opinion on 125 setup

[tropicalcrazy]

ok ive been debating on how to set up a 125 or bigger. im thinking about building an acrylic tank around this size. ive been really wanting to do a cichlid tank and this is what i have come up with.

this is the stocking list that i created and would like some opinions of whether it will work or not and i did read the cichlid thread a couple times:

Red Parrot CA cichlid http://liveaquaria.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=830+889+1599&pcatid=1599
albino peacock cichlid lake malawi Tropical Fish for Freshwater Aquariums: Albino Peacock Cichlid
bumblebee cichlid lake malawi Tropical Fish for Freshwater Aquariums: Bumblebee Cichlid
demasoni cichlid lake malawi Tropical Fish for Freshwater Aquariums: Demasoni Cichlid African Cichlids
red zebra cichlid lake malawi Tropical Fish for Freshwater Aquariums: Red Zebra Cichlid Malawian African Cichlids
yellow peacock cichlid lake malawi Tropical Fish for Freshwater Aquariums: Yellow Peacock Cichlid
tretocephalus cichlid lake tanganyika Tropical Fish for Freshwater Aquariums: Tretocephalus Cichlid Tanganyikan African Cichlid

the ones im curious if they will mix would be the red parrot and the tretocephalus with all the other lake malawi cichlids.

i checked all the stats and it seems if i keep the tank at 78-80 degrees KH at around 10-15 and keep the pH around 8 it should work for them all.

and my last question, would i be able to do 1 of each or would i need to buy multiples of the same so they can school or will they school with what is there? and what bottom feeders or algae eaters other than pleco's or gold/chinese algae eaters would work with these fish?

 

[unwritten law]

A pleco is your best bet for algae eaters although it is never absolutely necessary to have one. I don't know a lot about Africans, but I am pretty sure its best to stick with one lake type and not mix with new world cichlids. You should really reed up on each individual species to see if they are compatible in a tank and how many of each is best.

 

[tropicalcrazy]

A pleco is your best bet for algae eaters although it is never absolutely necessary to have one. I don't know a lot about Africans, but I am pretty sure its best to stick with one lake type and not mix with new world cichlids. You should really reed up on each individual species to see if they are compatible in a tank and how many of each is best.

yeah i figured i would add a couple unique plecos to it but didnt know if like loaches or anything like that would work.

ive been trying to read as much as possible about these guys. man it sucks you cant mix some of them. i want a very vibrant bright feel from the fish. without going saltwater im thinking either cichlids or discus is my best bet but i like the cichlids a lot, ecspecially the african species.

i also have been thinking and another 2 to go to that list would be a senegal bichir (maybe the albino one) and a black knife (my buddy has a brown one with almost fully grown ocsars and both the knife and bichir do fine with them.) but his tank is a 55 with a albino tiger oscar, a tiger oscar, brown knife, senegal bichir, and a chocolate pleco and they all do well together. he had a jack dempsey in there to but when the oscars got big they started to pick on the jack demsey

 

[Orion]

The difference in temperament of an oscar and mbuna are similar to the difference in night and day. Oscar's are pure pansy's when compared to some of the even 'mild' mbuna, much less the aggressive ones.

I would either stick with all mbuna or all peacocks if you want to go with a colorful active tank. Your going to run into trouble adding the tret due to different dietary needs from the mbuna, and the blood parrots are hard to say how they are going to act and is a gamble in any tank IMO.

So sticking with a general type is going to be less of a headache for you in the long run. Read, research, read, ask questions and read some more. It's a lot of info to take in at first, but well worth it in the end.

 

[SinisterKisses]

Skip the BP, jack, Oscar for sure - they don't belong in an African tank. It's not just about pH levels...their personalities, temperaments, etc, differ greatly. A BP would be miserable with all those aggressive mbuna.

Stick with an all-Lake-Malawi stock list. Then again, you really shouldn't mix peacocks with the aggressive mbuna you have listed. Yet again, they would likely be miserable. Mbuna are rock fish, peacocks needs more open swim space. Peacocks are fairly "peaceful", mbuna are aggressive - and you have some extremely aggressive species listed. You'd be best sticking with either all haps/peacocks, or just mbuna. They CAN potentially co-exist, but they wouldn't necessarily be happy.

As for numbers, if you do mbuna, you should get groups. If you do haps/peacocks, you could do an all-male tank with just one of each species, it's a common set up.

 

[tropicalcrazy]

well thank you guys/gals for the input. it helps out a lot.

i have a list that ive put together trying to keep an all lake malawi tank. i will post in a couple days. only have computer at work and wont be back till friday. lol. the list i put together i was thinking im going to need a 250.

i was putting 4 males with 16 females, and if i can remember right they are, albino peacock, blue johanni, bumblebee, cobalt blue zebra, demasoni, kenyi, red peacock, red zebra, & yellow peacock. its a combination of 8 of the 9 and one of those i wasnt going to add (cant remember off the top of my head though). i was going to do a male albino peacock, yellow peacock, demasoni, & blue johanni and do 2 each of females for the rest. therefore i keep a ratio of 3 females to 1 male and i was thinking a 250 would be the route i would do so its big enough for all them and they can all have their own territories. i figured if they mate and there are hybrids oh well. i kinda am partial to hybrids.

 

[tropicalcrazy]

Skip the BP, jack, Oscar for sure - they don't belong in an African tank. It's not just about pH levels...their personalities, temperaments, etc, differ greatly. A BP would be miserable with all those aggressive mbuna.

Stick with an all-Lake-Malawi stock list. Then again, you really shouldn't mix peacocks with the aggressive mbuna you have listed. Yet again, they would likely be miserable. Mbuna are rock fish, peacocks needs more open swim space. Peacocks are fairly "peaceful", mbuna are aggressive - and you have some extremely aggressive species listed. You'd be best sticking with either all haps/peacocks, or just mbuna. They CAN potentially co-exist, but they wouldn't necessarily be happy.

As for numbers, if you do mbuna, you should get groups. If you do haps/peacocks, you could do an all-male tank with just one of each species, it's a common set up.

when you say that with an all lake malawi list, which would be the aggressive mbuna, the red zebra and cobalt blue zebra, and are those the only mbuna from the new list that i just dropped for a 250? so ive been doing A TON of reading and will continue to do so but i didnt know you couldnt mix the mbuna and the peacock even though they were from lake malawi.

i figured that 125 would be too small for all those that i want so thats why im wanting to go ahead and bump up to a 250. with going that high/big of a tank i figured as long as there was plenty of hiding spaces they might be fine in a tank that big. but i may be wrong, once again new to the cichlid world but becoming more and more addicted every day, just waiting to get out of this apartment so i can build a tank that big and the floor in my place can handle that much weight and have the space to hold something of that compasity

 

[SinisterKisses]

The mbuna are everything you listed that didn't have "peacock" on it. And pretty much all mbuna are aggressive compared to most peacocks, but some are infamous as being extremely aggressive. Kenyi, bumblebees, demasoni, and red zebras are some of the species at the top of the list.

 

[big54bob]

Why not stick the fish you already have. That bala would need that more then those fish you listed. You could keep all those species in a 55gal(but not together as SK put it) Choose your stocking carefully.

 

[tropicalcrazy]

The mbuna are everything you listed that didn't have "peacock" on it. And pretty much all mbuna are aggressive compared to most peacocks, but some are infamous as being extremely aggressive. Kenyi, bumblebees, demasoni, and red zebras are some of the species at the top of the list.

thank you that explains a lot. your A HUGE help and so has orion been. thanks you to you both.

so with mbuna's if i were to do an all mbuna tank that would be alright? and if i went with just peacocks are there any other african cichlids that will mix alright with them that are colorful like them?

 

[tropicalcrazy]

Why not stick the fish you already have. That bala would need that more then those fish you listed. You could keep all those species in a 55gal(but not together as SK put it) Choose your stocking carefully.

i plan on keeping what i have. i just want more fish and more tanks. thats why and i want to experiment with new fish and more interesting fish.