4' Tankganyika Tank ideas (Julies+Shellies+?)

I have some Jumbos Cyps in a 55gal, they don't seem to mind too much about group size, though my male is constantly trying to mate or impress the females. more would keep the pressure on the girls down a little but it's hard to find full grown cyps. I do agree that they are tempermental to ammonia, but I've learned that there as others that are far worse. I don't know if the rainbows would be really happy in hard water.
Gold ocellatus wern't as bad as my black ocellatus as far as temperment towards each other. Multies don't care much about each other, they just like to breed like cockroaches. Hecqui always liked to kill everything including its mates.
 
i believe cyps are very fine athletes and a tight fitting cover would be in order as well or you may find some cyps pruned on the floor, now that would be an expensive can of dried sardines aye..
 
Tight covers are not a problem. I have kuhlis and bichirs and SAEs and Weatherfish and all sorts of escape artists, and I once lost fish through a loose cover, so tight covers are de riguer. In fact, the one tank I have on which a tight fitting cover is problematic (a 55 with 2 Emperor 400s), and have limited myself to tetras and cories and plecos, regardless of how good a school of hatchets would look.

This is going to be a Tanganyika tank, so rainbows, regardless of how nice they might look, will have to wait for the fishroom (in 3 to 5 years).
 
Tophat665 said:
Finally, in a different direction, if there is no acceptable/available/reasonable Tanganyikan for the middle of this tank, what say to a group of central American livebearers? Swordtails, f'rinstance?
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But livebearers are ok? pfff...;)

Again I wouldn't try cyps mainly because they are expensive and are not the hardiest fish out there. Plus IMO even a 55 is too small....in my 55 I only have multis and julies. I find that sometimes the upper portion of the tank is too empty but in general I don't thinks it is a big issue.
 
jpappy789 said:
But livebearers are ok? pfff...;)
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Curses, foiled again. Drat me and my foolish inconsistencies. (And I would have gotten away with it too if it hadn't been for those meddling kids.)

Given that there are suitable midwater Tanganyikans (that I found at my local fish store for $8 a pop - less than Congo tetras - billed as Cyps, and tentatively matching Utinta characteristics, though I would have to be really carful in IDing if I were ready to buy today) I would not go with Rainbows.

Also, Livebearers would be prefereable to rainbows as a fallback position for two reasons

1) I have bichirs and bushfish. To the extent I can house, breed, and gutload livebearers, I don't have to pay for food for my predators.

2) Rainbows are really beautiful fish who deserve their own planted tank, maybe with some gudgeons, maybe with some glassfish. Down the road, I'm thinking a 125 with Irian Red, Bosemani, and Turquoise rainbows and some Purple Spotted Gudgeons (Course, that's an off the top of my head combo - I may have to rethink that based on PH preferences, and that's 3 to 5 years down the road.)
 
hehehehe wow too funny tophat you just go on with your bad self aye, so what you have to ask yourself is what do you want in the upper levels of that 55gal do you want cyps or livebearers i know you asked for an opinion but it sounds like your very smart, i have a 55gal shellie tank myself multis brevis and my upper level fish are gold head comps but cool buddy what ever you want is the key and the great thing about our beloved hobby BTW did i tell what a cool looking tank you have love the rocks and the comps aye

oh yeah coolness on the scooby theme
 
Smart enough to know I don't know everything. It's good advice you gave, and I am certainly taking it under advisement from a risk management standpoint. Way I see it, in a 55 I would have a goodly amount of space for a pair or colony of shellies, a pair of Julies and their fry, and a half dozen small Cyps. That would probably be a smaller group than the Cyps would like, and this would be in my living room, so they would have to endure the occasional barking, yowling, and howling (and sometimes the Dog and Cats get in there with the kids too.)

The more I think about this, the more I think I can get rid of the problem with populating the upper reaches of a 55 gallon tank by using a 33 gallon tank with the same footprint, but half as tall. That would be Shellies and Julies period, full stop. Instead of putting Vallisnera americana across the back, I'd put a grove of Vallisnera tortifolia mid tank and some Saggitaria subulata across the back. (And maybe some V. nana centered behind the tortifolia for the long threadlike leaves.)

So, at this point, cutting it strainght back to Julies and Shellies, and trying to figure whether a 33 will do the trick or whether the 55 would be better.

Next question: If I were to go with a 55, could I put a rockpile at each end and shells across the middle, and maybe have two breeding pairs of Julies or.... A breeding pair of Julies at one end and Neolamprologus leleupi at the other... and then Occies and/or Staps in the middle? Could one do two types of shellies, Occies and Stapps, or does that run a serious risk of hybridization or catastrophe?
 
More importantly it runs the risk of aggression. Tangs aren't like mbuna but they definitely need their space and will fight for it. I find that my multis take all the space I give them so adding another shellie would probably be out of the question even with the footprint of the 55.

As for two rockpiles, it could work, but it decreases the territory for each species. I don't think it would work well in the 33 g, but for the 55 maybe.
 
That's what I was afraid of, shelly wise. OK, let's switch it around... Could one put a rockwork in the middle, and shell fields on either side, with a different species of shellie on each side? I would assume that a breeding pair of julies would claim the whole rockwork. (This would be in a 33)

What do you think about the other idea of two rockworks, juiles in one leleupis in the other and shellies (one species only) in the middle (in a 55)?
 
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