# Help with stocking a 55 gallon



## stargirly1208 (Apr 29, 2008)

Hey guys! I'm definitely new to Africans so any suggestions would be helpful. This is what I was thinking about stocking:

4- Labeotropheus trewavasae
4- labidochromis caeruleus
3- labidochromis sp. "mbamba" (2F 1M)
4- pseudotropheus demasoni (3F 1M)
2- pseudotropheus polit
3- metriaclima estherae "red zebra" (2F 1M)

I was also considering maybe going for an all male tank... If that is not recommended let me know.

I would like any criticism of any kind because I don't want a blood bath on my hands haha.

Also I would like to slightly overstock to keep aggression down. Another main point: my favorite is the labidochromis sp. "Mbamba" so I would like to keep him :fish:


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## DMWave45 (Jan 22, 2008)

I would limit it to 3-4 species total. The demasoni have to be in groups of at least 12 so they're out. The red zebra's will cross breed with the labs and they are also pretty agressive so I'd take them out too. I've heard keeping two labidochromis species is a bad idea so since the mbamba are your favorite I would probably get rid of the labs too. That leaves the other three which I think would work so I would put at least four of each group but if you're buying juvies get more and remove the excess males.


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## stargirly1208 (Apr 29, 2008)

what about keeping it all males? or am I asking for a bloodbath? I'm not really interested in breeding


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## DMWave45 (Jan 22, 2008)

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/a ... malawi.php

That's an article about all male tanks in the library. I would think that seperating the males and females especially for monomorphic species would be a lot of work, but idk.


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## asmith8 (Feb 12, 2008)

just a note on the trewavas...i wouldn't suggest 4 males at all!! i have a pair and they seem to be super happy with the tank and their tank mates, but i've read horror stories about the dominance issues between the boys, with or without females in the tank with them. mine are on their 3rd fry and all is well, but once the little boys start to get too big, i'll have to take them out. it's a shame as the boys are really pretty, but i can't help but love the girls more! hehehe

as for the rest - both of my buffaloheads are boys, and they're fine, although they live at separate ends of the tank. the zebras don't care and to avoid dominance issues, i have just one of everything else...


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