# 45 gallon aquascape assistance



## fuhreakz (Dec 5, 2010)

Hello everyone!!!

So I've got a 45 gallon tank setup with african cichlids. This is what I have stocked (I know, probably not a good idea but too late now)

2 Kenyi (1m 1f)
2 Mel Auratus (1m 1f)
2 Lab Perlmuts (1m 1f)
2 Elongatus Chewere (1m 1f)
2 Ruby red Zebras (dunno the sexes)
1 Goby
3 Syno Cats
1 (either pearl zebra or socolofi) you can see him here 

The white fish is very agressive. He doesn't bite anyone or head but anyone but chases all the other fish. No matter how I setup the rocks, he always takes over half the tank. I'm sure it is probably because my tank is only 36" in length.

When I had the rocks setup like this






The white fish took the entire left side of the tank as his own.

Here is a video of my most recent rock setup....where he is taking over the right side of the tank....






Without changing my tank, does anyone have any ideas how I can stop all my fish from staying at one side of the tank?

I'm thinking maybe I'll have to get rid of the white one, but then I'm afraid the kenyi or aratus will go nuts and kill everything left lol .....

Any ideas?

I'm also a little worried that there is too much rock stunting their growth ....


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

fuhreakz said:


> I've got a 45 gallon tank setup with african cichlids. This is what I have stocked (I know, probably not a good idea but too late now)


It's never too late. What are the dimensions of the 45G?

One thing to note is that Malawi don't pair and with only one female the male may kill her. They are harem breeders and ideally you would have four or more females and one male of each species you stock. Some fish like auratus and kenyi are so aggressive that you want seven or more females to one male.


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## fuhreakz (Dec 5, 2010)

Thanks for the reply!

The tank dimensions are 36 1/4 x 12 5/8 x 23 3/4

So far the Kenyi and Auratus stick to their accompanying female, swimming around the tank together.


> It's never too late.


I say its too late because my tank seems to not be long enough to house all the fish I have. I don't think my LFS takes fish back as I've had them all since august. I just don't have the heart to flush the buggers.


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## ridley25 (Jan 5, 2008)

fuhreakz said:


> I say its too late because my tank seems to not be long enough to house all the fish I have. I don't think my LFS takes fish back as I've had them all since august. I just don't have the heart to flush the buggers.


You don't need to flush them. There are plenty of stores in Toronto that will take your adults for credit, or at least take them off your hands and house them in a larger tank. PM me if you want some names.

A 36" tank is really best with one species of mbuna - two at the most - in the 1/4 ratio suggested by DJRansom.

kevin


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## fuhreakz (Dec 5, 2010)

So I've decided. I'm going to take out some rocks and leave alot of open space for a few weeks. Whoever dies, loses.


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## ridley25 (Jan 5, 2008)

Don't take this as a personal attack, but careless behaviour like that may not engender much help from the people on this forum.

We are already playing god by taking fish that in their natural habitat range over a volume of several hundred or thousand gallons and closing them into fractions of that; the _least _we can do is give them a chance at surviving in such an enclosed space.

Besides, high stress environments leave the door open for diseases such as bloat that can take out a whole population.

You may find that all of your fish "lose."

kevin


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## fuhreakz (Dec 5, 2010)

ridley25 said:


> Don't take this as a personal attack, but careless behaviour like that may not engender much help from the people on this forum.
> 
> We are already playing god by taking fish that in their natural habitat range over a volume of several hundred or thousand gallons and closing them into fractions of that; the _least _we can do is give them a chance at surviving in such an enclosed space.
> 
> ...


Thanks for preaching to the choir...

But remember, what God says goes  My world will be war.. mwahahahha...

No but seriously looking at other tanks I have such a large amount of lava rock and slate plus a huge piece of holey rock. I'm going to remove some for sure and get some more open space. But I'm also going to try and get rid of my Goby to a store as he's too much of a wuss with the agressive mbuna. Probably the labs too. I'll keep the rest for now... I think...

Still undecided.....


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## GTZ (Apr 21, 2010)

Its normal for Kenyi or Auratus to claim 1-2 square feet of floor area....your 3x1 doesn't add up and you *will* lose fish. Take the Kenyi and Auratus to your nearest Big Al's for a credit.


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## fuhreakz (Dec 5, 2010)

GTZ said:


> Its normal for Kenyi or Auratus to claim 1-2 square feet of floor area....your 3x1 doesn't add up and you *will* lose fish. Take the Kenyi and Auratus to your nearest Big Al's for a credit.


Well the Kenyi and Auratus have not taken any territory. The only fish that has is the pearl zebra. He is the king of my tank.

Luckily a buddy of mine is giving me a 75 gallon tank. 4' x 13" x 21".

Looks like I"m going to get rid of the Goby, the zebras and the pearlmutts.

Going to add some more chewere and aratus and Kenyii if I can find any...


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