My fiance just informed me that we have all the equipment laying around to run a 10g tank. I want to give rift lake cichlids a try for the first time, as the only thing African that I've kept so far is a uniquely psychotic female kribensis. The main purpose for my tank is to get a nice looking fish or two, and ease my self in to this part of the hobby. What's going to fit in this thing that has some real color? Lots of people say, "shellies" and leave you on your own with a few hundred variations to look over per genus. This would be fine if most of them weren't so plain looking. I would be willing to even leave it at one stunning fish alone rather than 4 that I don't want. Does anyone have any ideas? I'm not a purist, so mixing from lakes won't irk me.
Got a 10g to play with.
- Thread starter Philosophos
- Start date
It's a possible breeding tank for rams or apistos but not enough for long-term housing. I also say 15-20 gallon minimum even for shell dwellers mainly because of territorial issues and how quickly they can over populate a tank...and I suggest you look closely at some pictures from the (neo)lamprologus genus, the colors are there. 
well i'm doing shellies in my 10g and I heard (from other peeps) to go with only a certain # depending on species- occellatus- 5 tops, brevis (which I have)- 5 tops, and multifasciatus- 8 tops. Try to go with a 1 male : 3-4 female ratio to prevent many territorial disputes. Or you could do the breeding tanks 
EDIT: only do the shellies if you have an LFS or other place to give the babies too, as they WILL breed. If it's bright color your looking for, get some l. occellatus 'gold':
EDIT: only do the shellies if you have an LFS or other place to give the babies too, as they WILL breed. If it's bright color your looking for, get some l. occellatus 'gold':
I have territorial disputes in my 55 gallon so no matter the size or ratio it's going to happen.
But I agree that you really have to preplan with shellies...make sure you are willing to remove fish when necessary and have a place for them to go. 10 gallons isn't a lot of space and seeing as they breed quickly (mine within the first 2-3 weeks of having them) you'll definitely have to think ahead.
But I agree that you really have to preplan with shellies...make sure you are willing to remove fish when necessary and have a place for them to go. 10 gallons isn't a lot of space and seeing as they breed quickly (mine within the first 2-3 weeks of having them) you'll definitely have to think ahead.
Thanks for the advice, jpappy. I was iffy on shell dwellers, and now I'm leaning towards one very nice, happy fish if possible. As for rams, I've kept one in a 10 long-term without troubl with glass shrimp for tank mates. It's likely that the planting and high filtration helped out some. He was very happy until I decided to put him in with the aforementioned kribensis in my 33g.
Lexi, the fish you have mentioned there is definitely on my list of possibilities. glad to hear it brought up. I'm not looking to breed fish, but rather to put something other than the typical line of newbie fish and inverts. Here's the list of fish I've been trying to work out/research:
(My favorites have *'s)
Tanganyika:
*Cyprichromis leptosoma "malasa"
Julidochromis ornatus
Julidochromis transcriptus "gombi"
*Julidochromis dickfeldi
"Lamprologus" ocellatus "gold"
"Lamprologus" stappersi
Neolamprologus cylindricus
Neolamprologus buescheri
Neolamprologus pulcher "daffodil"
Neolamprologus sp. "helianthus"
Neolamprologus gracilis
Spotfin Goby Cichlid (Tanganicodus irsacae)
Malawi:
*Pseudotropheus demasoni
Pseudotropheus pulpican
Metriaclima sp. "mbweca"
Pseudotropheus sp. "kingsizei lupingu"
Cynotilapia afra
Victoria:
*Pundamilia nyererei
Lithochromis rufus
"Haplochromis" sp. "ruby green"
*"Haplochromis" sp. "kenya gold"
"Haplochromis" sp. 44
*"Haplochromis" sp. “dayglow”
All of them are under 3.5 inches, most being 2.5-3in. Their level of activity is the big knowledge gap that's driving me nuts. It's easy to get arbitrary reccomended tank size answers from google, but the problem is most sites are notoriously poorly sourced. Most don't even justify their statements in the most basic ways.*insert rantings about how the internet used to be for research* Anyhow, I figured I'd ask on here to see what people have done, what works, and what doesn't.
On a final note, I might sell my soul for a demasoni or Pundamilia nyererei that would live happily as the sole denisen of the 10g. I find it unlikely that they would, but I just have to ask.
Lexi, the fish you have mentioned there is definitely on my list of possibilities. glad to hear it brought up. I'm not looking to breed fish, but rather to put something other than the typical line of newbie fish and inverts. Here's the list of fish I've been trying to work out/research:
(My favorites have *'s)
Tanganyika:
*Cyprichromis leptosoma "malasa"
Julidochromis ornatus
Julidochromis transcriptus "gombi"
*Julidochromis dickfeldi
"Lamprologus" ocellatus "gold"
"Lamprologus" stappersi
Neolamprologus cylindricus
Neolamprologus buescheri
Neolamprologus pulcher "daffodil"
Neolamprologus sp. "helianthus"
Neolamprologus gracilis
Spotfin Goby Cichlid (Tanganicodus irsacae)
Malawi:
*Pseudotropheus demasoni
Pseudotropheus pulpican
Metriaclima sp. "mbweca"
Pseudotropheus sp. "kingsizei lupingu"
Cynotilapia afra
Victoria:
*Pundamilia nyererei
Lithochromis rufus
"Haplochromis" sp. "ruby green"
*"Haplochromis" sp. "kenya gold"
"Haplochromis" sp. 44
*"Haplochromis" sp. “dayglow”
All of them are under 3.5 inches, most being 2.5-3in. Their level of activity is the big knowledge gap that's driving me nuts. It's easy to get arbitrary reccomended tank size answers from google, but the problem is most sites are notoriously poorly sourced. Most don't even justify their statements in the most basic ways.*insert rantings about how the internet used to be for research* Anyhow, I figured I'd ask on here to see what people have done, what works, and what doesn't.
On a final note, I might sell my soul for a demasoni or Pundamilia nyererei that would live happily as the sole denisen of the 10g. I find it unlikely that they would, but I just have to ask.
Ya, I'm not looking for a breeding set-up in the least. I was thinking males of very distinctly different species in their body shape and patterning. I've dealt with dwarf SA's and their teritorial disputes, so I've got some idea of what's coming up. I was thinking on offering a lot of cover in terms of structure in slate and tough plants, along with shells.
As mentioned before though, I will donate a kidney to science for one VERY nice looking fish living on its own in a 10g.
Honestly, you can totally scratch all of those cichlids. Unfortunately they need larger tanks or need groups. Cichlids, while territorial to different extents, don't do great on their own...even a single male mbuna or hap would do much better with an accompanying group of females or in an all male tank. Same goes for the tangs, which actually stick mostly to pairs.
Your best bet for any cichlid is going to be multies, brevis, or occies. But make sure you prepare as I said before.
Your best bet for any cichlid is going to be multies, brevis, or occies. But make sure you prepare as I said before.
if you have access to this species they are quite nice it is another tanganyika shellie they are called neolamprologus meleagris here is a photo i pulled off the web i have 6 baby julidochromis ornatus being raised in my 20gal once they are big enough they will go in my 120gal and i will get the meleagris for my 20gal cool little fish.. and they are small..
I agree 100% - and stress again the need to plan ahead with the shell dwellers in a 10%
I was kind of figuring it would come back to shellies. I'd just never heard of anyone keeping one of these larger fish on its own; figured it'd be an idea to ask. And please, don't worry about me torturing a pile of fish with a lack of planning. I'm a bit neurotic when it comes to planning out my tanks or adding anything.
Speaking of planning... Pittbull, that fish is going on my list of species to research. I think I'm going to take off to the library, since I'm away from my own books, to research some of these fish. There's also a LFS owner who knows these cichlids well; I might see what I can glean from him.
Thank you everyone for your advice, I'm going to note down all of the important info from this thread. With any luck, what I'm seeing in here will match up with what I find out today from other sources, and I might start to get a bit of a working knowledge of these fish. I will post back with what I find, and probably a dozen more questions. Thank you all again.
Speaking of planning... Pittbull, that fish is going on my list of species to research. I think I'm going to take off to the library, since I'm away from my own books, to research some of these fish. There's also a LFS owner who knows these cichlids well; I might see what I can glean from him.
Thank you everyone for your advice, I'm going to note down all of the important info from this thread. With any luck, what I'm seeing in here will match up with what I find out today from other sources, and I might start to get a bit of a working knowledge of these fish. I will post back with what I find, and probably a dozen more questions. Thank you all again.