Stocking 200 litre aquarium

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JP!

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Hi I'm new to this forum!
I currently have a 200 litre aquarium filled with different tropical fish ( got the tank when I was younger and was like a kid in a sweet shop with fish)
Over the years I've been getting more and more into fishkeeping and I'm now looking into converting my tank into a lake tanganyika tank.

There are a few species I've been looking into:
Cyprichromis leptosoma
Neolamprologus Brichardi
Neolamprologus leleupi
Any Juli
Any shell dwellers
( sorry for any misspellings)

I currently have 3 bristlenose plecs which will have to stay.
Any stocking ideas? which ones can I keep? how many I can keep of each? Any problems with these fish? I'm really lost so any help will be so appreciated
 
What are the dimensions of the tank, and is your water hard or soft?
 
Agree with fluttermoth. But I will add that you should not (well, cannot to be honest) have bristlenose plecs in with rift lake cichlids. Water parameters are the main issue, you need fairly hard water for rift lake fish, just the opposite of the soft water for BN.

Welcome to TFF. :hi:

Byron.
 
The tank is 100cm long, 40cm in depth and 45 cm in height and the water is hard
 
Also the bristlenoses I have have been kept in hard water as around here we have hard water so they were even in hard water at the Shop, although I know this isn't best they seem to be doing well they're going on 3 years old now :)
 
Also the bristlenoses I have have been kept in hard water as around here we have hard water so they were even in hard water at the Shop, although I know this isn't best they seem to be doing well they're going on 3 years old now :)

What are the numbers for the GH? "Hard" can mean something very different to different people. If you or the store consider a GH of say 10 dGH "hard," it is really only moderately hard; BN would manage with this, rift lake cichlids will not.
 
Ah okay, not actually sure, I was just taking the word of the LFS, he said the water we have is perfect for rift lake cichlids, but if I'm honest I haven't checked, I'll check soon, if need be the plecs can go ( a cousin will take them) my girlfriend will kill me though. In regards to stocking the tank what do you suggest?!
 
Ah okay, not actually sure, I was just taking the word of the LFS, he said the water we have is perfect for rift lake cichlids, but if I'm honest I haven't checked, I'll check soon, if need be the plecs can go ( a cousin will take them) my girlfriend will kill me though. In regards to stocking the tank what do you suggest?!

First, never but never accept advice from staff in a fish store, unless you know the individual personally to be knowledgeable. Still pays to confirm on the forum, as there are members here with such knowledge to set things straight.

Second, you should be able to get the GH (general or total hardness), KH (carbonate hardness or Alkalinity, related) and pH of your source water from the water authority if you are on municipal water. Check their website. Until you/we know the numbers, suggesting fish species is risky.
 
Just checked a map of water hardness around the UK, the area I'm in falls under very hard water ( the highest category) , I know not exactly the number you want but does that help? If not I have a test kit at home I'll do soon.
 
Just checked a map of water hardness around the UK, the area I'm in falls under very hard water ( the highest category) , I know not exactly the number you want but does that help? If not I have a test kit at home I'll do soon.

Well, we're still dealing with subjective terms, you need to somehow get numbers. There is another thread here from a few weeks back where the hardness was being called "moderately hard" and when we got the actual numbers it was soft to very soft. I just won't guess at this; supposing I assume it is very hard and tell you to go ahead with rift lake fish, and a month later they are all dying because of lack of mineral in the water? I care for fish, and I don't want to mislead you.
 
Just used my test kit, GH was 180mg/L
And Kh was between 180 mg/L and 240 mg/L ( the colour of the strip was in between them both, leaning more towards 240) I hope those units are correct but that's the numbers
 
Just used my test kit, GH was 180mg/L
And Kh was between 180 mg/L and 240 mg/L ( the colour of the strip was in between them both, leaning more towards 240) I hope those units are correct but that's the numbers

A GH of 180 mg/l (mg/l = ppm) or 10 dGH is in the medium hard range. According to many rift lake aquarists, this is the absolute lowest, and it would be better higher. Easy to do with a calcareous substrate.

The Bristlenose, if it is the "common" Bristlenose as opposed to a wild caught species (there are many in Ancistrus, and the true species of the common aquarium BN is not known) should manage with the GH. There is still pH, and then the next question is whether the cichlids would pick on the BN, and that depends upon the species.

At this point, I am going to leave it for the more expert rift lake aquarists to continue. Here is some data on the parameters of the lakes just out of interest.

Lake Malawi, GH 60.58-85.60 mg/l, pH 8.5 - 8.6
Lake Tanganyika, GH 186.33-224.0 mg/l, pH 8.66 - 9.06
 
Okay cheers! I'll match the water conditions anyways so it won't be too much problem, I just really wanted to know stocking, like I said bristlenoses can go if need be
 
Byron, are you sure you have quoted the hardness for Lake Malawi correctly? 60.58 to 85.6 mg/l is soft not hard. Those figures equate to 3.4 - 4.8 German degrees.
 
Anyways I feel like we've gone off topic a little bit, I really want to know my stocking options for the tank, like I said water conditions can be sorted and bristlenoses can go.
 

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