27gal Uk Mawali?

[kniesh]

Hi I have a 27 gal tank I have now set up just awaiting inhabitants. I already have a 20gal an 40 set up with a Catfish community and a Livebearer in m 20. Would it be possible for me to get a Cichlid tank going in his one as I have a lot of ocean rock left over from my brief venture into marine and I really like the look of these fish. I know some grow quite large but I would be buying juvenile and as they get a bit larger I could upgrade. So do you think it is possible for them to be in here fotr about a year (from young) maybe a little less time?

The tank is 2ft by 2ft high and I have more than enough ocean rock to put in it.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

hmmmm i think it's a bit small for a 'standard' malawi set up, but why not look into shell dwellers, they've got bags of personality and are much better suited to small tanks.

 

[kniesh]

Hi, the fish I will be looking to buy will be between 1 an 2". I would definately be looking to upgrade this tank to at least a 40 gal within a year. Would they be ok until then?

Thx for the reply btw. Love the pic of ur Parrot aswell I have just bought one at about 2-2.5" for my 40 gal Catfish setup.

 

[Ferris]

I wouldn't reccommend Mbuna for that tank, especially as it only had a 2 ft footprint. If you were getting the new tank in a couple of months - maybe but most Mbuna grow very quickly and there is just no room to establish territories.

Shelldwellers would be a much better option - either that or wait until you have the 40 gal (which is the min tank size for Mbuna IMO)

 

[Miss Wiggle]

as ferris said you'd be best waiting really tbh.

we looked into it a while back and decided that unless we got a 55g we couldn't really do it justice and we didn't have the room for a 55 so didn't do it.

 

[kniesh]

Hi, thx for your replies. I am actually upgrading all my tanks in about 6 months it will probably be. I will be going bigger than 55 gallons with the Cichlid tank. My question waws more about being able to keep young juveniles for 6 months in this tank untill then. I went the shop yesterday and they are about 1-1.5" and of course they are labelled as assorted Cichlids only (which I hate) so they could end up in any kind of childrens tank (which I also hate). The shop is at the tyop of my road and they only had about 6 left so I was going to take them so I knew they would be looked after. The shop isn't really a fish shop, just a pet shop with fish, you know the type

 

[Ferris]

I would still say 6 months is too long i'm afraid - juvenile Mbuna will grow a lot in that time.

 

[adambrum]

keep away from the

assorted Cichlids

.there are so many cichlids with different traits all aggressive but some to the extreme never buy a fish unless you know exactly what it is and how it might behave.

 

[kniesh]

keep away from the

assorted Cichlids

.there are so many cichlids with different traits all aggressive but some to the extreme never buy a fish unless you know exactly what it is and how it might behave.

Yeah this is what I was trying to say, the fact they dont have many left is a bad sign because it is just a shop that people who don't really know what they're doing buy from. As I am upgrading soon I was trying to make sure they didn't end up in some 20gal for the rest of their lives, which will probably happen.

Plus I could get I.D's on here where as I dont think many others would bother.

 

[kniesh]

I'm not meaning to contradict you Ferris, sorry if it sounds like I am.

 

[adambrum]

A noble thought but what if you come back with species from different lakes, species that are totally unsuitable in the same tank and if the shop is that bad you might get more than you bargained for ie fin rot,ick or some other nasties.

Better to get good examples of species you want.

 

[Ferris]

I'm not meaning to contradict you Ferris, sorry if it sounds like I am.

Didn't think for a minute that you were.

 

[kniesh]

A noble thought but what if you come back with species from different lakes, species that are totally unsuitable in the same tank and if the shop is that bad you might get more than you bargained for ie fin rot,ick or some other nasties.

Better to get good examples of species you want.

Thx, didn't really think of it like that.

 

[kniesh]

Hi, sorry about this but I have just been doing some reading on mbuna and came across an interesting article. It said that certain catfish go well with Mbuna's. This is interesting because I have recently set up a 4ft 40gal for mostly Catfish and the species I have, were listed besides the hoplos. So I will list my 4ft tank inhabitants and could you please say if these will be ok with them, not necasserily as a long term plan. Plus would these other fish be ok with the higher PH my Ocean rock will cause?

3x Hoplo Cats
2x Network Synodontis (recommended in the article)
1x Red Tailed Black Shark (not a catfish I know, but can be moved)
1x Parrot Cichlid (presumably ok)
2x Bristlenose Plecs (recommended by article)

Thx in advance and sorry for harping on about this but I would really hate for these fish to end up dead because of the way they are listed.

 

[Ferris]

The Synos would be fine.

The BN's can cope with a higher Ph and should be fine.

The rest won't like the Ph needed for Mbuna so not reccommended.