55 G community cichlid stocking...

[~*LuvMyKribs*~]

some peacocks are smaller, some are larger, like all fish. generally they stay in the 4 inch range i believe. females are smaller and usually not very colorful.

electric yellows can withstand a little more of a meaty diet. peacocks and haps like more meaty foods such as krill, which intensify thier colors. but they do need veggie foods as well. i feed my mbuna occasional meaty foods with no ill effect.

mbunas generally are rock-huggers, and peacocks like the open swimming space.

if you put in a group of mbuna, and a trio/quad of peacocks then they will take up different areas of the tank.

if you had more tanks then yes a seperate mbuna tank and a hap/peacock tank would be better, but can be done in one tank if the species are choosen wisely.

 

[stunt 101]

alright like i promised i went to the lfs and got the entire list of cichlids (except some oscars which i know wont work). this is a task for all of you experts out there that like large puzzles. I want a 55 gallon or so tank with atleast 8 fish that have a lot of color and will live together together. the list as follows...
cichlids-
blue rams
gold rams
kribs
texas
salvani
green terror
green sevrum
pike
managuense
red devil
oscars
blood parrot
jack dempsey
pink convict
turquoise jewel
jewel
black convict
firemouth
auratus
red zebra electric blue johanni
yellow lab
snow white socolofi
bumblebee
blue cobalt
kenyi
venustus
chipokae
livingston
socolofi
peacocks
polystigma
acei


*whew*
alright thats them all
now get to work!

 

[kevinfishboy]

A red devil won't work it gets just as big as an oscar Convicts and firemouths would be cool or get some rams I haven't had any experience but I herd alot of good things about them or jewels would work to they are very colorful or u could do africans Or a dempsey would look good to I got one and he very beutiful so I hope this helps

 

[Dean]

a JD in a 55:shake:

 

[snakeskinner]

one way to narrow it down is your water conditions. If you have hard tapwater, I'd shoot for africans or convicts (they seem to thrive anywhere). If your water is soft and acidic, the rams or other south americans might be a better choice. As for the list, you can definitely rule out oscar, Texas, green terror, and livingstoni for size and pikes for temperment. There may be some others I'm not firmiliar with that should be ruled out but those are off the top of my head. If you plan to have male and female of any of these fish, you'd probably want to rule these out as well: Kribs, convicts, jewels, and from what I've been seeing, Kenyi and zebras (including cobalts) often become killers. as I said before, there are probably others on the list that should be eliminated as well that I just havn't read up on. Kyle

 

[stunt 101]

i want to get one of each type of cichlid and am not planning on having them pair up for breeding. my water straight out of the tap has a hardness of about 150 ppm. so i guess i would be leaning more towards the africans?

 

[~*LuvMyKribs*~]

now i dont have much experience with CA and SA cichlids, but as mentiond before i would rule out these for a 'community 55':
(* indicates african rift lake cichlid)
texas
salvani
green sevrum
pike
managuense
red devil
oscars
jack dempsey
firemouth
auratus*
kenyi*
venustus*
livingstoni*

^(based on size and temperment i suppose)

These below are possible, given that they are NOT all put together, and choosen carefully in relation to one another. other than the rift lake africans i would not mix any of the species anyways. the kribs and rams and such can be kept in a community setup with other non-cichlid fish, which i dont think thats what your going for.

blue rams
gold rams
kribs
blood parrot
pink convict
turquoise jewel
jewel
black convict
red zebra *
electric blue johanni*
yellow lab*
snow white socolofi *
bumblebee*
blue cobalt*
peacocks*

Not sure about (not even sure they are african?):
chipokae*
socolofi*
polystigma*
acei*

thats my best interpretation of what can and cant work for you. i would reccommend some of the mbunas. based on those, you could do some yellow labs, maybe blue cobalt and red zebra, bumblebee (dont know the sci-name), and maybe the johanni. the johanii can be a little nasty, as are the zebras i think. but thats what you get with mbuna. yellows are generally pretty peaceful. again, like i mentioned before, you could try a few peacocks, but if you wanted to just go for bright colors and one of each fish then mbuna would work best. maybe 10 would work?

 

[snakeskinner]

I tend to agree with luvmykribs, you will be somewhat limited on choices with central or south americans either because they are too aggressive, too large or too timid (rams) for any of the other listed fish. since you are doing all male, it will make it somewhat easier. I would lean towards multiple peacocks, haps and maybe electric yellow's for mbuna or do an all mbuna tank like luvmykribs said. Most of the aulonocara peacocks are silimar in size, shape and coloring and some of the haps are too. Some haps are too large and some are a little on the nasty side. Most Mbuna are vegetarians from what I've heard and read and can get digestive problems if fed carnivorous foods so you would need to stock accordingly. I know electric yellows are omnivores so they can be mixed with about anything and they are said to not be as aggressive as most other mbuna. Another possibility would be the many colors of tropheus moori. they to are vegetarians but I'm not sure if they could be mixed with the vegetable eating mbuna or not. I think the mbuna would bully the T.Moori around. see if there are any local clubs or cichlid breeders in your area. You can regularly pick up young cichlids if you get in touch with the right people and they're usually cheaper and better quality than most LFS's carry since they are not bred in fish farms. go to www.cichlid-forum.com and check out their library. they have species lists for all these fish I've mentioned. the peacocks, haps and mbuna are malawi native fish and the T. Moori is a tanganyikan (I think). Usually people don't like mixing the tanks but there are some fish that don't mind. Kribs, from what I've been hearing, are a gamble. Some of them will live just find in a community tank, others kill everything that comes around. they generally stick to the bottom levels but I'm not sure I'd trust them in a 55. Kyle

 

[stunt 101]

will kenyis, yellow labs, johannis, red zebras and aceis work together since there all from malawi?

 

[happy]

your choices

Well thats alot of fish to sort threw. I have blue kenyis and they are very aggressive as well as the venusus are also. I have a 55 now but I am getting a 220. I made a mistake and mixed mine I have 3 Blue Kenyi, 2 green terrors, 2 Venustus all in a 55. The Blue Kenyi are very colorful.