# what yall think?



## somebody (May 13, 2014)

Sorry for another stocking question. I'm not to keen on who goes with who so I come to you for assistance. I'm going for a highly colorful, all male, tank. I'm tired of dealing with all these fries.

72 x 18 x 20
125g
sump w/ trickle filter and fuge and 2x fluval 306's
Lightly planted

1)Protomelas taeniolatus "red empress"- 4
2)Cyrtocara moorii "blue dolphin"- 4
3)Aulonocara stuartgranti "flavescent peacock"- 2
4)Pseudotropheus sp. "Yellow tail acei"- 2
5)Haplochromis sp. "Flame back"- 3
6)"Lellow labs" 5 (I already have)
7)Botia macracantna "clown loach"- 2

The must haves are at the top. The ones I can do without or willing to sub with are at the bottom. I am willing to do a single fish of each species and trying to stay under 25 fish.Try to keep it to more popular fish for easier acquisition of fish. I need to bring my tank to life. 







opcorn:


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## rafini (Mar 20, 2014)

Sounds like it should work to me, you picked very mild mannered Mbuna species that are easy to mix with non Mbuna.
Although I have heard there are better loaches for the rift lake aquarium than clown loaches. I hear that red tailed blue botia aswell as Yoyos are a better choice, and probably cheaper and easier to get hold of.


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## somebody (May 13, 2014)

rafini said:


> Sounds like it should work to me, you picked very mild mannered Mbuna species that are easy to mix with non Mbuna.
> Although I have heard there are better loaches for the rift lake aquarium than clown loaches. I hear that red tailed blue botia aswell as Yoyos are a better choice, and probably cheaper and easier to get hold of.


I'll have to check them out, I like the clown loaches for their color and size. I also like the Sewellia lineolata "reticulated hill stream loach" as well.


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## Iggy Newcastle (May 15, 2012)

The quantities per species is too low, as most Malawis don't fare too well in pairs or trios. But you stated that you're tired of having fry and going for all male? If that's the case, you only want one male per species. In your sized tank, look to stock around 20 male fish.

I'd skip the loaches and substitute a Synodontis. Proven a successful addition to Malawi set ups.


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## boomer92 (Apr 17, 2013)

Don't know enough to give advice, but I love the tank. I'll be waiting.


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## Iggy Newcastle (May 15, 2012)

boomer92 said:


> I love the tank. I'll be waiting.


I agree. Forgot to mention it earlier.


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## somebody (May 13, 2014)

Thanks for the props guys.

Iggy:
Can you give me some suggestions on singles I can look up? I looked through the 55 and 75 cookie cutters and just pieced and parted from there. I guess I can look through the species profiles for peacocks and haps to. The only thing is that I don't know what's readily available with my fish shop and with my luck I'd get my heart set on a species that's rare and a hard find. Plus I don't know what can go with what. And yes I'm tired of fry.

PM me if anyone is interested in yellow lab fry all are 1/2 inch and under right now lol. The fish shop won't take them.


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## Kanorin (Apr 8, 2008)

See my signature for a few haps and peacocks that may work for you. Most of them can be found without too much trouble, but I did have to mail order a few of them.

Why don't you call up or go to the fish store where you plan on buying these and post their stock list? I can guess a few very common species that they are likely to carry, but every LFS is different.

Is there a reason that you don't want to mail order fish?


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## Iggy Newcastle (May 15, 2012)

Sorry somebody, but I'm not the guy for All male tank advice and choosing possible compatible candidates. Try typing in 'all male' in the forum's search bar to get hundreds of old posts pertaining to such setups.

Mail order is a safe way to get what you really want.


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## somebody (May 13, 2014)

I'm not really trusting of mail order but it's slowly starting to look like I'm going to end up using it. It just doesn't seem cost effective to ship items I can get at the lfs. I guess I'll have to see


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## Ramseydog14 (Dec 31, 2013)

Iggy Newcastle said:


> Sorry somebody, but I'm not the guy for All male tank advice and choosing possible compatible candidates. Try typing in 'all male' in the forum's search bar to get hundreds of old posts pertaining to such setups.
> 
> Mail order is a safe way to get what you really want.


..just make sure you type that in to "this forum's" search..and not google or bing!! 

I second what Iggy says here. It took me months of looking around my local LFS..trying to pick out good quality Cichlids, before I broke down and mail ordered fish. My reasoning was the same as yours,..but of course you may have excellent local fish stores or breeders (I don't),..in that case you may be right. IF you make a fairly good size order 12-15+ fish, the shipping isn't too bad based on the total of the order and higher # of fish (i.e. it makes no sense to order 2 or 3 fish and pay $40 to have them shipped). A couple other things I will say about it,..the selection is SO much better it's unreal,..they arrive quickly and healthy (I've had one arrive DOA in 4 orders of maybe 60 total fish,..and my account was credited for my next order),..and I also notice that as the fish grow up, the high quality ordered fish rarely die or get sick..as compared to a fish from my LFS,..they just seem to be naturally healthier and stronger. Like I said though,..this is just my experience based on the stores in my area. If you have a great local store..you are very lucky!


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## johnnymarko (May 30, 2014)

I like to brag about it, but I have an amazing store here for Africans in the Denver area. I've never ordered fish online, and don't plan to until I get a lot more experience in the hobby and want the really rare ones.

At my LFS, she updates her stock list monthly online with what she has/new ones she's gotten. She claims to have 90% males (even smaller juvies) and I don't know how the H she does it, but I've gotten almost 20 fish from her and all have grown up to be beautiful males. I have an all male peacock/hap tank. Prepare for a lot of trial and error with this setup. It's a lot of work but I always get compliments from people in my house about how colorful my setup is.

....sorry, that didn't really add anything


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## somebody (May 13, 2014)

Thanks for the input Ramsey and Johnny.

I've also read (don't know how true it is) you are supposed to add all the fish at once to stop/ mitigate aggression? Could I just redo the brickwork to help with that so I can do 1 or 2 here and there?


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## Kanorin (Apr 8, 2008)

1 or 2 here or there can work if you buy them very small, but once they start putting on some color it will not often end well. You could add 4-5 at a time though - that usually has much better success since no single fish gets a lot of attention.


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## johnnymarko (May 30, 2014)

somebody said:


> Thanks for the input Ramsey and Johnny.
> 
> I've also read (don't know how true it is) you are supposed to add all the fish at once to stop/ mitigate aggression? Could I just redo the brickwork to help with that so I can do 1 or 2 here and there?


I've had success adding 1 or 2 fish at a time, but Like K said, they should be very small. My tank boss is a 5" elec blue ahli that has never tried to kill another fish, but he definitely makes it known the tank is his. I (foolishly) tried adding a beautifully colored German Red ~ 4" one time, yea not so much. I completely rearranged everything, kept the lights off, and covered the tank. They battled for a little bit, but the Hap claimed the tank once again and the German Red stepped down. I thought about removing him, but (foolishly) didn't. It's okay now, but I would never add 1 fully colored male again.


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## somebody (May 13, 2014)

So I'll wait and add all at once. I'll just build my list and start finding them where I can. So back to the original question, what else can I add that will be colorful? Not to many of the same color though. Everybody add one fish and reply to the previous post so its like a never ending list, and I'll choose the top 20 or so I like.

On a side note my wife just released 15 more lab fry! The count is now 35.......free fries!!! Lol


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## Chester B (Dec 28, 2012)

I have a few suggestions:

Malawi:
Otopharynx lithobates
Protomelas sp. steveni "Taiwan reef"
Copadichromis mloto"fireline"
Placidochromis johnstoni
Protomelas spilonotus "tanzania"
Chilotilapia rhoadesii
Abactochromis labrosus - for the weird factor

Victorians:
Astatotilapia latifasciata
Paralabidochromis chromogynos
Ptyochromis sp. "salmon"


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## Kanorin (Apr 8, 2008)

Placidochromis sp. "Phenochilus Tanzania"


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## somebody (May 13, 2014)

So far I like:

(All singles)

1)Protomelas taeniolatus "red empress"
2)Cyrtocara moorii "blue dolphin"
3)Aulonocara stuartgranti "flavescent peacock"
4)Pseudotropheus sp. "Yellow tail acei"
5)Haplochromis sp. "Flame back"
6)labidochromis caeruleus "Lellow labs"
7)Botia macracantna "clown loach"
8 )Placidochromis sp. "Phenochilus Tanzania"

*9)Astatotilapia latifasciata
*10)Paralabidochromis chromogynos (will the Victorias work?)
*11)Ptyochromis sp. "salmon"


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## somebody (May 13, 2014)

No more suggestions?


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

I'd skip the Victorians (tried it, colors are better in a species tank) and the clown loaches.

Here are some of my all-male favs that have done well in combination for me:
Aulonocara Rubescens
Aulonocara stuartgranti Chiwindi ''Blue Neon''
Aulonocara stuartgranti Cobue (Regal)
Aulonocara stuartgranti Maleri
Aulonocara stuartgranti Mdoka (Flametail)
Aulonocara stuartgranti Usisya
Aulonocara turkis
Copadichromis borleyi Kandango
Copadichromis chrysonotus Mumbo 'White Blaze'
Copadichromis trewavasae
Labidochromis caeruleus trio
Otopharynx tetrastigma
Placidochromis electra Likoma 'Deep Water'
Protomelas marginatus 'Turquoise'
Sciaenochromis fryeri Electric Blue


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