adding new cichlids

[thesoul2008]

i am looking at buying a labidochromis hongi, melanochromis chipokae, pseudotropheus aceii msuli point.

just wondering if they will go into my cichlid tank without to much trouble, or do you think it will start to get a little to overloaded.

i also have 2 baby yellow labs in my community tank as you can see (in signature) they will get moved into my cichlid tank once they get bigger.

 

[Rbishop]

I don't think it would be overloade but I would change the gender ratio of the ones you have there, first.

 

[Coler]

No you have the room but I would say do all male, or else add females of each species, 2 or 3 females to each male or the males will get all spunky with each other over the females, and the females may be harassed to the point of illness/death.

 

[thesoul2008]

i have been looking EVERYWHERE for females but am unable to find them so unfortunatly there is not much i can do will just have to hope the females can survive they seem to be getting on fine in the last few months, the females are still bigger than all the males which may also help.

 

[ignavi]

Chipokae withouth enough females is a problem.

My male chipokae kill two chipokae females in less than one week, just after I did some rearranging inside my tank (I'm not touching that stuff again, the chipokae were getting along well for months). Rarely enough, the male chipokae now is relatively calm, and is not harrasing any other cichilds, I no longer have Chipokae females in my tank, just one male.

I was able to find chipokae females in a fish farm, I haven't see any of the females in chain petstores, maybe is because they color is not as bright as males, and after a while they become really dark brownish, some people will dislike that color.

Someone knows what is a Chipokae good male:female ratio? Perhaps 1:4 ??

Good Luck!

 

[thesoul2008]

ok do you think i could put in a small pleco in the tank with the peacocks for the time being (till it gets to big then i will sell it) also will it be ok in my tank setup i have?

when i get the pleco, it should be around 5cm so not small enough to hassle anything but should be big enough to hold its own yeah?

 

[kay-bee]

Omitting the chipokae(s) from the list will ease the situation. They're much more aggressive than anything else you have, and even if you have a ample amount of chipokae females, everything else in the tank might get harassed to one degree or another (primarily because except for the chipokae the other species you have or want are no where as aggressive).

Instead of getting a pleco which will get larger, select one of the smaller pleco speces (a type which doesn't exceed 4" or 5" when full grown).

Edit:
Nice set up!
What type of lighting fixture is that?

 

[mostlycichlids]

If the cichlids are large I wouldn't add a pleco at all. I have never had a pleco last very long with peacocks. The last one I added was 3in and was eaten within a week. Needless to say I gave up on trying plecos with my Mbunas.

 

[thesoul2008]

ok well i will might put him in my community tank till he gets bigger than maybe try and put him in there and keep an eye on him if he gets picked on i will pull him back out i may just stick the fish i have at the moment and try a pleco with them as they "SEEM" very calm you never see them chasing each other around or anything.... maybe add more later.

as for the light this might help you out a little:
http://cgi.ebay.com.au/T5-AQUARIUM-...ryZ20754QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem