Suitable Fish For The Tank...

[MikeO]

After some input again please Been to the LFS and on the net whilst we wait patiently for the tank to cycle! The list below is what we have narrowed down as the species that we are interested in, so looking for some input as to which will live well with each other and if my water conditions are ok or will need altering etc.
I used to keep mainly livebearers, but looking mostly at chichlids now.

Tank Size: 260L - Currently filtered on a Fluval U4 only (Upgrade to take place at some point, but this will be the filtration for now)
pH (From Tap): 6.5 (currently at 7.5 on day 6 of cycle)
KH: 60
GH: 80


Fish List:

Pleco – 2x Small suitable species which wont grow too large – Open to suggestions
Archocentrus nigrofasciatum
Black Neon Tetra
Pseudotropheus demasoni
Cyphotilapia Fronsotsa
Fundulopanchax gardneri gardneri
Hap Moorii
Hap Ahli
Labidochromis Mbamba
Placidochromis Phenochilus
Balantiocheilos melanopterus
Kissing Gourami x2
Black Neon Tetra
Laetacara Aequi
Pseudotropheus Elongatus
Meoanochromis Chipokae
Melanochromis auratus
chalinochromis ndola



Also any suggestion as to the number of each - Larger ones we were looking at pairs and half dozens for smaller species.

Thanks for anyone who takes the time to go through them!

Mike

 

[waterdrop]

Kissing Gouramis are quite tough and will hold their own quite nicely in a large tank with other large fish, so they should be an ok choice with whatever various cichlids (depending) you end up with. Black neons, like most tetras, should shoal up quite nicely (you'd probably want at least a dozen or so) in the kind of tank you are working on.

Although I've kept a number of different ones, I'm not a cichlid expert, so we'll have to wait for other members to make comments on the majority of fish (many cichlids) you've listed.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[erk628]

Seeing how you want cichlids have you thought about a mumba tank?

 

[MikeO]

I am not yet too hot on specifics of the categories of cichlid breeds (hence the asking for help) - What we are really looking for is between 3 and 5 species (plus the 2 plecs), which are not going to be agressive, which is what seems to be the issue with cichlids as I understand. I emailed the LFS who have been really helpful so far, but they seem to think that the water is most suitable for a "normal" tropical setup, or Afrian cichlids. mbuna's would seem to be the sort of species that we are looking for, with the variety of vibrant colours etc, but is this possible to get the number of different species we want, whilst keeping down the aggresion and will they be happy in this water?

The gourami's are not a must.... these are more the missus that wants these, so are not a deciding factor at all, but would like some smaller fish such as the black tetras to shoal in the tank too, again as long as aggression isnt going to be a problem.

*edit*

Taking the above into considration, would this be a likely successful set up?

Bristlenose (Probably just the one)
Melanochromis Chipokae x4
Cyphotilapia Fronsotsa x2
Labidochromis Mbamba x4
Pseudotropheus demasoni x4

(1m and 3f of each)