# Stocking my 30 gallon! Brichardi, Julies, Calvus...



## looklemonade (Jun 22, 2009)

So I have a regular 30 gallon tank and I'm planning on stocking it Tanganyika-style! I did once do a Mbuna set up with it, so I have experience with cichlids already. I've never owned any Tanganyikas though, so I'm here to get your opinions on my stocking choices.

I really have fallen in love with Neolamprologus brichardi, so I'm interested in them being the central fish for my tank. I've read that they're apparently quite peaceful for cichlids, except when breeding. I'm not interested in breeding them so I'll probably end up getting rid of the boys if any pairs form and just having girl brichardis.

Anyways, here's my tentative plan:
2-3 Neolamprologus brichardi
2 Julies
1 female Altolamprologus calvus.. only because I feel like a male might get too big?
1 bottomfeeder of some kind.. synodontis cat or something like that, maybe.

What do you guys think? I know that it can be a case-to-case scenario a lot of the time, does it seem like these species will get along?


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## triscuit (May 6, 2005)

You can try it, but chances are it won't work out well. When thinking about a Tang tank, look at the territories available: open water, sand, and rocks. You've chosen three rock dwelling species, one of which that can kill everything else in the tank. Even 2 rock dwellers might be a bit much for this tank.

Brichardi are quite peaceful when they're the _only_ fish in the tank. :lol: They are beautiful, and they'd breed in a teacup if given half a chance. It's very difficult to tell the sexes apart, and there's no guarantee that 2 females will tolerate each other.

This is a perfect size to have a brichardi-only tank: why not get a breeding pair? Spawning and watching the parental care is one of the huge rewards of keeping Tang cichlids. :thumb:

If you want a community tank, you could get calvus (the tank is big enough) and one of the small julidochromis species. But I'd suggest choosing julies *or* calvus, and finding a shell dweller that won't compete for the same territory.


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## looklemonade (Jun 22, 2009)

Ohh yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, I'd love to have a Brichardi breeding pair, but at this point a community tank is more what I'm going for. Would it make a difference if I got my Brichardi last, after all the other fish are established?

Maybe I can do something where I have one species for each habitat type? I like the Lamprologus ocellatus gold for shell-dwelling, and then I could have julies, and.. an open water species? I don't remember seeing any that were small enough to be happy in a thirty gallon, since they generally want to swim around a lot.


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## triscuit (May 6, 2005)

Occies, julies and then a non-cichlid dither for the open water would work well. Some suggested dithers are rainbows, danios, rosy barbs, or if you can get your hand on them, some Tanganyikan killifish. :fish:

For some fish, adding them later works, but IME, it doesn't matter when you add the brichardi: they'll do their best to take over. :roll:


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## looklemonade (Jun 22, 2009)

You think that julies and occies aren't too aggressive for non-cichlids? I'm still thinking about maybe a calvus, too, though it all depends on how well-stocked the fish store turns out to be. What about white cloud mountain minnows as dither fish? I have three of those already that I'm "warming up" the tank with, and I could get more. I know there's a bit of a temperature difference, but my white clouds are tough and have handled being in fairly warm tanks before. I prefer them over danios. Also, what about cherry barbs?

Thankyou for all the help, by the way. I really appreciate it. I know you guys probably get these stocking questions all the time.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Is your 30G at least 36" long? When soliciting advice for Tang stock for my 36" tank, a pair of Calvus and a pair of shellies was recommended...2 species.

So I don't think I'd add the Calvus.

I actually had a pair of Calvus and a pair of Caudopunctatus in it for a while and it was a great tank.


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## Rick_Lindsey (Aug 26, 2002)

Out of curiosity, since the OP likes brichardi... would a bachelor brichardi be likely to work out? My (rather limited) understanding is that Mr. Nasty typically comes out after the fish pair up... If you had enough rocks, could you have a breeding rock-dweller species, a breeding shell-dweller species, and a single bachelor (or bachelorette) brichardi?

-Rick (the armchair aquarist)


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## looklemonade (Jun 22, 2009)

My 30 gallon is 36" long. It's just a regular.. the only reason it's not a long (or a 55g, for that matter) is because I got it for free from a relative.

I was thinking about that, Rick.. but from what I've read (just opinions on the internet, of course) even one brichardi can be too aggressive. Apparently. Anyways, I like the way that set up sounds. 1 pair of occies, 1 pair of julies transcriptus, and 1 brichardi. Though, I might want to replace the bachelor brichardi for a bachelor/bachelorette calvus, seeing as the calvus sound like a more peaceful kind of fish. I have three filters total that I can put on it, so the increase in bioload won't be an issue.. I just don't want my fish to end up killing each other.


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## 24Tropheus (Jun 21, 2006)

Dunno who said Neolamprologus brichardi are peaceful. :wink: 
Yep seems good advice above. I would make a choice between just these and the rest.
Saying that when young you could well go for them all and just expect only the brichardi to do best and breed removing the others if and when you need to.
I dunno how brichardi act when not breeding, never tried it.


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## Darkside (Feb 6, 2008)

triscuit said:


> Occies, julies and then a non-cichlid dither for the open water would work well. Some suggested dithers are rainbows, danios, rosy barbs, or if you can get your hand on them, some Tanganyikan killifish. :fish:
> 
> For some fish, adding them later works, but IME, it doesn't matter when you add the brichardi: they'll do their best to take over. :roll:


The Tanganyikan Killies (Lamprichthys tanganicanus) get a little too large for a 3', I wouldn't do them in less than 4', in this size of aquarium you're better off trying non-jumbo cyps.


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## Bachachi (Sep 8, 2004)

Your best advice as stated above is a brichardi species tank. Just one brichardi in a community
tank will create havoc for the other fish in the tank.

However if you wanted to try a community tank IMO you could try a single specimen tank
using brichardi with leleupi, buescheri and sexfasciatus. All these are pretty aggressive and should hold their own against each other. 
Make sure you provide enough caves for each to have its own small territory. You could also add a few dither fish, but you must understand that this will be a very aggressive tank!

Sorry julies and calvus would be to timid to be included with this bunch.


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