Pseudotropheus saulosi in a 40 gallon??

[Jorge97301]

hi there what are my options with keeping Pseudotropheus saulosi in my 40 gallon two sided corner bowfront tank? i have just bought a new filter it'll give me a water turn over of about 8x per hour, let me know what you guys suggest! My LFS owner told me i could handle 12 in there but i wanted to get a second opinion.
Thanks!!

PS I RECENTLY FELL IN LOVE WITH THESE FISH!!!!
THEY ARE SO BEAUTIFUL!!


-Jorge

 

[Coler]

Its more the shape of the tank than its size that is of concern - the length is the most important dimension.

Saulosi are lovely little fish, and you get the two colours with males females, and they can handles a smaller tank, but I would not go to 12 in this shape tank...if you really wanted to try them I would say more like 6 to 8 absolute max, but the tank shape is just not ideal.

If you could lay your hands on a 40G Long tank that would be way better.

 

[Jorge97301]

Okay that was my concern, so if I do go with 6-8 what ratio of male to female should I get? Thanks for your input!

 

[aj2494]

2m:4f, 2m:5f or 3m:5f. 3 males is pushing it really tight, but they will display better coloration that way.

 

[Jorge97301]

Well I'm fine with 2m and 5f I want healthy fish so if 3 m is tight then I won't do it
thanks!!!!

 

[Pittbull]

Totally agree with the 2M / 5F just make sure you place a lot of hiding places with rock and soon you will have a ton of fry peeking out..

I used to breed these guys for a long time, you will enjoy them especially when the male starts his little wiggling ritual dance for mating..

The fry will be all yellow..

 

[Jorge97301]

Sweet I can't wait I'm going to buy a bunch of rocks with those holes in then, and I'm going to start to cycle my tank tonight if I get around to setting up everything I'm also going to try to add drift wood but I do know that it lowers hardness I'm going to have a lot of crushed coral in hopes that it will minimize the effect of it, what water peremiters am I looking for , for this species? Thanks!!!

 

[Pittbull]

They will be fine in 7.2 or higher PH, General hardness 300 to 450ppm, Temp of 76 to 79 degree..

 

[Jorge97301]

sweet thanks pittbull, so i have a question, i bought used crushed coral from my LFS and it is super dirty and smells like death:crazy:! i didnt notice till i was stuck in the car with it for the half an hour drive home! it looks like it was used in a salt water tank before this and i've washed it for about an hour the first time i put water in it to clean the coral the water turned a DARK BLACK, i stirred it and dumped the water out and filled it up again and stirred it and ect.... for about an hour i finally got it to a decent point where the water was only coming up slightly cloudy, my question is should i follow up with more cleaning? maybe soaking in water for a while, or adding hot water, or bleach/water mix, or IDK but do you think it would be safe to use in my tank now? it only has a slightly fishy smell now, what do you think????
THANKS!!!
-Jorge

 

[Pittbull]

Wow yeah i think you will be fine.. My 120gal sand was from a friend on MFK in 5gal buckets and i didn't do a thing to it just filled the tank with water in it and waited for a few days and it cleared up..

Down fall is that i have hundreds of Trump snails..