# Help with 75G Single Species only tank



## joeyo (Jul 2, 2012)

Hey Fish friends,

I have a 75 gallon tank (48" long), and once cycled, will use it for a single species only tank.

I'd like your help with picking this specific specie, if you have experience or good knowledge of them.

This would be my second tank, my primary is a 240G stocked with mostly males from Lake Malawi - Haps, Peacocks and Mbuna (Acei & Labs). For the time being, this tank is doing very well, avg sizes are 4.5".

Back to my question, and what I'm not interested in Oscar or flower horns.

Goals - striking colors, able to house 3 to 6 total without destroying one another, 6" to 8" at full size, do well in a 48" long 75g tank. breeding a plus but not required, and do well in 8.0ph water that's not too hard GH, due to water softener.

Hope this helps.

Thanks, Joe


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## Bevo52 (Sep 17, 2012)

Group of tropheus. Lots of various color options you can 'pick' from. Super active fish that are going to fill out the entire tank. You can fit a decent sized colony in there and the rockscape could be really cool in a longer tank (i.e. lots of river rocks etc). You'll get them breeding more than you'll ever want, but that's fun.

Tropheus are a bit more complicated in that they require more stable conditions and a strict diet, but once the colony is established they're a ton of fun.


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## james1983 (Dec 23, 2007)

How about a type of thorichthys? There's numerous members of the family besides firemouths and they do great in larger groups.


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## tanker3 (May 18, 2015)

Firemouths are a great choice. Other ideas are Rainbow Cichlids, Electric Blue Acaras, Sajicas, or if you go African Rift- How about some Red Top Zebras.


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## joeyo (Jul 2, 2012)

Thank you for your suggestions. However, the difficulty in switching Lakes and diet seem more challenging than I want. Tropheus & bloat hand in hand along with dietary requirements. No NLS/NorthFin? At least that is what I found on the forums.

I might go with the Red Top or Afra Hara's? I really like their maskings. This would be a 1M 6F group.

Thoughts?


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

You would need more fish in a 75G than 7 individuals. Why not Pseudotropheus saulosi? You have a good chance of getting multiple males to color up...as opposed to some of the species you mentioned.

Shoot for 20 fish. 4m:16f.


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## DutchAJ (Dec 24, 2016)

DJRansome said:


> You would need more fish in a 75G than 7 individuals. Why not Pseudotropheus saulosi? You have a good chance of getting multiple males to color up...as opposed to some of the species you mentioned.
> 
> Shoot for 20 fish. 4m:16f.


I started a 75 gallon about 6 months ago with acei, Saulosi, and rusties. Kinda wish I did this instead.


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## joeyo (Jul 2, 2012)

After watching a few YouTube videos, I started leaning towards the flowerhorn that I originally ruled out. Love the larger size, they seem like a very interesting & intelligent fish. Tank size and number of them in a 75G seems like they would automatically be ruled out however. Could 4 work in a 75G - Thoughts?

Otherwise the Pseudotropheus saulosi look like a great choice for the 75G. Since they are a dwarf Mbuna, what would be the number to stock? Would 20 be a good number to start and then selectively reduce them down as they color/ mature to about 12 to 15?


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## noddy (Nov 20, 2006)

joeyo said:


> Thank you for your suggestions. However, the difficulty in switching Lakes and diet seem more challenging than I want. Tropheus & bloat hand in hand along with dietary requirements. No NLS/NorthFin? At least that is what I found on the forums.
> 
> I might go with the Red Top or Afra Hara's? I really like their maskings. This would be a 1M 6F group.
> 
> Thoughts?


All my Tropheus (7 groups) were fed NLS and Northfin.


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## dalto (Aug 20, 2006)

joeyo said:


> Tropheus & bloat hand in hand along with dietary requirements. No NLS/NorthFin? At least that is what I found on the forums.


I haven't kept tropheus in a while but I had a two different groups and both were fed NLS without issue. Personally, I wouldn't drop a colony of tropheus in an unestablished tank though. They are not near as hard to keep as is sometimes claimed but they are by no means a beginner fish either.



joeyo said:


> After watching a few YouTube videos, I started leaning towards the flowerhorn that I originally ruled out. Love the larger size, they seem like a very interesting & intelligent fish. Tank size and number of them in a 75G seems like they would automatically be ruled out however. Could 4 work in a 75G - Thoughts?


There are a whole bunch of different fish called "Flowerhorn" but if you are talking about the longstanding large growing variety descended in part from trimaculatus you could have exactly 1 in a 75g tank. They can be very territorial, especially with each other.



joeyo said:


> Otherwise the Pseudotropheus saulosi look like a great choice for the 75G. Since they are a dwarf Mbuna, what would be the number to stock? Would 20 be a good number to start and then selectively reduce them down as they color/ mature to about 12 to 15?


I would 20 in a 75 would be workable as long as you had a good M/F ratio. More is usually better than less with saulosi.


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## Drake1588 (Jul 19, 2017)

A single flowerhorn is worth dozens of other fish if you're looking to have some personal interactions. They're like doofy little puppies with scales and fins. One is the correct number though. They also are one of the few fish that get large that do well in smaller than ginormous aquariums. I recommend checking out Joey's flowerhorn, Frank, on the King of DIY YouTube channel.


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