New Cichlid Tank - What to get?

[ECH2005]

(sorry if this belongs in the beginners forum, i thought the cichlid crowd would be able to help me more)

Hey, I'm new here and new to the hobby, but my friend has turned me on to it and now I'm addicted. Right now all I have is a 3gal tank with some tetras in it, but since I am starting a new job on monday i will have the money to invest in a bigger tank, which im thinking about getting a 29 gal.

now, ive been doing a lot of research on what i have to do to set up the tank, ive read all your newbie tutorials which are very helpful, but what i havent been able to find is suggestions on what cichlids would be "compatible" with eachother.

so if anyone can help me think up of a good start for my new tank, id much appreciate. these are some which i would like to have...

cobalt zebra
electric blue
tangerine tiger
yellow lab
ram
blood parrot


these are just some of the ones i liked from looking through pics, dont know much about them


also, what other fish species would go well with cichilids, if any? i have a few tetras and id like to get more if i can

 

[Aussie]

Electric blues and Yellow labs go well together and if u like agressive cichlids u could get convicts or firemouths but what sort of cichlids u want.

 

[Nina7777]

1st thing to do would be decide on what type of tank you want. Whether it be an all african cichlid tank, or new world cichlids.

If you like more colorful tank then go for the africans. If you are thinking about getting yellow labs the only other species I would recommend mixing them with in a 29 gallon would be rusty cichlids. they are both pretty docile and not very agggressive.

A 29 gallon is much to small for any other african as they are all very aggressive.

if you want convicts then I would get just one, then you can have the tetras you want as well.

You can also have tetras with blue rams.

So first thing to do would be to decide if you want a community tank or a species tank. But never mix africans with new worlds as they require much different water conditions.

 

[ECH2005]

i would like to have non-aggressive cichlids, since my friend has a tank with more aggressive ones and he has been having problems recently from fighting.

would i be able to mix yellow labs and electric blues? or is rustys the only ones who will go well together? id like to get a bunch of input since im new here and i dont know who to trust (no offense to anyone, i read it as a rule in the newbie section )

it would be nice to have a community tank, but if that will not work i will settle for a species tank, which is fine by me

also, is there a number of a certain cichlid that you need? i heard that its best to keep them in groups of 3 or more...

thanks for all your help guys

 

[Nina7777]

right now in my 29 gallon I have 4 yellow labs with one red zebra.....because the red zebra was extremely territorial and picked on the 2 yellow labs i had. So i outnumbered him.

I started with 2 yellow labs, 2 rustys, 1 red zebra, and 1 eletric blue.

I had to trade the electric blue back in due to aggression problems. I fell in love with the red zebra and ended up keeping him although he killed my 2 rustys.

If I had to do it over from the beggining I would have gotten 3 yellow labs and 3 rusty's.

This would be a very peaceful tank with very minimal aggression.

If you want to do community take a look at my 55 gallon. it has one convict cichlid in it and she does well with the others. (of course in a 29 gallon 3 bala sharks and 3 clown loaches are not recommended!)

 

[semper fi]

the more that a mbuna tanks is overcrowded, the less aggression. also since most are harem breeders, meaning they take more than one mate, most are best kept in minimal groups of 3 females per every male. keeping the tank on the lower end of the temperature range will slow the fish's metabolism, causing slower growth also. slower growing fish are usually a better quality of fish.

yellow labs, labidochromis caeruleus, are the less aggressive of the mbuna. they are also one of the few mbuna that are kept in pairs. they are not harem breeders. it is best to keep holey rock in their tanks for the fry to have hiding places. yellow labs do not have color variations between the sexes. males with have a thicker stripe of black while the females is thinner.

cobalt bule and reds are in the pseudotropheus family. cobalt blue pseudotropheus callainos and red zebra pseudotropheus estherae are zebras. there are different color morphs to the zebras although no variation between the sexes. this species needs to be vented to be able to distinguish the different sexes. they are low to mid range aggressive and would do well with yellow labs, but with the zebras there is a chance of crossbreeding.

electric blues, or melanochromis johanni, are a midrange to high aggressive mbuna. the males are brilliant colored while the females are brown and drab. they are mouth breeders. best kept with like aggression fish. not suitable for labs.

protemalas taeniolatus, tangerine tiger, was formerly classified as haplochromis. this is a more peaceful fish. it is from lake malawi but is classed as a utaka. utaka are the deepwater fish. this fish, classified as a dwarf species, will get to about 4" adult. it does best in more open water tanks. it is a mouthbreeder and harem breeder. would be best kept in groups of 3 females per male. this fish would also do good with the labs if the tank was taller, the labs had hiding places for fry along the bottom with an open water area for them. you would probably be looking to house them in a 65 or better to get this environment

rams, or ramirezi, is a south american fish. i would not advise mixing this species with africans as they have different needs. ramirezi is a more peaceful fish. considered a dwarf. they like bushy planted environments. their environment would also not be a good mix with the africans as the digging unearths the plants. also plants tend to get eaten in african tanks as this is their main staple in the wild. rams do well with discus though. as they have the same needs.

blood parrots are not a cichlid. they are a hybrid. hybrids are man made fish. the two species are mated scientifically, not naturally.

as with every species of cichlids there are different personalities of fish so to speak. also what works for one may not work for another.

hth

 

[ECH2005]

thanks for all the help! i dont know what i would do without all of you!

reading all this has given me a lot of ideas. it seems like the yellows labs + the zebras would be the best bet, plus i really like both of them so its win-win

how many of each should i get? and is there any others that can go with this?

i like the idea of 4 yellow labs, 1 cobalt zebra and 1 red zebra. will this work?


thanks again everyone

 

[cichlidtank]

Africans create strange situations, for one, the 1 gallon = 1 inch of fish rule doesnt really work for them. Depending on the food you feed your fish with, you could end up with extreme ammonia levels, but at the same time overstocking the tank could reduce aggression. But I recommend getting 2 Orange Peacocks and 1 Yellow Lab, remember each one of the fish you want is going to grow from 4 to 6 inches and will be relatively aggressive and each will have a relatively high output.

 

[semper fi]

the zebras will best be kept in groups of 3 females to every male. they are more aggressive than the labs. if you are going to get only one, which i wouldn't reccommend, try to get males.

 

[Vip]

SEMPER forgot to add that blood parrots are to big for a 29g as well, thats right SEMPER forgot to add it, SEMPER that is.

 

[semper fi]

didn't forget to add it. i don't waste my time with hybrids though.

 

[ECH2005]

so im a little confused...

now, you usually want to outnumber a more aggressive fish so that the less agressive ones dont get picked on, right? but if those fish need to be kept in numbers as well.

so do i just have too small of a tank to work with?

do the benefits of overstocking outweigh the negetives? wouldn't a really good filter keep the ammonia levels down even in an overstocked tank?

and if not, would suggestions by cichlidtank (2 orange peacocks, 1 yellow lab) and nina7777 (3 labs, 3 rustys) be a good idea?

------------------------
edit:

the more i read into this, the more it seems like im in over my head
but i am glad i have done all this before jumping right in!

if worse comes to worse, what are some good cichlids (even if it would only be 1 in a tank) that would go good in a community tank? i know the water conditions must be kept in mind, but other than that i dont know...

 

[semper fi]

you want to keep groups of 4 to keep the aggression level down. african cichlids can be very aggressive when they are chosing a mate. if you have a one on one ratio with the polygamus (harem) breeders, he more than likely will kill the female trying to intice her. where if the ratio is 3 females and 1 male his attention is not focused on just a lone female. if you have a ratio of 2 males and 3 females, the males will battle to determine the alpha male, possibly resulting in death of the subdominant male. they are very protective of their harems.

you don't have too small of a tank to work with. one of the requirements of an overstocked tank is good filtration and diligent water maintenance. you will want to chose a filter with a gph (gallons per hour) of atleast 3 times the size of your tank. you would want to turn over your tank water atleast 3 times every hour. every filter comes with the gph indicated on the box. i would reccommend 5 times the size though with an overstocked tank. so for your 29 gallon you want a filter with a gph of 150. the higher the gph the better. overkill is better than underkill. mbuna, since they are closer to the shore than utaka like swifter currents. i would also reccommend getting a powerhead with sponge filter. the powerhead should sit an inch or so under the water level.if you set it at the water level it will help encourage algae growth.

proper water maintenance means get a test kit for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. once a day you will want to test the water. at the first indication in a rise of toxin levels, do a water change. in overstocked tanks you will find that you are doing water changes more frequently than a "normal" stocked tank.

also keep in mind that this is advice only. you may find your experiences with fish different than someone who has kept the same fish. i have kept fish before that were totally different than fish that i keep now. each person's experiences are different.

don't get discouraged or frustrated. that is what everyone is here for. glad to see you asking questions before jumping into cichlids. cichlids are very rewarding though. worth the effort.

 

[ECH2005]

ok, so if i want 2 different types of cichilid in a tank, i would have to get 3 females and 1 male of one type, and 3 females and 1 male of the other type? so a total of 8? that seems like a lot for a 29gal, so can i only have 1 type in a tank?

or do you mean a 3:1 ratio for all types of harem breeders, so if labs and rustys are both harem (i dont know if they are) i would have 3 total females and 1 male. but then isnt there a chance of cross-breeding? ahhh so much to consider, i dont know what to think!


thanks a lot for all your help, everyone. You saved me a lot of trouble and even more importantly probably some fishie's lives!

 

[semper fi]

yes you would have 8 different fish in the tank. considering if you go by the rule of thumb, 1" of adult fish per 1 gallon of water you would have about 36" of fish. for the 29 it would be overstocked but we went through that. or you could also go with one type of mbuna.

labs can go with the 1:1 ratio. it seems like you prefer them. you could also keep it an all lab tank with a pair. or go with the rusty also. 1:1 on the labs and 3:1 on the rusty cichlids. should not be a possibility of crossbreeding. pseudotropheus zebra is known for crossbreeding.