55 Gal Aquarium Suggestions.

[MikeD67]

Ok i am getting a 55 gal tank in about 2 months and looking for what Species African Cichlids will go good together and how many i can safley house in a 55 gal tank. So far i have..

1 Male Electric yellow
1 Female Electic yellow
1 Male Electric blue Johanni
1 Feamale Melanchromis Auratis
1 Placo

Right now these are all no bigger than 2 1/2 inches in length and housed in a 30 gal tank I am getting a 55 gal in about 2 months and like i said am wondering how mony i can safely House in a 55 gal and what species of the African Cichlids will go good together?Also I have been looking at peoples tank settings and I love all of them but I am trying to decide between using Gravel, crushed coral or sand. The only concerns I have for using crushed coral or sand is when cleaningthe tank will i suck most of the sand up the suction tube? and which is easier to keep cleaned out of the 3? I plan on using plenty of rocks for hiding spots and also using live plants for the Cichlids to feed on and also as decor but plants arent so spendy so if i have to buy new plants every 3 or 4 weeks its no prob the fish diet is more important and the more i read the more i see they like to eat vegetation foods as much as meat.Any suggestions would be great so i can get a good idea of cost for tank setup and species i will be planning on getting. Also was wondering if the Chiclids will eat dried blood worms? I have a big can of them from when i use to bread CT bettas and dont want to waste them. I also am looking for suggestions on filtration my plan for heating and filtration is to get a Fluval cannister ( not sure what size to get yet) also will have 2 heaters I think 150 watt for this size tank the reason for 2 is to make sure the tank is evenly heated and not just one side.

 

[dthoffsett]

1 Male Electric yellow
1 Female Electic yellow
1 Male Electric blue Johanni
1 Feamale Melanchromis Auratis
1 Pleco

If it were me, I would get rid of the auratus and the johanni, they are extremely aggressive, and aren't recommend for beginners, however there are always exceptions to the rule.

Here are my stocking suggestions for the 55gal:
4 electric yellows, labidochromis caeruleus (male/female ratio doesn't really matter)
And 2 other species of 1m/3f ratio

Good possibilities are:
red zebras (metriaclima estherae) http/www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=1730
cobalt zebras (metriaclima callainos) http/www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=787
snow white socolofi (pseudotropheus socolofi-albino) http/www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=1786
pseudotropheus salousi http/www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=1
Rusties (Idotropheus Sprengerae) http/www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=707


how mony i can safely House in a 55 gal
I would shoot for 12 cichlids total (3 species of 4 individuals), the pleco (what kind of pleco do you have?), and you could even add a couple synodontis cat fish if you wanted, depending on your filtration.


concerns I have for using crushed coral or sand is when cleaning the tank will i suck most of the sand up the suction tube?
Mbuna love to dig, so I would go with sand. It's easy to clean, you just swirl the gravel vac an inch or two over the sand which will cause the poo to float off the sand and then suck it up. Your mbuna will love you for the sand to dig in. Just make sure you put your rocks on the bare bottom of the tank, then add the sand, mbuna aren't smart enough not to dig under rocks, and you don't want that.

also using live plants for the Cichlids to feed on and also as decor but plants arent so spendy so if i have to buy new plants every 3 or 4 weeks its no prob the fish diet is more important
There's no reason to buy plants for them to eat unless you really want to. They do need vegetation in their diet however there are easier ways to do that. I buy leaf lettuce, spinach, and zucchini for mine, as well as provide spirulina pellets. Spirulina is an alage, and you can find it in pellet, flake, and disc form.

Also was wondering if the Cichlids will eat dried blood worms?
You can't feed mbuna blood worms as their digestive tracts aren't built to process crude proteins, and feeding them "meaty" foods can lead to Malawi Bloat. Here's a good article on feeding. http/www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/feed...an_cichlids.php

[/b]I also am looking for suggestions on filtration my plan for heating and filtration is to get a Fluval cannister ( not sure what size to get yet) also will have 2 heaters I think 150 watt for this size tank the reason for 2 is to make sure the tank is evenly heated and not just one side.[/b]
Fluval are great filters, I have one on my mbuna tank. I would get the 405 which will be plent of filtration for a 55gal, you can even add on a HOB filter (Aqua clears are great) if you wanted, but it wouldn't really be necessary. The two heaters will work too.

Hope I helped, if you have any more questions just ask.

 

[MikeD67]

Thank you very much for your suggestions sounds like i will go with the sand now and as far as the fish go i will check those out but are these species going to be able to be found at my LFS or will i need to look else where for them? And i really like my Johanni my son and wife picked him hes getting along with the electric yellows the only one he chases is the female Auratus. Also I will have plenty of hiding spots in 55 gal tank I mean I kinda dont want to get rid of the Johanni cause like i said my son and wife picked it.

 

[MEePStER]

hi again, dthoffsett mentioned was basically everything, you could probably leave the johanni in there but take out the auratus as the two of them would probably fight and such as they grow (if they haven't started already, they could possibly even try to breed, thats what happened in my friends 75 gallon they were going at everything).

 

[MikeD67]

After talking with the wife i think we have decided to go with these fish in our 55 gal tank.

1 male and 3 female- Labidochromis Caeruleus / Electric Yellow
1 male and 3 female - Melanchromis Johannii
1 male and 3 female - Pseudotrophis Socolof / Albino Pindani

and if we could safely house a few more fish my wife would like to have the

1 male 3 female - Metriaclima Callaimos / Cobalt Zebra

We may even just keep the Johannii's if they cant be nice to others in our 30 gal and get the Cobalt Zebras for our 55 gal in place but if we could we would like to be able to keep all 16 fish in our 55 gal.Would this be possible if we used great filtration and made sure there was plenty of hiding spots for them? Also we have decided to go with Sand and not sure what jkind of rock we want to use yet but will be looking into it I like the Ocean rocks and Lava rocks and the way they look so we will see.

 

[mark7616]

You could easily house 16 fish in a 55g.

 

[MikeD67]

You could easily house 16 fish in a 55g.

U make it sound like i can house more than 16? How many can i Safely house in a 55 gal?Im asking ths because i know the ratio should be 1 male for every 3 females and thast only allows 4 males in my tank and 12 females and i kinda would like to have mor emales than 4 in my 55 gal so if I could house more than 16 than i can look at possibly maybe going with 2 males and 4 females of each species i guess that a ratio of 1 male for every 2 females will this ratio be ok?

 

[mark7616]

More males of what alot of species look the same so it wouldnt matter if it was male or femle they would still look the same. As for labs it doesnt matter about the ratio here.