My First African Cichlid Tank

[jakeroberts]

hi

well i have recently bought a 3ft tank it holds around 160 litres
and since all i have ever had is community fish i decided to go for somthing different and so i ended up deciding on african cichlids

Tank: 3ft (42 us gallon)
filterhark 2 600lph
decor: java fern and 2 unknown plants, rockwork forming 7 caves, bits of driftwood
substrate: pea size gravel with small bag of gravel that helps rise the ph
Light:1 flourescent bulb
Ph: 7.8
temperature: 24 celcius

Fish:
2 peacocks of some sort
1 unkown, has red dots all over it and is sort of the same shape as the peacocks
1 rainbow shark was told it would do alright in a high ph

I was thinking of gettin some of these fish can you plz tell me if any of these would do any good
eletric yellow
blue peacock
jewel red forest
labidochromis hongi
melanochromis auratus
melanochromis johanni
oto lithobates sulphur crest
pseudotropheus lombardoi
tangerine peacock
xystichromis phytophagus

will post pictures tomorrow as it is very late here

suggestions and critisium welcome

 

[funkyhoney]

All sounds pretty alright, except you'll definitely need either a new filter or some additional filtration to handle the load of Africans

 

[jakeroberts]

hi thanks for the reply and yes i know i will have to upgrade the filteration but i am using it for now as a freind has lent it to me to use so how big would you go and would you recomand any of the other fish that i put down

 

[dthoffsett]

eletric yellow (labidochromis caeruleus) - mbuna, insectivore, 5", 55 gal or larger.
blue peacock - there are several different blue peacocks, do you have a scientific name?
jewel red forest - riverine species, omnivore, 4", not compatable with mbuna or peacocks
labidochromis hongi - mbuna, herbivore, 6", shouldn't be mixed with other labidochromis species due to hybridization, 55 gal or larger
melanochromis auratus - mbuna, herbivore, 5", 75 gal or larger, best in a species only tank due to high aggression.
melanochromis johanni - mbuna, herbivore, 5", 75 gal or larger, not as aggressive as m.auratus, but still highly aggressive compared to other mbuna.
oto lithobates sulphur crest (otpharynx lithobates) - hap, carnivore, 5.5", 55 gal or larger, should not be kept with aggressive species as these are fairly peaceful.
metriaclima lombardoi - mbuna, herbivore, 6", 75 gal or larger, another highly aggressive species
tangerine peacock (Aulonocara sp. "Stuartgranti Maleri") - peacock, carnivore, 6.5", 55 gal or larger
xystichromis phytophagus - Lake Victoria cichlid, herbivore, 4.5", 40 gal or larger, it is generally not recommended to mix species of different Lakes.


To be honest, I don't recommend keeping african cichlids in a tank smaller than 4-feet, and before adding any more fish you'll need to identify what you have first. Post some pics on here and we'll see if we can help ID them.

Filtration: with Africans it is generally recommend to have your filter(s) turn over your tank 6 or more times per hour, so you'll want a total filtration of at least 950 lph.

 

[jakeroberts]

thanks so much for that i know wat one of them is now it is a
Metriaclima greshakei im pretty sure that is wat it is

 

[jakeroberts]

anyone?

 

[kribensis12]

If i were you i would probably go with the jewels and mix them with some kribs and some brichardi.

 

[dthoffsett]

thanks so much for that i know wat one of them is now it is a
Metriaclima greshakei im pretty sure that is wat it is

Metriaclima greshaki is another mbuna, also very aggressive, and I wouldn't keep it in anything smaller than a 75 gal.

I honestly think you would be better off rehoming the fish you have, and setting up your tank with fish appropriate to its size. You could still have cichlids, just not any from Lake Malawi (mbuna, haps, and peacocks).

If you are wanting to stick to African cichlids, you could go with a Lake Tanganikya mini-community:
Select 1 pair from each group (max of 2 pairs):
• Altolamprologus calvus or compressiceps
• Neolamprologus leleupi or cylindricus
• Julidochromis or Chalinochromis species
• Telmatochromis vittatus, bifrenatus or
brichardi



Or a sand sifter setup
• Xenotilapia papilio or flavipinnis - 6
• Paracyprichromis brieni or nigripinnis - 8
• Altolamprologus calvus or compressiceps pair
• Phyllonemus typus - 4

Or Altolamprologus calvus or compressiceps pair
• Neolamprologus buescheri
• Shell dweller pair of choice -
'Lamprologus' (Shellies) brevis,
multifasciatus (group), melegaris,
ornatipinnis, ocellatus, speciosus,
similis (group), Neolamprologus signatus


Or you could go with a West African riverine setup

• Pelvicachromis taeniatus - 1 pair
• Nanochromis transvestitus - 1 pair
• Synodontis nigriventris - 6



If you are interested in New World cichlids let me know and I can post some other suggestions.

**All stocking suggestions are taken from www.cichlid-forum.com**

 

[jakeroberts]

thansk for all the help