Thinking of African Cichlids

[thebrick]

Thinking of starting up an african cichlid tank.
55 gallon.

Now my question is this. I would like too see about 8-10 fish more if i can get away with it. atleast 2 kinds as well. Wouldnt mind the off chance of breeding thats always a fun thing . Also what could i use for a clean up crew with the suggested fish?

Thanks in advance.

[JustOneMore20]

In a 55g I'd go with 3 groups of 6 or 4 groups of 4-5...something like that. I have 4 types of Africans in my 55g and my plan is to have a group of 6, a group of 5-6, a group of 4 and a group of 4...which would be a max of 20 fish. We'll see how it goes though.

You can always have less than that if you want though. To lessen aggression and increase the chance of breeding, I'd go with just one male of each type and the rest females, i.e: 1m/3f for one group or 1m/5f.

[Mazzy]

I don't know if you could call this a suggestion but this is what I had in my 65 which is just a 55 but taller....

4 daffodil brichardis
3 brichardis (white with black bands @ eyes - it was a long time ago, can't remember the name)
3 orange compressiceps (could have been mislabelled calvus)
&
1 male frontosa

The variation in color and body shapes looked very nice. The daffodils ended up being 2m and 2f and they split sides in the tank. One pair bred repeatedly and lived beside the front's big flower pot and one pair had just a couple unsuccessful breedings and lived in the rock pile on the opposite side. The comps also lived in the rocks in the center of the tank and the three little white brichardis (probably out of neccessity) stayed toward the top of the rock pile (the rock pile was about 2/3 of the tank against the back wall and then a small open space and then a large half of a terra cotta pot on the other end which the front lived in.
This combo functioned very well together, especially given the fact that they were in close quaters.
Good Luck!!

[kay-bee]

For a clean up crew, a synodontis catfish would work (there are various species, and many of these african catfish have the disposition (they're semi-aggressive) to thrive in african cichlid tanks. I keep three different syno. species (in various tanks). Examples:

Here's a pic of a synodontis eupterus:


Here's a synodontis angelicus:


Some people have also had success with bristlenose/bushynose plecos as well.

[Osiris]

Another route if you wanted to go Lake Malawi cichlids, is to go 1m3f of pea****************'s, 1m/4f of mbuna, and a group of synodontis multipunctatus. the cool thing is these will all breed in that 55g including the syno multis!

[ihasanzongi]

i would say, 12-18 fish max! make sure you have a really good filter tho, and lots of places for the fish to hide, overstocking is usuall in these types of tanks, to make it less argessive, think about it like this, if you were in a group of people it would be alot easier to get away then just you and the person or fish in this case, following you

[IloveCichlids]

Overcrowding might be OK, IF and this is a big IF, there is more than enough filtration and you are very diligent about your cleaning regimine!

Are you looking to go Malawi or Tang?

Both are really neat, just depends on what you are looking for. I would suggest going with the Tangs if you are just going to keep the 55. I would put 1 - 2 small Fronts to start out with, then soem Calvis or Comps. They are both very slow growers but the Front will get to be 12" or so if taken care of properly, it only takes a lot longer than most fish. You can then go the route of some Brichardi if you like. I would not put more than 3 - 4. They very well may pair up and if they do, watch out. They are mean and they breed like crazy. There are also many other tangs out there that are really neat looking.

Mbuna's from Malawi would be alright too. They will most def. pair up and you will have babies comming out of every hiding place in your tank. They are very fast growers as well.

There are also P E A C O C K S as well as Osiris said above

Hope this helps.

[redzebra24]

i would go with either mbuna or peacoks and definitly a petrocoila or a multi, they look cool and clean up pretty good. also a good filter. i love my rena xp3

[girth vader]

the only problem with only having 1 male is that sometimes they get complacent and will not show as nice because they have no competition. If you have 2 males 5-6 females the Dom male will readily show all the time. And you will have females constantly holding. If you can get a hold of some Black calvus or white, grab em up. a small colony will be fine in a 55g and they fetch a good buck at 1.5-2".

[Laura Ann]

Dude... I didn't realize this was from December...

My bad!

[CichlidsGeek]

Yes going with the africans lake malwis is a good way to go

For a 55 you could go with damsani (These are blue and black strped) and yellow labs aka electric yellow (Yellow with black markings)Because of their variety in color and shape they tend to leave one another alone. You need multiple damsoni though (Some say 12 but they don't get to big) They are a very nice contrast but you should definatly do some research.

[CichlidsGeek]

Tikes didn't read the post above!