# Yeah! Upgrading my tank! Can I add haps to this setup???



## ktluvsfish (Jan 13, 2008)

I currently have a 40 gallon breeder tank and I am upgrading it to a 75 gallon. Right now I have the following:
4 Yellow Labs
2 Synodontis Catfish
1 Peacock Male (he was bullied by all of my other peacocks, so I gave the rest away and kept him. I know you shouldn't keep peacocks with mbuna, but he is perfectly happy)
4 Pundamilia Nyererei
5 Cynotilapia Afra

I know that I will have room for more in a 75 gallon 

Most of the fish are small and the P. Nyererei and C. Afra will stay at around 3 inches. I believe all of these fish are pretty peaceful and I would like to add in some haps to the mix. Would this be okay? Does anyone have any recommendations as to which species they like and how many to add? I would like to put some more red color in the tank and I am not sure what else. Any suggestions would be great. Thanks! :fish:


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## Gibbs (Apr 21, 2008)

G'day mate you could probably get away with putting a few Haps in there, just bear in mind that your haps will get much bigger then the fish you currently have. If you do add haps buy them as sub-adults so they have to fight for there place in the tank

75 Gallons is a fair amount of water i would maybe look into keeping the 40g as is and start the 75g from scratch with haps only. Check out some of the hap tanks on this site for a good look at what you can achieve.

I have a question for you. 
Your current, how the fish fair in terms of breeding and behavior. I'm cycling a 40g at the moment and looking for some good ideas.
I was going to put Yellow labs and Pundamilla together but didnt consider Afras also.
Do They all breed and are they happy together


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## Sid_P (Feb 20, 2007)

Hello!

Haps are open-water fish so with this in mind if you choose to add them in with your Mbuna, your aquascaping should allow for plenty of swimming room and open spaces on the substrate.
If you look at my signature ...you can see the mix I keep. All in All it's quite peaceful in my 125 gallon and was so when I had a 75g.

As Gibbs says ...Buy some sub-adult specimens so its easy to introduce them to their new tank-mates. 
Species?? ....perhaps Pl. Electra, Pl Sp. "Taiwan Reef", Sc. Fryeri ???


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## ktluvsfish (Jan 13, 2008)

Gibbs said:


> G'day mate you could probably get away with putting a few Haps in there, just bear in mind that your haps will get much bigger then the fish you currently have. If you do add haps buy them as sub-adults so they have to fight for there place in the tank
> 
> 75 Gallons is a fair amount of water i would maybe look into keeping the 40g as is and start the 75g from scratch with haps only. Check out some of the hap tanks on this site for a good look at what you can achieve.
> 
> ...


Thanks for the advice! I would love to keep my 40 gallon, but since I am in a one bedroom apartment, I literally have nowhere to put it. I decided to go with a 65 gallon instead of a 75 because I can keep my stand and lid that I am currently using. I would still like to add some haps, but only a few of the smaller ones (I can't fit as many as I would like in this tank). I will make sure that I get sub adults. My LFS does not really carry any haps, so I will probably have to order them off of aquabid.

As far as my tank goes, it is a VERY peaceful tank. The fish are not yet fully mature, but the males are really coloring up nicely. They are very happy together and the colors in the tank are pretty amazing! Good luck with your tank


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## dielikemoviestars (Oct 23, 2007)

Is the tank going to have the same footprint as the 40?


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## ktluvsfish (Jan 13, 2008)

Yeah. Since it is a tall tank, with a pretty deep footprint, I am going to make some rock caves against the back wall out of flat rocks and silicone for the mbuna and the majority of the tank will be open water for the rest of the fish. I was thinking of adding a couple small male haps and a couple male peacocks to add some color. I am not sure how many more inches of fish I should add though.


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## ktluvsfish (Jan 13, 2008)

I have been looking through as many cichlid profiles as possible the last couple days. Here is what I decided I like:
Taiwan Reef (regular and albino)
A. German Red Peacock
A. Stuartgranti Maleri (Yellow Regal Peacock)
A. Stuartgranti Ngara (Flametail Peacock)
Copadichromis Virginalis (Fire-Crest Mloto)
Any other suggestions? I am looking for some fish that will add some more color to the tank. Right now the tank is primarily blue and yellow, so greens, reds, oranges, and purples are some colors that I think would look nice to add. I really appreciate the help.


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## dwschacht (Jan 8, 2007)

I would suggest not going the hap route since they will be crammed in that 3 foot tank.

Try for some more vics if you could, but you will still be crammed. Cichlids like area more than volume. You aleviate some of this by doing a background with caves up the vertical, but not by much.

Maybe a Neochromis omnicaerelius group (Orange Piebald females), or a Pseudotropheus sp. "Williamsi North" (mbuna).

You could probably do the Astatotilapia latifasciata.


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## ktluvsfish (Jan 13, 2008)

Thanks for the advice. I don't think I will go with haps because I couldn't find any smaller ones that I really liked. I couldn't find a good picture of the Neochromis omnicaerelius. I do like the Astatotilapia latifasciata. How many would you recomend adding? I was thinking maybe a trio with 1 male and 2 females. What would you suggest? I was thinking of either going with those or adding a couple more male peacocks.


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## ktluvsfish (Jan 13, 2008)

I went to the LFS today to see what they had in stock and I saw a fish that I absolutely fell in love with. I don't know if I could add either a group or a single specimen to this tank, but I would love to incorporate it any way I can. It was a Cherry Tropheus Moori. It is an expensive fish, so I think if I could get away with a single male, I would be satisfied. They are 40 dollars each!!!!!!!!!!!! They also had Obliquidens and some gorgeous male peacocks.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

What are the dimensions of the 65G? You already have 4 species and don't want to get rid of any? Sounds like you might be fully stocked and may not have room for any more fish.


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## ktluvsfish (Jan 13, 2008)

The tank is 36x18x25 inches. The store said it is a 65 gallon, but I think that adds up to 70 gallons. Right now I have:
4 Yellow Labs 
2 Synodontis Catfish 
1 Peacock Male (he was bullied by all of my other peacocks, so I gave the rest away and kept him. I know you shouldn't keep peacocks with mbuna, but he is perfectly happy) 
4 Pundamilia Nyererei 
5 Cynotilapia Afra 
Technically I do have 4 species, but I only have one peacock (not a group of them). All of my fish that I have stocked currently stay pretty small. The peacock is 5 inches. The yellow labs will be about 5 inches and the Afras and Nyererei will only get to be about 3 inches. So, what do you think I would have room for without getting rid of any fish? Anything at all?


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## mittzgame (Oct 3, 2006)

The thing is, "inches per gallon" means squat when it comes to cichlids. You could have a six foot tank that is one foot high and another that was 3 feet high, and you would have to stock it almost the same- it doesn't matter much to them. You can only put in the number and species of cichlid that will be compatible for the amount of *footprint* (read: length) you have. The extra gallons you're adding with the 65 is a waste of money when it comes to cichlids, you'll not get much, if anything out of it.

From the sounds of it, your current stock isn't quite mature yet and when they are I think you'll see what we mean. The aggressive nature of the fish you have may only increase a little, or it may increase a lot depending on their personalities (afra's are known to be quite feisty, for example).

If you want haps/peacocks/etc you're really going to have to make the jump to a four foot tank and the 48x18 75gal (or 90gal) is the way to start, especially if you're dealing with limited space in your house.

:thumb:


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