I have a 37 gallon tank already cycled and would like to stock it with African Cichlids. My question is would this tank be big enough to do this? Do these fish need more space than this? If it will work, which kind would be best? I realize I will not be able to have a bunch of them, but would like to try a few. Any advice is greatly appreciated.
want cichlids need advice
- Thread starter Fishy3
- Start date
wwestar2000
Fish Addict
- Joined
- Jun 2, 2005
- Messages
- 810
- Reaction score
- 0
1)yes
2)depends
3) most african chinchlids grow from about 4 inches to 7 inches. Johanni, Slender Mbuna, Lombardoi, are just a few of the common ones. For your size tank i would get no more than 6. If i were you i would go to my lfs and look at them. I have the problem that i fall in love with a fish and no lfs has them. So go to the lfs with the little list i gave you and ask were they are. I would only do a group of the same speices. Prefeably go to a juvinille tank or were they are smallest. Get the 6 that seem like they are going to be able to live together in a community. I sayed you could have 5 from the inch rule.
I rounded 5 inches per fish full grown (depends which one you want)
that would be 35 gallons. I would probably buy only five if i were you and get a algue cleaner(no common plecs will quickly outgrow) and some bottom feeder. post more questions if you have any.
2)depends
3) most african chinchlids grow from about 4 inches to 7 inches. Johanni, Slender Mbuna, Lombardoi, are just a few of the common ones. For your size tank i would get no more than 6. If i were you i would go to my lfs and look at them. I have the problem that i fall in love with a fish and no lfs has them. So go to the lfs with the little list i gave you and ask were they are. I would only do a group of the same speices. Prefeably go to a juvinille tank or were they are smallest. Get the 6 that seem like they are going to be able to live together in a community. I sayed you could have 5 from the inch rule.
I rounded 5 inches per fish full grown (depends which one you want)
that would be 35 gallons. I would probably buy only five if i were you and get a algue cleaner(no common plecs will quickly outgrow) and some bottom feeder. post more questions if you have any.
pica_nuttalli
don't be a twit
you say its already cycled? does this mean you already have fish in there? ( 1 ) African Lake cichlids should pretty much only be kept with African Lake cichlids, and ( 2 ) your tank will un-cycle itself in about 24 hours with no fresh ammonia sources, i.e. fish.
If you have fish in there already, you will need to remove them no more than a day prior to introducing the Lake cichlids.
also, is your tank long or tall? Africans mostly swim left-right, not up-down. Its important to have a fairly long tank. there's a great pinned topic on the basics of a Mbuna aquarium at the top of the forum; I strongly suggest you read it since I bet it will answer questions you didn't even know you had.
If you have fish in there already, you will need to remove them no more than a day prior to introducing the Lake cichlids.
also, is your tank long or tall? Africans mostly swim left-right, not up-down. Its important to have a fairly long tank. there's a great pinned topic on the basics of a Mbuna aquarium at the top of the forum; I strongly suggest you read it since I bet it will answer questions you didn't even know you had.
I'm going to disagree about that choosing method
Most mbuna cichldis (like those mentioned) are not good chocies for a small tank. Going to your lFS and just randomly picking out the ones you think look 'pretty' is very unreliable. You never know what you're getting, how aggressive they'll be as they mature, their potential size, not even what their diet might be.
You can put some yellow labs in though. They are a hardy cichlid to begin with and are more moderately tempered. A group of 5 with a single male and 3-4 females would be best and you can add a bristlenose or one of the medium-sized syno catfish as well. The other good thing is that they are insectivores in the wild so don't get 'malawi bloat' quite as readily as some of the others. They still do best on vegetable-based foods but enjoy brine shrimp/mysis supplements as well. This is good if you want syno catfish as they are carnivorous and can be difficult to feed with other (herbivorous) mbuna in the tank.
I'd like to point out that mbuna cichldis are also not your only choice. Nor do they have to be malawian. African cichldis range widely. Some of the tanganyikan cichlids would do very well in that size tank. There are julies you could try, for example. Then there's various shell-dwellers and don't forget the ever-popular pulcher/kribensis which is also african (though they live in rivers).
In your tank, I'd personaly go for shellies and some danios for the upper layers.
Also, if you aren't specificaly after africans, there's all sorts of neotropical dwarf cichlids you could put in there and you could even add community fish to it with most of them. German blue/gold rams, bolivian rams, keyholes, apistos - there's a multitude. Then there's angelfish that are also south american cichlids. There's also some slightly more aggressive neotropicals to choose from such as firemouths - just about - or the very aggressive, rabbit of the fish world, the convict.
You could even go asian and brackish with the orange chromide.
I know you said you wanted africans but you may find one of the other options more interesting.
Most mbuna cichldis (like those mentioned) are not good chocies for a small tank. Going to your lFS and just randomly picking out the ones you think look 'pretty' is very unreliable. You never know what you're getting, how aggressive they'll be as they mature, their potential size, not even what their diet might be.
You can put some yellow labs in though. They are a hardy cichlid to begin with and are more moderately tempered. A group of 5 with a single male and 3-4 females would be best and you can add a bristlenose or one of the medium-sized syno catfish as well. The other good thing is that they are insectivores in the wild so don't get 'malawi bloat' quite as readily as some of the others. They still do best on vegetable-based foods but enjoy brine shrimp/mysis supplements as well. This is good if you want syno catfish as they are carnivorous and can be difficult to feed with other (herbivorous) mbuna in the tank.
I'd like to point out that mbuna cichldis are also not your only choice. Nor do they have to be malawian. African cichldis range widely. Some of the tanganyikan cichlids would do very well in that size tank. There are julies you could try, for example. Then there's various shell-dwellers and don't forget the ever-popular pulcher/kribensis which is also african (though they live in rivers).
In your tank, I'd personaly go for shellies and some danios for the upper layers.
Also, if you aren't specificaly after africans, there's all sorts of neotropical dwarf cichlids you could put in there and you could even add community fish to it with most of them. German blue/gold rams, bolivian rams, keyholes, apistos - there's a multitude. Then there's angelfish that are also south american cichlids. There's also some slightly more aggressive neotropicals to choose from such as firemouths - just about - or the very aggressive, rabbit of the fish world, the convict.
You could even go asian and brackish with the orange chromide.
I know you said you wanted africans but you may find one of the other options more interesting.
wwestar2000
Fish Addict
- Joined
- Jun 2, 2005
- Messages
- 810
- Reaction score
- 0
I agree if you have a tank thats taller more than wider i wouldnt do what i posted up top.
quick question: can you cycle a tank with feeder guppies for about a week or two and then get a oscar or something. Seeing as how the oscar will eat them and i wouldnt have to look for the fish's home. Or can i put water from one on my community tank to half declorinated tap? will that be cycled. Or even better get half community tank water half de-clorinated tap water and then put feeder guppies in it. Cause the feeder guppies will probably die in uncycled water, right?
quick question: can you cycle a tank with feeder guppies for about a week or two and then get a oscar or something. Seeing as how the oscar will eat them and i wouldnt have to look for the fish's home. Or can i put water from one on my community tank to half declorinated tap? will that be cycled. Or even better get half community tank water half de-clorinated tap water and then put feeder guppies in it. Cause the feeder guppies will probably die in uncycled water, right?
pica_nuttalli
don't be a twit
the long and the short answer to your questions is "No, not really." sylvia's got some excellent links in her sig that explain all about cycling. i suggest you check them out and things will make a lot more sense.wwestar2000 said:
wwestar2000
Fish Addict
- Joined
- Jun 2, 2005
- Messages
- 810
- Reaction score
- 0
I was just curiouse. Im not getting more fish
My tank currently has zebra danios and tiger barbs. I have lost a few of these, so will be moving them to a bit smaller tank that is currently doing a fishless cycle. I will keep the danios and barbs in the 37 gal until the 25 is done cycling, so I have a bit of time to decide what to put in the 37. The tank is 30" long by 22" tall, not the 3 feet long as suggested. My water has a high pH and I do prefer to use the water I have on hand, rather than buy water. This is why I was gravitating to the African Cichlids, as I read they like a higher pH. I am mostly interested in a larger, more colorful fish than the ones I have currently and the cichlids at the LFS caught my eye. I will continue to read up on the different types of cichlids and will appreciate any further advise or links to info.
Just wanted to say that, even if you have a high pH, you can keep most fish in regardless as the more important thing is a steady pH. For example, discus are meant to be kept at a very low pH but I used to have them in pH 7.6 and I've seen them aroound here in a pH of 7.8-8.0 and they were fine (not that I would reccomend this - you can't keep them in that size tank anyway - just an example).
If you like mbuna look at these species:
Labidochromis Caeruleus (yellow lab)
Pseudotropheus Acei
Iodotropheu Sprengerae (Rusty)
Aulonocara (Peacock, not an mbuna but does well with the above)
These guys are pretty mild and you can do them in your tank. If you can pile rocks up high the cichlids will take more advantage of the tank, but no matter how you look at it the top third will be empty with these fish. For most mbuna though, your tank isn't long enough and you'll run into problems.
Labidochromis Caeruleus (yellow lab)
Pseudotropheus Acei
Iodotropheu Sprengerae (Rusty)
Aulonocara (Peacock, not an mbuna but does well with the above)
These guys are pretty mild and you can do them in your tank. If you can pile rocks up high the cichlids will take more advantage of the tank, but no matter how you look at it the top third will be empty with these fish. For most mbuna though, your tank isn't long enough and you'll run into problems.
Similar threads
Most reactions
-
359 -
230 -
209 -
207 -
202 -
158 -
145 -
135 -
132 -
115 -
105 -
97 -
F
94
-
91 -
90