# 30 gallon cube tank setup for newbie



## SamandAnne (Nov 21, 2009)

First, I am new to the forum (hi!) and a complete newbie to cichlids...

I am thinking about MAYBE purchasing a 30 gallon cube aquarium (20"x20" footprint) with a fluval canister filter and standard fluorescent strip light & heater for a Lake Tanganyika setup. I am just thinking of ideas at this point...I am getting interesting in shell-dwelling cichlids for both their interesting behavior and smaller size tank requirements! I was looking at the cookie cutter article, and was wondering if you thought that the 30 gallon (20"x20") cube tank would be able to have a similar stocking as a 20 gallon long (30"x12") tank?

If so, I also tried to combine a couple of the ideas in the 20 gallon long cookie cutter setup to the following. Do you think this might work? Or would it be better with only 1 or 2 of the below species? I was thinking of setting it up with some rock/holey rock structure & java moss on one side & back and some open sand with lots of shells on the other side and front.

'(Neo)Lamprologus' caudopunctatus - 1 pair (rock/shell)
'Lamprologus' ocellatus - 1 trio (shell-dweller)
Telmatochromis bifrenatus, brichardi or vittatus - 1 pair? group? (rock/shell)

Being new to this, I am not sure what to initially purchase, in terms of species and the numbers of each species. If we're to purchase a group of fish and then keep the pair, I wouldn't have another tank for the other fish. I also am not too interested in breeding (again, not having another tank for more fish!), but am more interested in watching their behavior and colors.

Also, are these species commonly available? I hear a bit about brevis and multies, but not too much about these others, but they sound pretty & interesting.

Thanks for all your help!


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

Welcome to the forum!

A 30G cube (20" x 20") does not have the same footprint of a 20G long (30" x 12") so the fish you are looking at won't have enough floor space to co-exist happily, I think. I am just starting with shell dwellers but have seen others suggest to keep it to a single species tank with the smaller tanks.

I just picked up six Lamprologus similis juvies at the Cichlid Extravaganza Friday in my first foray into shell dwellers. They are in a 30G tank that is 24"L x 18"W x 15.75"H. It is 1 of 6 odd size tanks that I picked up recently and I'm going to be doing species only shellies in them.

It is usually suggested to get between 6 & 12 fish in order to get a good ratio of males to females. Depending on the species, some are harem breeders and this allows pairs/trios to pick the mates they want.

You might be able to sell any fry to your LFS, friends or online instead of setting up more tanks but I find that 1 tank is never enough.

Hope this helps answer any questions. You can also peruse the Tang. forum for other suggestions that may be more helpful since it is more species specific.


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## larry.beck (Jul 31, 2009)

Wouldn't a 20x20 (400 sq in) be more floor space than a 30x12 (360 sq in)?


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## SamandAnne (Nov 21, 2009)

Thanks for your replies! Yeah, I was wondering about the difference in the total square inches. vs the shape..with the 20x20 there is more space...but the 30x12 has a longer footprint where there is a longer straightaway for a fish to swim...I wasn't sure if one was better for the shelldwellers than the other. What do you think?

That being said, I'd rather err on the side of having too few than too many! Would anyone recommend one (or maybe two?) of these species for a species only tank, if I'm interested in both watching shelldwellers behavior and some interesting color?

Thanks!


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## cjacob316 (Dec 4, 2008)

the length is one of the most important aspects, and at no point do you have a space any longer than a 10 gallon tank, in fact this tank is more of a doubled up 10 gallon than any thing else and i would treat it as such

i deffinately would not put more than one species, and nothing that gets over 3 inches

the way i see it you have 3 choices of single species
shellies
julis
and quite possibly brichardi (i am currently housing some in a 29 biocube that has a similar footprint and so far it's ok, still not sure how things will turn out) so if you go this route don't hold it to me


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## SamandAnne (Nov 21, 2009)

Thanks....
It sounds like a 20 gallon long might be the way to go then! In that case, would a 2-3 species Tanganyika community tank work that I wrote up above, adapted from the cookie-cutter posting on this site, or is it still best to stick to one species? Could I go with one of the species above? Either way works for me.  Thanks for your help!


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## cjacob316 (Dec 4, 2008)

in a 20 long? two species max and only one shelly species and a juli species at that, not sure anyhting else would really work in a tank that size, some people put altolamps instead of julis


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## SamandAnne (Nov 21, 2009)

Thank you....I think I may have just found a 30-gallon long on Craigslist that we might start with instead of the 20-long. Would that change the possibilities? I wasn't able to find a cookie-cutter article for a 30 gallon. I was still thinking a shelly species (maybe Lamprologus ocellatus) with another species (maybe a Neolamprologus leleupi?). Thanks for your help...mostly seeing what might be compatible with shellies in this size tank.

Thanks again!


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## scrubjay (Oct 25, 2009)

A really good mix would be shellies plus one of the dwarf Julidochromis species--J. ornatus, J. transcriptus, or J. dickfeldi, and you could add one or two juvenile Altolamprologus since they grow very slowly. Paired leleupis are really aggressive; probably not the best in communities. Plus, they tend to go after shellies. A single leleupi would be fine with Julies or Altolamprologus. They are diggers though.

Or you could have some Altolamprologus and caudopunks.

or possibly a combo of Altolamprologus or Julidochromis with a small Xenotilapia species like X. flavipinnus.

I don't think length makes any difference in fish that have restricted territory requirements like shell-dwellers and rock-dwellers. I think those species would be just as happy in a cube with the same square inch footprint. I picked up a 40-gallon cube that was 20" x 20" and it certainly seems roomier than the 40-breeder I had.

In those tank sizes, I would avoid having more than one species that prefers the same habitat (e.g., rocks). Better to combine a shellie with a rock-dweller. More three-dimensional structure within the tank will add territory space too, if you can build it up enough to break the line of sight between potential territories.


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## SamandAnne (Nov 21, 2009)

Wow, thanks for the detailed response. I'll have to look into all the species and what's available, I probably won't go with altos and also stay away from the leleupi based on your input. But it's neat to see all the combinations that are possible.


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