Moving fish around - suggestions

[bigphesta]

Ok, you can see my 30 gal in my sig. I just impulse bought a 10 gal tank with all the fixins and want to know what I should move out of my 30 gal (once the 10 is cycled) in order to make my 30 gal a small african cichlid tank? I know the tetras have to go, but what about the rainbow fish? Would they be ok with the 4-5 inch cichlids? Or is there still an aggression issue there?

 

[heresmike]

I don't keep african cichlids yet, but am doing research into it. Everything I've read indicates that the Africans should be kept on their own. And a 30 gallon is really kind of small to keep very many of them. Here's some suggested stocking plans for a 29 gallon. You'll notice that they say the 29 gallon has about the same capacity (fish-wise) as a 20 gallon, so you are linked to a page containing 20 gallon stocking plans. (To me, some of it looks like the tank might be a bit cramped.)

Personally, I would lean towards buying a larger tank for the cichlid setup, and stocking it with just cichlids. If you can't do that, maybe you should post your question in the African Cichlid forum. I'm sure one of the experts that hang out there could give some advice on how to configure your current setup.

 

[yhbae]

If your tank is indeed 2.5ft tank, then most likely it is too small for African cichlids, except for some Lake tang species such as shellies and smaller julidochromis.

I have a feeling that your interest lies on mbunas. If this is the case, may be few yellow labs but all other species really don't belong in a 2.5ft tank.