In Need Of Advice...

[Aquascaper]

Hi,

I'm in the process of cycling a Juwel Trigon 190 and want to try and capture a marine feel as I miss my reef tank badly. Having read through the stickies, etc. i'm still as confused as when I started.

I would like to say from the start i'm not one of these people who just asks what to put in their tank because they can't be bothered researching but i'm overwhelmed by the variety of Cichlids and don't want to make the mistake of putting tankmates together and have aggression problems, etc. just because I like the look of them and they will fit.

This is the tank at the moment (mid-cycle):

What i'm trying to achieve is marine without the salt, ie. bright colours and activity and would rather have numerous small fish rather than fewer large ones.......as I say though, haven't a clue where to start looking so any help would be appreciated

 

[Aquascaper]

Some of the species i've been looking at:

Cynotilapia sp.
Labidochromis sp.
Pseudotropheus sp.

One question I have is do you have to stock with mixed gender or can they all be male, if not all male what ratios are best considering i'm not looking to breed specifically?

 

[onidrase]

what are the dimensions of the tank? Typically you want to have 1 male per like 5+ females, some people in species tanks only have 1-3 males in them. Some more mild tempered cichlids like labridochromis and aceis won't bug each other though.

Also, there are hundreds of pseudotropheus species, if not more, some stores that sell pseudotropheus species will throw them in a mixed bag tank and sell them for 2 bucks a pop cause of how varying they are. Takes too much work to properly identify their full scientific name at times. They have varying temperaments, so it's hard to say what you mean by "pseudotropheus sp."

A good species to look at for a smaller tank (typically you want 4 foot 55 gallon standard for average mbuna) would be pseudotropheus saulosi. They're sexually dimorphic, males being blue with black stripes, females being a bright yellow. A species only tank of these guys would be gorgeous in itself.

 

[Aquascaper]

The tank is a bow fronted corner (70cm x 70cm x 100cm approx.) and holds 190 litres (41 gallons approx.)

I understand it's hard to narrow down choices but the idea of a species only tank sounds good, I'll look into that. The ones I mentioned were just examples i'd found but was having trouble selecting individual types from those. The tank is still cycling at the moment so I have time to make the right choices

 

[Aquascaper]

Forgot to say that the 41 gallon quote is UK gallons so that would be 50 gallons US

Thanks for the advice, the single species tank really appeals, would I be right in thinking 1 male to 5 females is the right ratio? I'd be probably looking at 2 males and 10 females in total as there is plenty of rock for territories and I have good filtration but comments welcome.

 

[Aquascaper]

Has anyone got suggestions for a plecostomus that would be ok with the above fish in a tank with crushed coral substrate and 'dead' live rock.

I'm looking for a smaller species and not too plain like zebras or similar but can't find information on compatibility with my decor so comments welcome.

 

[onidrase]

The higher pH and hardness will make smaller, colorful plecos a no go. I'd keep it plecoless, though some people keep bristlenoses in their tanks.

 

[Aquascaper]

Ok thanks, are there any tank cleaners required in a mbuna tank or is it just personal preference?

 

[onidrase]

Personal preference. No reason to have a pleco. The Mbuna tanks need to be over filtered anyway because of the high bioload from having a lot of relatively messy fish, adding a pleco is just gonna make it worse. On a side note, most, if not all, mbuna cichlids are herbivorous from what I've read. Just throwing that in there.

 

[Aquascaper]

Thanks again, I think I'll leave things as planned and see how the tank looks & runs. Maybe introduced some bottom dwellers or something if things need tweaked

 

[Malawi MaD]

synodontis catfish would work well for some bottom dwelling fish and your going to have to be careful what mbuna you add. You ideally need dwarf mbuna, a nice species only tank would be nice for a 190. I had a wild group of saulosi in a 190 not long ago and it looked great. The fish didn't get to big for the tank and the colours between the males and females are always a big plus

 

[Aquascaper]

With the advice given so far i've kind of decided on 12 x Pseudotropheus saulosi (2 x Males, 10 x Females)

I have the internal Juwel filter (1000lph) as well as an Eheim 2226 Professionel 2 external filter (950lph) for filtration, an Eheim 1000plh powerhead and a Seio M620 powerhead for water movement (in addition to the spraybar from the external) so I think i'm ok unless anyone has any suggestions.

I like the look of the synodontis catfish but don't know anything about them so will have to do some research, is there any that would do better than others with my setup ('Dead' live rock and crushed coral substrate)?

 

[onidrase]

synodontis catfish come in all shapes and sizes and temperaments. I see featherfin catfish (synodontis eupterus) in mbuna tanks a lot, but these guys get pretty larger (I've seen them reach a foot long, though 8" is more expected) and aren't afraid to throw their weight around. Rather territorial in my experience, very fast growing too. Took mine only 6 months to get 7 inches long. IMO your tank isn't really big enough for them.

there are smaller, more peaceful species of catfish which might mix, but may be pestered. Shoaling catfish like synodontis petricola and synodontis nigriventris are my favorites, but they're rather peaceful and nocturnal like most catfish, and may get battered on in an mbuna set up. Synodontis don't have very thick skin, and I feel like your tank has a rather sharp appearance to it, mix the sharpness of the dead rock and the territorial mannerisms of mbuna and you've got a bundle of unhappy catfish.

 

[Aquascaper]

That's what I was thinking (hence the plec questions as they are thicker skinned). Thanks for the advice, I agree and think that anything over 4" - 5" is going to be too big and will dominate the appearance of the tank really. I'm thinking more along the lines of just stocking the saulosi for now, then posting a few pictures when settled and see what suggestions come up.

What are the thoughts on a stocking level of 12 fish? I don't want to overstock (I realise that this needs to be done to an extent for aggression issues) but also don't want an empty tank

 

[onidrase]

I think you could go up to 15 or so comfortably, 3 males 12 females should be alright. The 1m/5f ratio was just an example of how few males you typically want in the tank, it's not really a rule of thumb, at all.