# New to Cichlids - tank thoughts



## denmck (Mar 22, 2013)

I have kept saltwater aquariums on and off for 20 years but now I'd like to try my hand at cichlids. I'm starting with a 45 gallon (since I already had one) and will stick with all male, peaceful Malawi peacocks and maybe throw in a couple of peaceful, small haps and a synodontis catfish. All fish I am considering grow out to about 5" max. I understand that crowding may be preferable, but if I have only males and no females, will they still be fairly territorial? Also, I've provided some shots of my tank. Is this enough rock, too much rock, all suggestions welcome! I choose rock I liked, not necessarily going for an exact biotope of the river  . Rock includes rainbow, Texas holey, lace, some petrified wood, and rose quartz. I have a sand substrate. I threw a hunk of hogwart in there thinking it may help with water quality as it grows assuming the fish don't bother it too much.

I'm being advised with the size of the fish I'm considering that I could stock anywhere from 10 - 15, which freaks me out a little. I'm running an Emperor 400 hob filter, and circulating water with a Koralia 1 power head, 200 watt heater, and one T8 light (50/50 6500K and 450 actinic mix).

Does this seem adequate for the stocking suggestion? Any thoughts about set-up?

Thanks in advance for your insight!


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

What are the dimensions of the tank? This info will help determine your stocking list.

You mentioned wanting to do mostly male Peacocks, if that is true, you have too many rocks in there and not enough swimming room. Aulonocara don't use the rocks as much as other Mbuna cichlids.


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## denmck (Mar 22, 2013)

The tank dimensions are 36 x 12 x 24.

Thanks!


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## Oscar Madison (Mar 24, 2008)

Nice!


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## eTrain (Oct 15, 2012)

Too many rocks like Deeda said. Don't place them right up to the glass. Make it so they can swim all the way around them. Most peacock tanks have just a few larger rocks with a larger sand bed. I don't know much about the emperor filters but I think you may need a bit more filtration. As far as 10 - 15 fish that seems kinda crazy to me. Especially trying to keep them at under 5". The idea with all male is to not have any similarly color/patterned fish to keep aggression at a minimum. As you keep researching you will see that African Cichlids are very trial and error. Not just species but each individual fish.

A lot of people don't even recommend putting peacocks in anything less than a 60" tank. I think you could try it but I wouldn't go for more than 2 or 3 5" peacocks.


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## denmck (Mar 22, 2013)

I'm not finding a lot of published information on keeping a small number of male peacocks together happily. Everyone seems to have a large number in very large tanks. Or if they are in smaller tanks the owner is always planning on getting a bigger tank "soon" . I might be able to get a 55 gallon to fit the space I have available for the tank, but that's the very largest I could go. However the 45 gallon is almost done cycling and fits the space perfectly, so I would really like to keep it if possible; but the utmost happiness of my fish has always been my main concern. The Emperor 400 filter is rated for tanks up to 80 gallons and moves 400 gph.

My tap water is naturally high in pH so I prefer keeping fish that will thrive in that type of water; therefore cichlids seem perfect. So here's what I am thinking for stock and based on eTrain's comments and other reading I've done, definitely pick very different colors/patterns and maybe haps to mix up the species a bit?

Aulonocara rubescens (Ruby Red)
Aulonocara ethelwynnae 
Aulonocara baenschi (Benga)
Aulonocara stuartgranti (Ngara - Flametail)
Aulonocara maulana (Bi-color 500)
Aulonocara stuartgranti (Chiwindi - Blue Neon)

and mixing in a Hap or 2 such as:

Lethrinops sp. "Red Cap" (Itungi)
Lethrinops "Black fin"

I'm not saying ALL of those fish in the tank, just what I will choose from . If anyone out there is currently keeping all males in a 45 gallon tank I would love to hear your experiences as well. I've also read if you have too few cichlids in one tank they get very nervous and hide a lot. I don't want that either!

Thanks so much for your help.


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## Blooper01 (Mar 1, 2013)

To me, it's not the 45 gallons that is the _most_ critical issue -- it's the 36" x 12" footprint. This seems very difficult.

Used the Emperor 400 and 280 for quite a few years with good results. Easy to use. Quite reliable if kept clean. Generally used something redundant such as a 50 gal rated air/sponge filter on 24 x 7 x 365 battery backup, too, in lieu of an airstone, but that's just me coping with our local energy company's reliability issues.


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## chiroken (Sep 25, 2007)

I chuckled when you used the word "peaceful" in the same sentence when referring to Malawi fish! I join the others, far too much rock. I personally wouldn't go with peacocks in a 36x12 footprint, I would consider mbuna, and even then, pick them wisely. With mbuna you would use lots of rock.


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## denmck (Mar 22, 2013)

Ha. I guess peaceful is kind of an oxymoron with Cichlids. However one of my favorite LFS has a huge display tank full of all male peacocks that have been together for years. They are beautiful and I've only witnessed very minimal chasing. But now the 36 x 12 is no longer an issue. When buying cat food last night I discovered the pet store had aquariums on sale for $1.00 a gallon. A fish breeder was loading up 7 - 55 gallon tanks in his van when I arrived, LOL. So I bought one too. I now have 48" in length and feel much better about that! I will transfer the contents of my 45 over to the 55 sometime this week and keep my fingers crossed that it doesn't totally disrupt my almost finished cycle! I'll post pictures of the new arrangement when I'm done. I also have an extra Whisper EX70 sitting in my basement so I'll add that with the Emperor 400 to the 55. That will give me an extra 340 gph of filtering for a total of 740 gph so I would think that would do a good job on the 55 gallon tank.

chiroken - I see you have peacocks and haps together so it sounds like that works. Any advice for keeping those two species together happily?


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## chiroken (Sep 25, 2007)

denmck said:


> chiroken - I see you have peacocks and haps together so it sounds like that works. Any advice for keeping those two species together happily?


A few comments in no particular order!

This is my first go at peacocks and haps, I've been about 5 yrs with mbuna before that (as far as africans go). First advice: take advantage of this forum with it's search function and by posting your questions. Along with cruising the forums and just reading threads, reading threads and then reading threads! Tons of great info here. I frequent several cichlid forums and this one clearly is the best!

What I have done with my fish is to try to have different colour schemes with my all male setup. I'm growing out fish as well as I have several fish 6-8" in another tank. They will end up in a 96"x24" (8'x2') 300g tank so I am hoping to break the rules somewhat. I do have a couple of fish that are identical and I'm hoping they will have enough space to co-exist. I will see. I was very limited in my selection so doubled up on a couple. I feel not enough fish in a tank can be as much of a problem with aggression as the wrong mix. The doubles are in the 90g and I have 1 of the doubles that chases the other with minimal fin nipping. I am hoping when they get to the big tank in a couple of months that will dissipate. I'll post a pic below of the 90 grow out tank that I just swapped out gravel for sand yesterday (some cloudiness but not bad and looks way better!).

Also, no females! I believe even 1 can significantly heighten the "excitement" in the tank.

As far as haps with peacocks, I've had no issues. They are all in the same tank with each other and have been for 2+ months. The 3 aggressive fish are H. obliquedens (lake victoria I believe, no damage to other fish, just chases at times) 1 of my 2 Red Empress's (towards the other Red Empress), and 1 of my 2 Red Jacobs (again chases the other Red Jacob). Within each group there will be those that are much more aggressive than others and within the same colour strain each fish will be individual. Others on the forum are more experienced as to which are the more aggressive and which to stay away from. Be prepared to pull a fish at a moments notice and have a small tank ready to house it. I always have extra small filters "hanging around" tanks that are cycled so I just pull 1 off, throw it on a small tank and fill with water...instantly cycled as a Q or hospital tank.

Choose your fish wisely, your 55 is 48x15? Still not big for peacocks and especially haps. Most of the haps I have will end up 7-10 inches and everyone seems to recommend a minimum of 72" of tank length for them (I currenly have my adult haps in a 72" 135g temporary tank).

Keep asking questions and researching - there are very few tanks out there that can parallel an all male Malawi peacock tank!
.


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## denmck (Mar 22, 2013)

Thanks for all of the replies and information. All of the fish choices I have narrowed down are suppose to grow no larger than 4.5" to 5", including the haps. I'm thinking I want to include at least one pleco or catfish, again looking for the right adult size and disposition. The fish source I've been speaking with has inventory of males just starting to show some color and about 2.25" inches right now so they will guarantee I'm getting males but they will still be young. I will keeping reading as I'm getting the tank ready.


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## GTZ (Apr 21, 2010)

When you've finalized the tank setup, you may want to create a thread in 'Lake Malawi Species' for advice regarding which species to stock.


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## denmck (Mar 22, 2013)

Will do.


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## fishing12 (Dec 15, 2012)

I got back into the hobby about 6 months ago. I read a lot of the information here and I promptly ignored it. As usual I had to learn things the hard way. I started with a 72 gallon Bowfront tank. I wanted a mix of Malawi fish and went for it. MISTAKE! I mixed Mbuna, Haps and Peacocks both Male and Female. Things started off fine as the fish were only 1.5-2" juvies. They quickly outgrew the 48"x13x18" footprint. I had a Kenyi and an Auratus in the mix both male(disaster). I had 4 Fryeri, 2 males and two females. I also had 3 Peacocks in the mix as well as some Borleyi and Venustus. I finally got smart and started to listen to some of the More experienced keepers here and began to re home some of my fish starting with the Kenyi and Auratus. The dominant male in the tank (after the two Mbuna were removed)was the larger Fryeri Male. He was a nut job in this tank when he reached spawning maturity and he tore the place apart. My Taiwan Reef never really colored up at all, my Peacocks were stressed and hanging up top for the most part. It just didnt work. Long story short I upgraded the tank size to a 180 and moved all of my males( 1 of each species) into this tank along with a nice mix of additional Haps and Peacocks. This time I spent a lot of time researching and getting advice from forum members on how to stock. Something I should have done or at least listened too from the start. Currently my tank is pretty darn peaceful for Cichlids for now. The Fryeri is still the Dominate fish in the tank but he is so much more mellow with no females in the mix and my Taiwan Reef has really started to display some beautiful color. All is well. What does this rambling message mean you might ask? Lol, in a couple of short words you came to the right place to get set up properly if you follow some of the great advice you will receive from here. Maybe my bad start can save you some headaches. Check out some of the Cookie Cutter setups for your tank size if you haven't done so already, its a great place to start. Welcome to the forum and I look forward to seeing what you put together!


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## denmck (Mar 22, 2013)

Wow, nothing like learning from our mistakes, huh, LOL. I really appreciate you sharing your experience. I will look at the cookie cutter set-ups to help me make some decisions. That's one thing I also learned with keeping salt-water tanks in the past. Move slow and study! The largest tank I had was a 125 and I developed it into it's own, very self-sufficient ecosystem. I had all the right fish, corals, clean-up crews, etc. that allowed all the fish to demonstrate their personalities but coexist happily as well. Oddly enough, with my tap water parameters it was never a problem maintaining the right water quality but also makes it a challenge for converting to freshwater (naturally high pH).

Unfortunately where I live now my space is maxed out at 55 gallons, but I want to try to make it the best 55 gallon tank that I can .


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## denmck (Mar 22, 2013)

I've moved everything out of the 45 and into the 55 and I like it a lot better. There is now more swimming room, I removed a lot of the rock, and I can actually envision this as a much more suitable tank for what I'm trying to do. I have not added the second filter on yet but I will do it this weekend. Any additional thoughts or suggestions?


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## eTrain (Oct 15, 2012)

Much better for peacocks. They are more an open water fish. The 48" length should make it a bit easier also.


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## chiroken (Sep 25, 2007)

Looks much better for creating swimming space for peacocks! Is that your temp probe? Can you hide the white suction cup at least from the front view? I'm looking forward to eventually getting my 300g setup with a sump....NO cords or hardware in the tank!


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## denmck (Mar 22, 2013)

I hear you on the temp probe, and anything else in the tank . I used to have a sump on my larger saltwater tank but didn't want to deal with that for this tank (yet). But if my set-up works out the way I hope I'll probably consider going that direction so there is little distraction from the beautiful fish . Good luck with setting up the 300. That will be one fun project!


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## chiroken (Sep 25, 2007)

yeah, hardware just becomes distracting. I've also used a piece of tape at the top tank edge to hold the temp probe wire in place. You can then take out the slack in the thin wire within the tank so that you can orient it nice and vertical and straight. I find the squiggly lines of cables also distracting. Maybe it's just me liking clean lines, I'm sure I have worse quirks!


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