS:
N. pulcher

These are coming in in about 1.5 wks:
N. brichardi
N. multifasciatus
N. ocellatus
N. brevis

Lets take a vote. If you have any other ideas, please state them. I would like to keep them smaller so that I can have a number of them.
 

cwt24

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Dec 31, 2007
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I love brichardi, particularly the daffodill kind, but regular and albino are nice as well. The finnage is something unique in cichlids. Its really fun to watch them raise their young too, so overall, an attractive, interesting, captivating fish.
 

aj2494

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Jul 31, 2008
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Buffalo, New York
The only thing with them is that I would like to keep more than two adults. Is that possible?
 
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