# New African Tank-Trying to Decide What to Stock



## coachcasa (Feb 17, 2014)

Hi everyone. I realize that what type of fish you put in an aquarium is a lot of personal preference. That being said, I'm looking for advice on what type of Africans to put in my new aquarium setup. My wife and I just moved to a new house and I'm re-doing my aquarium. I've done African cichlids over the years and usually I'm drawn to Malawi cichlids because of their colors. I love to have an aquarium full of color. However, this time around I want to balance that good coloration with a smart mix of fish, as in the past I've gone for color and then worry about how the fish get along. I'm trying to take a much smarter approach to a happy healthy aquarium. I have a 46 gallon bow front tank that will be prominent in our family room. So here are my questions:

1. What is your preference of African lake and why? I've never done a Lake Tanganyika or Victoria setup-should I consider this instead of Malawi? 
2. Assuming I stick with Malawi, in the past I had a mix of mbuna and haps with mixed results. Should I stick with only one or the other? If I mix, any suggestions as to the breed mix? I'd like to build a harmonious tank if possible. Does anyone put just one bread in the tank? I've never done this as I like a colorful mix. Suggestions for my size tank?
3. I've always used rocks as my substrate-I have the crushed coral rock from my last setup that I took out of my tank when I moved and was going to put this back in the new setup. However, I've seen a lot of pictures and read some about sand and am starting to wonder which way to go. Should I go for sand or continue with the rock? Pro's and con's? If I switch and use sand how much do I need to put in? 
4. With my size of aquarium I am thinking 10-14 fish? Thoughts on this? I've read that a 1:3 ratio of male to female works best, but I prefer the coloration of males. Also I've heard that I should have multiples of the same breed-is this true and if so how many do I need to group?

Any other suggestions or advice is welcome. I'm just looking to set up the best aquarium I can and hoping my 2 year old will fall in love with aquariums as I did when I was young. Thanks for your help!


----------



## james1983 (Dec 23, 2007)

What are the dimensions of your tank? That will be what decides which fish you can keep. Longer tanks offer more options.


----------



## coachcasa (Feb 17, 2014)

My tank is 36" long by 20" high and 16" deep in the middle where the bow is. Maybe 12-13" deep at the corners.


----------



## james1983 (Dec 23, 2007)

A species tank of saulosi would be your best option, 3 males with 9 females. Most others will end up too large and aggressive for a 36" tank.


----------



## Aaron S (Apr 4, 2015)

I agree with James's suggestion as far as mbuna goes. Realistically you probably don't want male peacocks/haps in that tank due to size and by the sounds of it you would not be happy with males and female peacocks/haps. I don't know much about victorians/tang., so hopefully someone else can chime in if they know anything about them to provide other options.

You did ask another question about crushed coral vs. sand. Most people on the forum have sand and I am positive that everyone will tell you that sand is FAR better. I had crushed coral in my first cichlid tank (which was also a 46 bowfront by the way) and thought it was great and thought sand would be a pain to clean, but I changed it over with my new tank and it is far superior. The crushed coral has a tendency to get poop stuck in the cracks of the substrate which then takes a lot of effort to clean everything out as you have to gravel vac everything, all the time. With sand the poop will either be completely swept off the sand and into the filters or you will find little pockets where they get trapped and you just suck that little area then go on with a water change. It also looks far nicer and if you get cichlids that like to dig then it is much less likely to damage the fish as they excavate.


----------



## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

In addition...one of the only but also the best choices for a species tank of that size is Chindongo (formerly Pseudotropheus) saulosi.


----------



## coachcasa (Feb 17, 2014)

james1983 said:


> A species tank of saulosi would be your best option, 3 males with 9 females. Most others will end up too large and aggressive for a 36" tank.


Knowing that I like a variety of types of fish in my aquarium, are there a few other species you can think of that might get a long well with the saulosi?


----------



## coachcasa (Feb 17, 2014)

Aaron S said:


> I agree with James's suggestion as far as mbuna goes. Realistically you probably don't want male peacocks/haps in that tank due to size and by the sounds of it you would not be happy with males and female peacocks/haps. I don't know much about victorians/tang., so hopefully someone else can chime in if they know anything about them to provide other options.
> 
> You did ask another question about crushed coral vs. sand. Most people on the forum have sand and I am positive that everyone will tell you that sand is FAR better. I had crushed coral in my first cichlid tank (which was also a 46 bowfront by the way) and thought it was great and thought sand would be a pain to clean, but I changed it over with my new tank and it is far superior. The crushed coral has a tendency to get poop stuck in the cracks of the substrate which then takes a lot of effort to clean everything out as you have to gravel vac everything, all the time. With sand the poop will either be completely swept off the sand and into the filters or you will find little pockets where they get trapped and you just suck that little area then go on with a water change. It also looks far nicer and if you get cichlids that like to dig then it is much less likely to damage the fish as they excavate.


Thanks Aaron. I'm giving serious thought to switching over to sand. Any recommendations on what sand to go with? Color, type, manufacturer? Also do you put egg crate below it in the bottom of the aquarium? I've never done this.


----------



## coachcasa (Feb 17, 2014)

I've been doing some reading and saw three possible stocking lists-thoughts on this?

A:
5 x Saulosi (1M-4F)
4 x Labidochromic Caeruleus-Electric yellow (1M-3F)
5 x Metriaclima estherae-Red Zebra (1M-4F)

B:
6 x Metriaclima estherae-Red Zebra (1m, 5f)
4 x Pseudotropheus Acei ((1m, 3f)
6 x Cynotilapia Afra (1m, 5f)

C:
5 x Labidochromic Caeruleus (1m, 4f)
12 x Pseudotropheus Demasoni (2m, 10f)
6 x Iodotropheus Sprengerae (1m, 5f)


----------



## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Those look like they are meant for a 48" long tank. 36" long is very limiting. Stock by length...not by gallons.


----------



## coachcasa (Feb 17, 2014)

DJRansome said:


> Those look like they are meant for a 48" long tank. 36" long is very limiting. Stock by length...not by gallons.


I was taking suggestions for aquariums in my gallon range. How do I know how much I can stock? What do you think of these combinations?


----------



## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

I would also recommend 3m:9f Chindongo saulosi for a 36" tank. I would not do multiple species...and even if you chose a different species (like rusties) for the tank, I would say stock even less, for example 1m:4f.

This is why the saulosi are ideal...more fish and two brilliant colors.


----------



## coachcasa (Feb 17, 2014)

DJRansome said:


> I would also recommend 3m:9f Chindongo saulosi for a 36" tank. I would not do multiple species...and even if you chose a different species (like rusties) for the tank, I would say stock even less, for example 1m:4f.
> 
> This is why the saulosi are ideal...more fish and two brilliant colors.


I get the whole reasoning for the one species and going with the saulosi because of their size and the two nice colors. However, having a one species tank just doesn't seem all that appealing to look at for my wife and I and with our tank being in our family room, we want a great tank to look at when people come in. We love the idea of some variety to look at and I'd love to add a third color to the blue and yellow-maybe something with orange? I think I'm definitely going to take your advice and do the saulosi, but would like to add something else. Some of my thoughts are: Metriaclima estherae come to mind right away because of the color, but they can get a bit bigger. Iodotropheus Sprengerae also come to mind since they are pretty small, but not as nicely colored as the Metriaclima estherae.

Can I make a few of these species work together? If so in what numbers? I'm really trying to find a balance between tank harmony for the fish and variety of color (and species) for us to enjoy watching. Thanks again for all of your input.


----------



## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

You could try the rusties, but then I would do 1m:4f saulosi and 1m:4f of the rusties. Many fishkeepers will not keep Metriaclima estherae in anything smaller than 48x18.

Also note the orange of the estherae and the yellow-orange of the saulosi don't provide a big contrast.

You stock less with a bowfront tank, and you don't count the bowed-out middle dimension...go by the sides. So think of your tank as 36x12.

It's no fun to watch a tank where the fish are hiding or hurting each other.

There may be non-African options you would prefer.


----------



## coachcasa (Feb 17, 2014)

DJRansome said:


> You could try the rusties, but then I would do 1m:4f saulosi and 1m:4f of the rusties. Many fishkeepers will not keep Metriaclima estherae in anything smaller than 48x18.
> 
> Also note the orange of the estherae and the yellow-orange of the saulosi don't provide a big contrast.
> 
> ...


When you say other non-African options what are you thinking. I've only done Africans for many years.


----------



## Aaron S (Apr 4, 2015)

For the substrate question, most of us who use sand use pool filter sand (HBH is a popular brand, but really anything will do). It is a somewhat multicolored beige sand. It is chosen because it is the right grain size to not be an issue of fines and it is SUPER cheap while still looking nice. I personally mixed some of the more expensive black sand into it to give a more salt and pepper look which I enjoy but that is just personal preference. If you have large or sharp rocks to put in the tank then you may want to put some egg crate down beneath them, otherwise just make sure the rocks are directly on the glass (not sitting on the sand) incase the fish decide to dig under them.

In regards to the stocking...I understand your desire for more color, but I doubt anyone on here will recommend you do anything but saulosi if you are wanting malawi cichlids in the tank. Personally, I think it will provide enough color because the sub dominant males will be an odd mix of colors in between the females and the males. You certainly can choose to put other fish in the tank but they will not be recommended because of the aggression levels you will see in cichlids. If I HAD to make a suggestion for what to go with saulosi in that tank then I would probably say a small group of white labs or the rusties, but it will certainly reduce your chances of happiness in the tank. Have you ruled out just doing community fish? If I was not wanting to do the saulosi, I would probably stock like this: a bunch of different colored male guppies (10), swordtails (2 groups of 3), mollies (1 group of 3), and neon tetras (12), and a pleco or cory cats or pictus cats... you can stock a ton of fish into that aquarium without the same risks as the cichlids.


----------

