129 litre hard water set-up help

[Shifty1303]

Hi all.

Currently cycling a new 129 litre fluval fresh f90 90×35×45cm wxdxh and as the title says I have hard water in the order of 18-19 dGH. Ph 7.6

I want to keep fish well suited to this water and have concluded the better options (apart from livebearers which I prefer to avoid) are cichlids or rainbows.

My question though is could I set up either of these in this size tank? I have always wanted a mixed bosemani and red rainbow tank but think they might not have enough space?

My other tank is a 200l 100x40x45 stocked with panda corys (15) lemon tetras (8) and black ruby barbs (12) and if be open to some shuffling if necessary .

Any thoughts appreciated

 

[DrRob]

Have you considered multis if you're interested in cichlids? Shell dwellers would like your water and can take the smaller tank sizes. Also happen to be beautiful fish.

 

[Shifty1303]

Have you considered multis if you're interested in cichlids? Shell dwellers would like your water and can take the smaller tank sizes. Also happen to be beautiful fish.

I shall look in to them now. have been looking a lot into Malawi and Tanganyikans. are lamprologus ocellatus a possibilty too? and could they be mixed with multis?

as for malawis are there any that would be ok in my tank? ive always liked the classic yellow lab and demasoni mix and think while its at the lower end my tank would just be big enough?

also id really like to keep some dwarf petricola if ok with this mix?

 

[DrRob]

I personally wouldn't mix shell dwellers. Doable, but problematical, they're quite territorial and the colonies that develop as they breed (with the risk of hybridisation between some of them if kept together, just to further confound things) is a recipe for an unstable future, unless you have spare tanks to split off into. Otherwise yes, can't see any reason why you can't keep lamprologus ocellatus in there.

Can't see any reason why you can't have the dwarf synodontis in there with them.

I wouldn't keep Malawis in a tank that size, some of them may not be big but their aggressive tendencies mean that you'll end up with not enough space for the loser to run away, which is a huge problem in the making with them. Give Malawis 4 feet of running space if at all possible.

 

[Shifty1303]

I personally wouldn't mix shell dwellers. Doable, but problematical, they're quite territorial and the colonies that develop as they breed (with the risk of hybridisation between some of them if kept together, just to further confound things) is a recipe for an unstable future, unless you have spare tanks to split off into. Otherwise yes, can't see any reason why you can't keep lamprologus ocellatus in there.

Can't see any reason why you can't have the dwarf synodontis in there with them.

I wouldn't keep Malawis in a tank that size, some of them may not be big but their aggressive tendencies mean that you'll end up with not enough space for the loser to run away, which is a huge problem in the making with them. Give Malawis 4 feet of running space if at all possible.

thanks for your help. i did some more reading in the background too and started a new thread in the cichlid section with a few other questions including the multis/ocellatus question which you answered

http://www.fishforums.net/threads/tanganyikan-lamprologines.445186/