# Returning from Salt - 40BR suggestions?



## Gryph (Nov 13, 2005)

Well, I'm ashamed to admit that I defected for a while.

I decided to try saltwater. I stuck with it for about a year and a half, but as pretty as it is, I find myself longing to keep Tanganyikans again. They are in my soul. Forgive me, cichlid keepers, for I have sinned.

So now, I'm selling off my live rock and coral, cleaning out my 40BR tank, and getting some cichlids again. I have good light, so I was also pondering planting it, although that's not a must-do. What I would like, though, are some suggestions on what to put in there. It's been a while since I did this.

Calvus aren't my favorite, mostly because the last ones I had hid all the time and were tiny forever. I'd prefer some interesting, active fish, and probably some shellies, although right now, everything's up in the air.

So come on, do your worst. What interesting things would you fill a 40BR with?

Thanks!


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## Hyperion (Dec 2, 2007)

Im interested to see some of the suggestions that come from this as well, esp since i am considering a 40BR.


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## Boby_ (Oct 10, 2002)

First of all welcome back! 

If you want active and beatiful tang fish why don't you try with tropheus? Compared to the other tangs they are what are african cichlids compared to the non-cichlid fishes. 

Off topic:

What does BR stand for? I tried to find info about this abbriviation but I wasn't able to find anything even remotely related to volume. http://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/Break+(HTML)


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## jh82 (Oct 26, 2007)

Boby_ said:


> First of all welcome back!
> 
> Off topic:
> 
> What does BR stand for? I tried to find info about this abbriviation but I wasn't able to find anything even remotely related to volume. http://acronyms.thefreedictionary.com/Break+(HTML)


Br = Breeder 
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/aquarium_sizes.php


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## Boby_ (Oct 10, 2002)

:thumb: Thanks jh82!

So the tank is too small fot tropheus. Shellies will be just fine in it.


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## dwarfpike (Jan 22, 2008)

A pair of the smaller julies
A pair of caudopunks
A group of shellies

?


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## Gryph (Nov 13, 2005)

I used to keep Tropheus, and I loved them. Unfortunately, I had to sell my big tank, and don't have room for another one in my apartment. They were awesome Trophs, too. Le sigh. Someday, I'll have another Troph tank...

I pondered a Brichardi tank, but they're so elitist. They just don't share well, and would eventually take the tank over. I'd like to do caudopunks, a shellie, and possibly a julie or a cylindricus. I'm worried about the caudos taking over the shellie area, though. Occellatus are generally pretty spunky about territorial defense...maybe it'd work?


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## triscuit (May 6, 2005)

Shellies are wonderful... you have lots of options for good tank mates. First, I'd chose paracyps, as they tend to fill the open water habitat; they do need some tall rocks to feel at home, though. I'd worry about the conflicts between shellies and caudos too, so perhaps julies, beuscheri, or gobies would be a better fit.


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## Darkside (Feb 6, 2008)

You can likely get away with a pair of Caudopunks among your other shellies. Gobies are a great option as well! I've always had great success with them!


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## Rick_Lindsey (Aug 26, 2002)

Darkside said:


> You can likely get away with a pair of Caudopunks among your other shellies. Gobies are a great option as well! I've always had great success with them!


Shellies and Gobies is what I'd put in a 40br if I had one.

-Rick (the armchair aquarist, who doesn't have a 40br, but wishes he did)


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## Chris2500DK (Feb 15, 2006)

Funny that I should come across this thread, I've been thinking about doing the same 

What do you guys think about using live rock (well it'd die of course) in a Tanganyika tank? The shapes of it is so much more interesting than what people normally use.


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## 24Tropheus (Jun 21, 2006)

Surely the live rock has a good value to another marine keeper?
I guess it will have stuff (large and small, down to microbes) in it that will keep dieing and polluting your tank for ages.


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## Darkside (Feb 6, 2008)

I use dead "live" rock in my cichlid aquariums now, and it works great! Makes a great buffer! :thumb:


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## Gryph (Nov 13, 2005)

Live rock that you "killed" would work in a fresh tank. However, I could buy a whole bunch of really cool rocks, plus a filter, for the price I could get for my live rock. So I'm selling that stuff off! 

I keep running into this problem when I come back to Tanganyika. I really want shellies. I really want caudopunks. I may try it and hope the punks don't get offensive. Maybe if I added the shellies first and let them set up a territory, then added the punks, then added some cylindricus, it'd work... And maybe a few ditherfish...


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## Darkside (Feb 6, 2008)

Gryph said:


> ...some cylindricus...


Those can be particularly nasty when they pair, keep an eye them when they do... :thumb:


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## Laurel (Jun 17, 2007)

I love watching the interactions between my shellies(multies) and julies(transcriptus) in my cube tank. The shellies will chase away the julies most of the time, but the julies have found a great hiding spot in the java fern next to the most active shell bed and perform raids when the mom isn't watching. It keeps my fry numbers under control and I love to hate the "villian" julies.


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## jh82 (Oct 26, 2007)

I don't really have a good suggestion but, I just bought a 40br a couple of weeks ago to reduce some overcrowding in tanks I already have. I put 6 brevis(4f2m) and 9 various sized A. Comps that I already had in it. I like it but that's me. The brevis and 3 of the Comps were already breeding in their previous homes and I probably reduced the chances of them producing more fry but who cares.

The stand that I got with it is one of those iron wrought ones that will hold another tank of the same size on the bottom so thats a good excuse to get another 40br in the near future. That recent thread about Xenotilapia flavipinnis really got me interested in trying some of those. A group of them and Paracyprichromis nigripinnis would be cool. I'm not sure a 40br would be big enough for that but I believe that it has just as much foot print area as a standard 55 because it's wider.


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## Chris2500DK (Feb 15, 2006)

Laurel said:


> I love watching the interactions between my shellies(multies) and julies(transcriptus) in my cube tank. The shellies will chase away the julies most of the time, but the julies have found a great hiding spot in the java fern next to the most active shell bed and perform raids when the mom isn't watching. It keeps my fry numbers under control and I love to hate the "villian" julies.


And that's what I miss about fresh water. Salt water is cool, the colours are wonderful, the corals are interesting, but you just don't get that behaviour from the fish.


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