29 Gallon Cichlid Stocking Questions

[BobbyBray]

I'm slowly setting up my 29 gallon for cichlids. Originally I was aiming for a tang setup, but it looks like my LFS doesn't stock the majority of the fish I was hoping to get. I would consider ordering online, but I live in Alaska, so shipping is expensive and I can only assume the rate of death would go up as well.

So from what the LFS seems to have in most of the time, I might have to do a hodge podge group of fish, or a species tank. Here's a list of the fish that sparked my interest, and won't (I think) get too big. I'm hoping to get 5 or more fish in the tank if possible, but unfortunately most of these fish (from what little I know) don't do extremely well in large groups.

Yellow Lab.
Electric Blue Johanni
Red Zebra
Jewel Cichlid
Firemouth
Convict

Again, I've got a 29 gallon tank, about 20lbs of black sand (planning to get another 10lbs when the store has it in stock), a number of white tuffa rock (not sure how many pounds), standard heater, and a whisper bio wheel designed for a 55 gallon tank. I'm not at home now, otherwise I'd list the exact name of the filter. There's an image at the bottom, I'm curious if you guys think I'll need more rock work for the fishies, and if I should put some plants in or not. Should I line the tank with rocks from end to end? And also, is it ok to lean rocks up against the glass, or should I avoid that? Also the background has been changed to solid black, I just haven't had the time to tank another photo.

Thanks for any advice you guys are willing to offer!

 

[BobbyBray]

PS If there are any other good suggestions for a 29 gallon, feel free to list them. I'm always open to new suggestions, and even if my LFS doesn't have them I can always check if they'll do a special order, or break down and mail order them.

 

[dthoffsett]

Yellow Lab. - Labidochromis caeruleus, mbuna from Lake Malawi, mbuna should be kept in a minimum 4-ft (55gal) tank with other mbuna, so unfortunately they aren't going to work in your tank.

Electric Blue Johanni - Melanochromis johannii, mbuna

Red Zebra - Metriaclima estherae, mbuna

Jewel Cichlid - Hemichromis guttatus, one of the African Riverine species, you could keep a pair in your tank, but as they are pretty aggressive when spawning, I think fast moving, top dwelling fish would be the only tank mates. Not sure on that, so I'd see if someone else has an opinion. They prefer some rocks to set up territories and will appreciate some plants as well.

Firemouth - Thorichthys meeki, Central American, you could keep a pair with some schooling fish I believe, you might want to check in the New World section for more info though.

Convict - Archocentrus nigrofasciatus, another Central American cichlid, unless you want a lot of offspring to deal with, a single specimen would be best with tough fast moving school fish, again checking with the New World section would be a good idea.

And also, is it ok to lean rocks up against the glass, or should I avoid that? Also the background has been changed to solid black, I just haven't had the time to tank another photo.
Avoid leaning rocks against the glass as it puts more outward pressure on it.

PS If there are any other good suggestions for a 29 gallon, feel free to list them. I'm always open to new suggestions, and even if my LFS doesn't have them I can always check if they'll do a special order, or break down and mail order them.

Here are a couple of good cookie-cutter setups for your tank.
[URL="http/www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/cookie_cutter_20g.php"]http/www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/cookie_cutter_20g.php[/URL]
[URL="http/www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/cookie_cutter_29g.php"]http/www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/cookie_cutter_29g.php[/URL]

 

[BobbyBray]

Thanks for the advice, I came across those cookie cutter setups at one point earlier, and was hoping to build a tank using one of them, but my LFS seems to have a very poor selection of african cichlids.

 

[andy d]

Some say 3 ft is ok for yellow labs. What are the dimensions of your tank?

 

[BobbyBray]

A little under 3ft unfortunately. Its a 30 x 12 x 18, if I had known this earlier I would have gotten a longer shorter tank instead of the standard tall dimensions. Perhaps I'll just have a get a pair or trio of cichlids with some dithers to fill the extra space.

 

[BobbyBray]

I'm still curious if you guys think I would need more rocks in the tank, or if that'll be enough for cichlid tank?

 

[dthoffsett]

I'm still curious if you guys think I would need more rocks in the tank, or if that'll be enough for cichlid tank?

It all depends on what species you decide to go with.

There are so many species of cichlids in so many areas that their habitats can vary from just sand, all rocks, heavily planted, fast moving streams, mangroves, etc.

Sorry to hear about the cruddy stocking at your LFS, have you spoken to them about special ordering some fish?

 

[BobbyBray]

I have, and they said that they're not allowed to do special orders for one specific customer, but I've been in the store enough times I might be able to swing something. The bigger problem is trying to get them to give me an ordering list of their fish. They keep telling me it changes every single week as their supplier's stock changes, and they must shred the list or something cause every time I ask all they tell me is that its 'gone.'

 

[dthoffsett]

That's got to be frustrating. I'd keep on them, you might be able to break them down.

Have you checked with www.liveaquaria.com ? They're very reliable, their site says they can't ship to: Hawaii, APO addresses, Post Office Boxes, Puerto Rico, other U.S. Territories, or other countries, but don't say anything about Alaska. It might be worth an e-mail.

 

[BobbyBray]

I have come across them before, but never seriously considered ordering from them, perhaps I'll take another look, especially if the LFS's selection remains scant. Thanks!

 

[dthoffsett]

I have come across them before, but never seriously considered ordering from them, perhaps I'll take another look, especially if the LFS's selection remains scant. Thanks!

No problem, I haven't ordered from them myself but I know several members here have with good results.