42g Malawi Tank

[Miss Dib Dabs]

Finally my long 4.5ft tank is coming this weekend. With a good large external filter to boot. I can seed directly from my many other tanks so it can be used immediately. I have some young synos that will be going in the tank but the rest of it's inhabitants I wish to be Malawi cichlids. I've researched a bit into the many species and have come across several I am more fond of then others. Can you give me some ideas with those listed below, whether they will work, are too big, how many etc etc.
Copadichromis Borleye (Kadango).
Copadichromis Cyclicos (Msuli).
Phenochilus Tanzania (Placidochromis).
Protomelas Spilonotus Tanzania (Liuli).
Steveni
Tramitichromis (Red flush).
Thanks in advance.
Hugs,
P.
Edit:Also thought I ought to add, if these are not easy to get hold of then please give me ideal alternatives too. Thank you.

 

[modernhamlet]

All of the fish you listed are either Haps or Peacocks (no Mbuna). As I've not kept them, I'll leave the stocking recommendations to freddyk. Getting them generally requires mail order or finding a local breeder or specialist shop. You won't likely find many of these types of fish in your standard fish store.

 

[freddyk]

Any of those will fit into your 4ft+ tank, but I'm curious about the other dimensions, since this is a very long tank for the size. Were you planning on having just one male of each, or did were you thinking more along the lines of breeding groups?

 

[Miss Dib Dabs]

As you can probably tell I'm new to the african cichlids so I'm not sure what will be best for them. And I do want to do what is best rather then think just about what looks good here. I already have breeding gouramies and livebearers in the house and a suitably large fry tank on the go so I'm not averse to having groups that will breed if they feel happy to do so. Please, give me plenty of advice as to the best route to take here. Am happy not to have all those breeds (particularly since they do seem hard to get hold of, have only found the first one so far) and would rather have a large group of one or two species if they are happier that way.
Hugs,
P.

 

[freddyk]

Well this one is a matter of personal opinion. These fish generally keep to their own and all-male tanks are fairly popular among Haps because the females are so often bland. My own opinion is that it's more rewarding to keep them in breeding groups. The trio of Borleyi will work well with another mild Hap - go for something that looks different to ensure the males don't become hostile. Because of the lower water volume this would fill the tank, but if you have good filtration and diligent fish keeping habits you can also do a group of yellow labs to add a slightly different element to the tank.

 

[Miss Dib Dabs]

I have to agree I also like breeding groups, if only because it seems far more natural. And I can't look at any fish and see it as bland. The dimensions of the tank are 54 by 12 by 15 I believe (Might have the 12 and 15 the wrong way round ) ). It arrives saturday anyway so I can double check it all then. The filtration is and external eheim canester (got an inbuilt heater). Not sure what model that is, sorry. I usually add a second filter to my bigger tanks so I probably will to this one but not immediately. I do weekly water changes, if not more, on all my tanks and keep a close eye on their conditions and the fish and plants. I'm afraid I tend to 'baby' all my fish rather. Spend far too much tine getting them excited. ) Which really is amusing with the catfish as they go all tail waggy like an over excited dog. )
Alright I'll shut up now about that.
But I like your suggestion. I shall look into the other haps and see what will work best. I shall then ask your opinion. Always good to have advice.
Hugs,
P.

 

[Miss Dib Dabs]

I now have the tank in my possession and it works out at 44usg. It is 12" wide so larger cichlids would have an issue with this I am sure. And I can't be sure whether I will eventually be able to get them a bigger tank so I need to be realistic. I have found a store I can order from and am gonna be real cheeky here and ask for some ideas for this. Very many of the species do seem to be blue in colouration and I'd really like another colour involved too. Like red? I know, doesn't sound like the best way to choose fish but they need to be different colours for their own sakes in breeding groups. And I happen to like red. )
It will be a sand substrate and plenty of slate and hidey holes once set up.
This is the place I will be ordering from and wondered if anyone would be kind enough to tell me the best choices. I very much like the Placidochromis phenochilus lunpingu as a starting point, but what else?
Ought to add I will be putting in 5 synos to this (3 eupterus, 1 multipunctatious and 1 petricola) and yes, filtration is excellent (Ehiem external and will be adding an extra filter after a few months, I prefer alot of filtration).
Am doing set up Tuesday so please do give me suggestions as I would like to order the cichlids midweek if pos.
Hugs,
P.
Edit:Have settled on those I can find available and the list is now;
Placidochromis phenochilus lunpingu.
Labidochromis Perlmutt.
Auloncara Eureka.

Bearing in mind the synos to join the tank, can anyone kindly give me a good idea of numbers I can have of each? Thank you.

 

[Miss Dib Dabs]

Bump...

 

[modernhamlet]

Wish I could help, MDD...

Haven't seen freddy on yet this week. Hopefully soon. Don't know if there are any other hap/peacock keepers around...

I will comment on one thing. I don't know if you already have them or what, but you might be better off with a legitimate school of catfish. I've heard reports they don't get along particularly well on an interspecies level, particularly multipunctatious and petricola. I know for sure that petricola really do best in schools... the more the better. I added 6 to a group of 3 and see them way more often than I used to.

Good luck!

 

[Miss Dib Dabs]

Ah yes. The petricola and multipunctatious actually live together already and they spend alot of time around each other and amongst the eupterus. I am thinking of not putting the eupterus in the 44 tho as they do get bigger then the other two types and tend to be very active. In which case I would probably add more of each of them to up their numbers.
Am a little concerned about the Placidochromis phenochilus lunpingu as it can reach 10 inches, although it grows slowly. I'm thinking the width of the tank may well be too small for them. If it takes literally years to get anywhere near this isn't so much of a problem as in a few years I would like a larger tank but I don't want to cause them stress if it's just a bad idea.
Hugs,
P.

 

[freddyk]

Placidochromis phenochilus will work for a while, and after a couple of years will outgrow the tank as you predict. It's your own choice if you want to get them now and remove them later, or upgrade tanks.

I've never kept this mixture, but for numbers I would start with something like a trio of placido's, a trio of Aulos, and half a dozen labs. As usual I'd get extra's of each to ensure enough females for each group.

One of the things that will give you less usable space and makes this tank a little less ideal for the setup is that you are combining open sand dwellers with rock dwellers. It would be best to decorate the tank with both in mind, with a portion of rocky caves and plenty of open sand as well. This is where the 12" depth becomes the weakest part of the tank - in an 18" deep tank you'd be able to use rocks at the back and still have all the open sand in front. As long as you keep this in mind when decorating the tank though, you can get away with it for a while.

 

[Miss Dib Dabs]

I've changed the fish involved now. Sorry. And the tank is 18inches deep. 12 inches is the width. Soz if I had mistyped that elsewhere. )
Fish now aiming for is:
Labeotropheus Trewavasae (Mpanga)
Labidochromis Perlmutt
Pseudotrophus Socolofi

Along with the synos am looking at groups of 1 male to 3 female for each.
Hugs,
P.