# Need help stocking a 55 gallon



## CutieSusieQ (May 12, 2009)

I have already seen the cookie cutter setup so please don't tell me to refer to that for help. I have spent several hours researching fish for my aquarium. I need some advice and opinions to help me finalize my decision before making the purchase.

First, my tank is 55 gallons (4 feet long). I have a black background with feather rock caves and mexican beach stones caves as well. I am wanting lots of colorful fish but I don't want the fish to get too big for my tank and become crowded. I don't really want to breed fish either. I would prefer less aggressive fish. Right now my tank has one electic blue maingano but I am trading him because I don't want an aggresive fish such as him. I have already moved my other fish to another tank. I want to set up my 55 gallon as a Lake Malawi tank. So I am looking for ideas

Below is what I like..

Electric Yellow Lab.... I love the yellow, but how many?
Pseudotropheus sp. Acei...I don't know much about these. How many? I read 6 was good.
Sciaenochromis fryeri "electic blue hap"...prefer males because of the blue.
Bristle nose plecos...one or two...or something else as a clean up fish.
Aulonocara sp. Maleri Ruben Red peacock...prefer males 
Cynotilapia afra "jalo reef"....I really like the blue but the male Sciaenochromis fryeri is also blue.

Well thats the fish I seem to like and I have read will do good together in a 55 gallon. I am just confused b/c I want lots of color but not too much of one color. Yellow, blue, red and orange would be cool too if possible. I just need to know what you guys think about my choices. I'm not sure how many of each to stock in my tank. I have read that overstocking is best then other's say its not...so I'm totally confused. Please help.


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## lotsofish (Feb 28, 2008)

To get lots of color and keep aggression low, you really need to consider an all-male tank. There is an excellent article on this site: http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/a ... malawi.php

I have a black background on my African tank and have found that darker blues just don't stand out very well so I would advise against the electric blue hap. Yellows and lighter blues look great. Here is an idea of the colors against the black background.










Oranges also look great. The dragonblood and the firefish peacocks are hybrids that really stand out against the black background. An OB peacock would also look good.


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## ccwb333 (Dec 12, 2007)

The acei and yel labs work well with 6 of each. You will be able to add one more group, and some bristlenose if u want and that will fill up the tank. I had cyno white top hara with my labs and acei in my 1st 55. I had plenty of filtration, actually started with 9 white tops and got rid of 3 extra males i had.


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## GoofBoy (Jul 3, 2007)

> The acei and yel labs work well with 6 of each.


I'll second that.

Instead of a third mbuna group you could add 3-4 male haps/peacocks to give some diversity and eye popping color.

If you really like striking blue (and who doesn't) I would go Copadichromis azureus in a 55 gallon instead of the S. fryeri. The fryeri can be pretty psychotic.

Please let us know what you decide.

Good Luck.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

I agree with the others, your preferences are leading you to an all male tank. Read the article in the Library and be prepared for the challenges, this is not a "buy fish and you're done" kind of project.

I'd skip the Acei since you have a 55G, they are a large fish and they do like to be in groups of six. I'd do the 6 yellow labs and 6 male peacocks. I don't think you can get much more peaceful and colorful. Good luck!


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## CutieSusieQ (May 12, 2009)

lotsofish said:


> I have a black background on my African tank and have found that darker blues just don't stand out very well so I would advise against the electric blue hap. Yellows and lighter blues look great. Oranges also look great. The dragonblood and the firefish peacocks are hybrids that really stand out against the black background. An OB peacock would also look good.


Thank you for replying. Which lighter blue fish do you think I should go with? I love yellows, blues, and orange against a black background. It's so beautiful and I think it's as close to a salt water look that can be achieved with fresh water. I do like the peacocks but I wasn't sure which ones to go with. I will definitely make note of your advice. Thanks again.


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## CutieSusieQ (May 12, 2009)

GoofBoy said:


> Instead of a third mbuna group you could add 3-4 male haps/peacocks to give some diversity and eye popping color. If you really like striking blue (and who doesn't) I would go Copadichromis azureus in a 55 gallon instead of the S. fryeri. The fryeri can be pretty psychotic.


Thanks for replying. So you think I should go with yel labs, acei, and some peacocks? The Copadichromis azureus is a very pretty fish but if I fill my tank with all males I'm afraid he will get too big for my 55 gallon. Once I decide I will definitely let you know. Thanks again.


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## CutieSusieQ (May 12, 2009)

ccwb333 said:


> The acei and yel labs work well with 6 of each. You will be able to add one more group, and some bristlenose if u want and that will fill up the tank. I had cyno white top hara with my labs and acei in my 1st 55. I had plenty of filtration, actually started with 9 white tops and got rid of 3 extra males i had.


The cyno white top hara is a beautiful fish also. I am leaning toward acei, yel labs, and some peacocks. The yellow tail acei is beautiful but I know the lighting will play a big role on how his color pops. The hard part is going to be finding a place around here who actually has the fish I want!! I don't know how I feel about mail order. Doesn't seem safe. Have you ever used Fedex for fish delivery?


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## CutieSusieQ (May 12, 2009)

DJRansome said:


> I'd skip the Acei since you have a 55G, they are a large fish and they do like to be in groups of six. I'd do the 6 yellow labs and 6 male peacocks. I don't think you can get much more peaceful and colorful. Good luck!


The yel labs and peacocks are a definite. I am going to have to do some more research on the acei. Thank you for replying.

Anyone have suggestions on lighting? My 55 gallon has two lights, one on each side so I'm not sure if I can acheive the lighting I want with that type of top. I want the colors to pop and have heard that 50/50 twin tubes is best with one being an actinic blue and the other white. But the whole lighting thing really has me confused b/c there are way to many choices.


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## hollyfish2000 (Aug 23, 2007)

> I'd skip the Acei since you have a 55G, they are a large fish and they do like to be in groups of six. I'd do the 6 yellow labs and 6 male peacocks. I don't think you can get much more peaceful and colorful. Good luck!


I completely agree with this. It's sort of what I have in my 60 gallon. What else I'd recommend:

Get three to four synodontis multipunctatus instead of the bristlenoses (I hate hearing about them getting murdered or blinded). These synos are very pretty and active fish and will get the food that falls to the substrate. They will also serve as "fry patrol" as your six labs will breed.

Peacocks that have worked well or me:

Ruby/German red
Ngara flametail
Red shoulder
Blue neon
Maylandi (sulfurhead)

The Eureka Red and Yellow Jake are also very nice, but they are the so-called jacobfriberghi group and tend to more the aggressive of the peacocks. I've had one naughty Eureka Red that was re-homed and one fabulous, pussycat of a Yellow Jake. So it's a bit inconsistent.

As for haps, the copadichromis mloto ivory head is quite fabulous. I also have a Taiwan Reef in my tank, which I love.

It gets hard to add fish to an all male tank, so you might consider adding all of the peacocks together and then all of the labs in a second go-'round. It also found it best to get the peacocks when they are large enough to be showing color and clearly male, but not fully mature.

Good luck!


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

I read the same advice as you did on the 50/50 lights and bought white bulbs and actinic bulbs, only to remove the actinic. It created too much algae.

Although lighting makes a difference, it's very slight. My first year I played around with different color bulbs, now I really just use white for the plants and zoo med *ocean reef *for unplanted tanks.

If you have a quarantine tank, but one of each color bulb for that. You can see how they look, and choose what you want for your display tank. Eventually the Q-tank bulb will burn out and you can use the extras as replacements.

Maingano aren't that aggressive and if you want to keep things more peaceful than that, I'd avoid any other mbuna than labs...I have the cyno sp hara a.k.a. white tops.


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## CutieSusieQ (May 12, 2009)

hollyfish2000 said:


> Peacocks that have worked well or me:
> 
> Ruby/German red
> Ngara flametail
> ...


I looked all these fish up and wow...I really love their colors. Very beautiful. Do you have any photos to share of your fish? Have you ever bought fish from online? I'm not sure how I feel about having fish shipped to my house...seems as though they would die from stress or temp changes and such. My local fish store doesn't even know what they sell. They have their cichlids in a tank labeled "mixed cichlids" so I don't trust buying from them.

I want to say thank you sooooo much for giving me actual types of peacocks to research. That helps me out so much when deciding on colors.


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## CutieSusieQ (May 12, 2009)

DJRansome said:


> I read the same advice as you did on the 50/50 lights and bought white bulbs and actinic bulbs, only to remove the actinic. It created too much algae.


Ahhh, ok...yeah I don't want anything that will help algae grow. It's not a problem for me now but I don't want to help it to maybe become a problem either.


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## Matt1986 (May 15, 2009)

DJRansome said:


> Maingano aren't that aggressive and if you want to keep things more peaceful than that, I'd avoid any other mbuna than labs...I have the cyno sp hara a.k.a. white tops.


There are plenty of Mbuna less agressive then Maingano - even a little research will reveal this


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

That's not what I meant, sorry to be unclear. I'd say maingano are mid-level aggressive so 50% of mbuna are less aggressive.

What I meant was, if even that mid-level of aggression was so abhorrent that OP would return the fish, then my interpretation was that she was serious about having the most peaceful fish possible and cyno sp hara would not be on my list for that.


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## hollyfish2000 (Aug 23, 2007)

Alas, no photos. I'm an idiot when it comes to aquarium photography.

I have not ordered online. The Profiles section here can send you in the right direction for a retailer. There are a few in your general area (from my memory) so that might be a good way to go so the fish are not in transit very long. You might also look on Craig's list or this site's Trading Post (or your local cichlid or aquarium club) for locals who do breeding. None of the peacocks I listed are particularly rare or hard to find.

Believe it or not, the labs I got were from Petsmart and they are completely perfect -- no black barring, great yellow color and black fins. So that is one thought for finding labs.


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## CutieSusieQ (May 12, 2009)

hollyfish2000 said:


> Believe it or not, the labs I got were from Petsmart and they are completely perfect -- no black barring, great yellow color and black fins. So that is one thought for finding labs.


Yes, yellow labs are easy to come by. Every fish store I have been to just to look around for ideas has yellow labs. It's the peacocks that I will probably have trouble finding in my lfs. I will definitely check out those references you gave me. As you can tell, I am kinda new to the cichlid hobby. I have two parrots (blood red and jelly bean) in another tank so I'm not completely new to keeping fish, but I am just now stepping into the hobby of Lake Malawi Cichlid tanks. I am taking my time and doing things right.


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## CutieSusieQ (May 12, 2009)

Any other suggestions from anyone else??


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