Hap tank clean up crew

[freddyk]

Most plecos and catfish will be ignored and your options are wide open.

Keep in mind that most plecos need some wood in the tank. Synodontis varieties are most commonly found in these types of tanks, but Pictus and Raphaels are viable options, as well as many less common ones. Large loaches like Clowns will often work as well.

All of these fish will help clean, but none will get enough nutrition from it so all need special attention when it comes to feeding.

 

[freshcichlid]

would 5 yellow labs, 5 afras, 2 raphaels and a pleco be too much for my 40gallon?
and yea i just 3 large wood things and i have two caves..

 

[freddyk]

As long as you can keep up with the maintenance, the fish will do well under those conditions freshcichlid.

 

[freshcichlid]

so what kind of maintenance will i have to be keeping up with? I have never had cichlids and dont know much about maintaning them,
i have had pictus and a pleco and i feed them brine shrimp and they were great.
How much do the Zebra pleco's usually go for? i really love them
The three set-ups i want are either
1. 1 pleco and 1 loache or eel or something long like that
2. 2 plecos
3. 2-4 cory cats
What are you thinking about those three ?


BTW - i really like your tank freddy, what are the red fish you have ?

 

[vantgE]

Watter changes and vacumeing are the most important, but go the extra yard on filtration as well

 

[freshcichlid]

yea i just got a bio-wheel 350, just came in yesterday !

*EDIT TO POST ABOVE*

 

[freddyk]

Cory cats are mild, peaceful, timid, and will be destroyed in an mbuna setup.

What loach? There are many different types and some won't work and some get too big for the tank. Some might work but need to be kept in a group.

A couple of smallish pleco's have proven a good option. Zebra's are a perfect size, as long as they've got thick skin they should do fine. The common bristlenose have proven themselves excellent tankmates for a lot of hobbiests. I kept these guys until I decided to let the algae grow for the mbuna to graze.

Thanks for the compliment, those are Serpae tetras.

 

[Tetramad]

I got my bristlenose 2 days ago and they have settled in well. I will put extra feed in for them in the dark so it doesn`t get eaten before it touches the bottom like normal!! so to clean up I have 2 Ocellifer for the bottom and 2 bristlies for the algae. Do female bristlies have ANY bristles at all or just smaller than the male?

Thanks, Mark.