Just Set Up My 60 Gal... Which Cichlids To Raise?

[Kenzzzie]

I definitely want to raise bright african cichlids, I was thinking electric yellow however I wanted two different colors so I was thinking about putting some blue in as well, however, blue electric grow 6-8 inches! The electric yellow only mature at 3-5 inches and I want all of my fish to be around the same size at maturity.
so I have a few questions...

1) Will cobalt blue zebras and electric yellow be compatible?
2) Does anyone recommend another bright solid colored or blue cichlid that is compatible with the electric yellow?
3) What female/male ratio will be best?
4) How many can I raise in a 60 gallon without over crowding?

the aquarium is a 60 gallon long with a natural setup- pure white sand on the bottom with natural and volcanic rocks for shelter

I am anxious for answers/advice.
All help is greatly appreciated!
Thank you!

 

[kj23502]

The cobalt blues will end up about 6" also. Minimum recommened tank length is 48" (4 feet).

Red Zebra (metriaclima estherea) would look wonderful with that group. They are a reddish orange.

Cynotilapia Afra Cobue are blue and only get 3". I have about 6 of these in my current setup!!

for most species 1 male to 3-4 females is good. If you have a 4 foot tank, I would say around 18 total fish. If it's 3 foot I would say less than this. I recommend at least a 4 foot tank though. These guys get territorial and need the space to claim it

 

[kj23502]

to the forum...btw!!

Do you know about fishless cycling?

 

[dthoffsett]

Could you post the dimensions of your tank? As kj said, the minimum recommended aquarium for mbuna (rock-dwelling cichlids of Lake Malawi, Africa) is a 4ft.

The electric yellows you are interested in are labidochromis caeruleus which are mbuna, do best in groups of 5 or more, and m/f ratios generally don't matter. The electric blues are likely sciaenochromis fryeri, but really could be any of about 6 different species (this is why scientific names are so important with cichlids as common names can vary from store to store), s.fryeri is a hap, which are open water predators from Lake Malawi and generally not recommended to mix with mbuna due to predation, different levels of aggression, and different feeding requirements.

If your tank is a 4ft, metriaclima callainos (the cobalt blues) would be a nice mix with l.caeruleus. I've kept both together successfully in the past. With m.callainos it's best to have a ratio of 1m/4+f, males are a nice bright powder blue and females are a darker blue.

While l.caeruleus & metriaclima estherae (red zebras) do mix well, they have a tendency to cross breed, so any offspring should remain only in your tank if you choose to go that way.

There are quite a few cynotilapia afra variants (as kj suggested) that would work with the l.caeruleus, males are beautiful (again you should only have 1), however females are a little dull.

I'd highly recommend reading the pinned topics in this section, as well as some of the articles in the link below. [URL="http/www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/"]http/www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/[/URL]

 

[Kenzzzie]

Thanks for the advice I have done a lot of research and I REALLY like all the mbuna fish!
Legit. size, compatible, and BRIGHT colors!
I have decided I am going to have the tank be all mbuna cichlids.

Now my last question...

yellow and blue
or
a variety of mbuna mixed

 

[kj23502]

umm...what size is your tank?

Is it 4 foot x ?

 

[dthoffsett]

Well based off your other thread, your tank is a 4-ft, and so perfect for mbuna.

As kj stated earlier, 15-18 would work well, you could either go for 3 species of 1m/4-5f each or 2 species of 1m/7-9f each, you could even stretch it to 4 species of 1m/3f each but IMHO you don't get to see much group interaction amongst members of a single species.

It's really not a good idea to add a bunch of different species together unless you are going with an all-male tank, though those are difficult to properly set up.

My suggestion would be to decide how many speices you want, then go to your lfs and write down all the names (scientific if they have them) of the fish you like, post them on here and we can help with compatability.