20inch cube Cichlids newbie

[biancaj]

What would you recommend as a substrate/ decor?
I have a fine black gravel roughly 3mm grain size and a large mopani wood root in there at the moment with a few airating plants.

sounds good. i would add some rock caves as well. i much prefer sand to gravel and so do most cichlids. yours sounds fine. also, if you do go with the shell dwellers lots of shells would be good. with the plants that depends on your fish. a lot of cichlids don't need any at all and some won't work well with live plants cause they dig to much or will tear them up.

hey, let us know what you went with . i'm always interested in that!

 

[trumpeter]

I'll be going back to my LFS at the weekend to see exactly what he has in stock and what he can get hold of.
Not all the fish you mentioned are available locally so i'll post what he has and get hold of and seek some more advise.
Thanks to everyone for their advice so far.

 

[GirlieGirl8521]

have you looked at trying to find some afas to go in there. i know that afas only get about 3 inches and there are some very colorful and beautiful species to choose from by fav. is the cobue afa.

Afras may be small, but they are very aggressive. I wouldn't suggest them in anything smaller than a 40g (3ft tank).

 

[trumpeter]

Hi here are the names of some of the fish locally available.
Metriaclima Zebra Shauri
Pseudo. Acei Ngara Yellow Tail
Pseudo. Acei Yellow Tail
Can anyone tell me what kind of size they grow to and if they are good tank mates and suited to this size of tank?
These would be potential tank mates with a blue ram, 4" pleco, and a 4" red tailed loach.
All advice gratefully recieved.

 

[Coler]

I think the acei get about 4 - 5 inches, the zebra the same, sometimes larger in aquaria

I don't know that your tank is long enough for them; zebra in particular quite territorial - someone more experienced will say for sure. I'm thinking if you try the malawis though you want an all male tank and you will probably have some casualties from aggression as you go.

You don't want to keep rams/loaches with malawi - different water requirements and I think the malawi would be too much for them.

You see different experiences written up as regards plecs. Some people seem to do well with a bristlenose, following very slow careful acclimation. You need to be careful about the species though...cute little four incher might be a common, and they get large. I think bristlenose top out at about 5 - 6 inches.

If you want cichlids only, check out Lake Tang. Shelldwellers. You could have a nice colony of Neolamprologus multifasciatus ("Multies"). I'd start out with 3 pairs or so and let them reproduce and add to the colony.

http://www.fishtanksandponds.info/live-stock/tropical/tanganyikan-shell-dwellers.htm Here is a site about other shell dwelling cichlids. Some are more aggressive than others though, so will limit your stocking numbers. They have quite the personality though, to be so small.

The shellies were a great suggestion I thought - no luck sourcing them locally/prefer to try something else ?

 

[DeRo316]

Shelldwellers would work great. Add some shells for them to 'dwell' in and you're all set. You may want to add some crushed coral to raise the ph depending on what your readings are. Shelldwellers come from Lake Tang so the water has 8.0+ ph.

Here is a list of all the shelldwellers with pictures:
ShellDweller Profiles

 

[GirlieGirl8521]

Hi here are the names of some of the fish locally available.
Metriaclima Zebra Shauri
Pseudo. Acei Ngara Yellow Tail
Pseudo. Acei Yellow Tail
Can anyone tell me what kind of size they grow to and if they are good tank mates and suited to this size of tank?
These would be potential tank mates with a blue ram, 4" pleco, and a 4" red tailed loach.
All advice gratefully recieved.

The top 3 will grow too large (5-6 inches) and are too aggressive for your tank size. If you want fish that will live peacefully with Blue Rams, then I'd suggest a community tank with a school of rasboras or tetras, a pair of Rams, and some Cories. I would skip the pleco and the loaches as they grow too large for your tank (and the loaches are far too active).

If you decide on a cichlid only tank, go with the shell dweller suggestion and check Aquabid for them, if you do any online ordering (and are in the US). If not, then I'd go with the Blue Ram tank.

While your tank is big enough gallons wise, the dimensions of it are not very practical IMO. I would have chosen a 40g breeder, standard, or long personally because with most fish, the length is important.

 

[Coler]

would a species tank of lab. car be doable ? (asking the experts out of my own curiousity too )