# Kribs/African Butterfly Cichlid 20 gallon long



## Darkskies (Mar 17, 2012)

I've kind of been bitten by MTS(though I only have one tank right now) and was wondering about setting up a relatively simple 20 gallon long tank with a pair of Kribs or Anomalochromis thomasi and a school of tetras/danios. My experience with my 20 gallon long Neolamprologus multifasciatus tank hasn't been quite positive(though I do have 20-30 fry that are actually growing out finally without being eaten) so I definitely want to have a more exciting tank. Not that my multies are boring(not in the least) but they haven't been easy to work with since most fry that materialized would disappear within a few days. I know it's crazy that I've had issues with getting multies to raise their fry so I hope I'm not being plagued by a bad luck streak..

Where can I find a cheap 20 gallon long? Would this make for an exciting tank? I know the Kribs don't really have a water chemistry preference(though I know the pH can affect the ratio of male/female fry) but do the African Butterfly cichlids have a requirement in order to get them to breed? How easy are tthe Anomalochromis thomasi to get breeding? What is up with all these stories I read of Kribs having unstable pair bonds where it's common for them to all of a sudden have a fatal 'divorce'?

Also, I am quite busy with school(though the summer is approaching) so I would also prefer to have fish and a tank setup that doesn't require a whole lot of maintenance. I'm fine with doing water changes once very 2 weeks but I don't really want to have to deal with sensitive or troublesome fish.. Also, in the next year or so it's highly likely that I'll have to move the tanks and fish so would this be a potential problem for the pair bond strength in either the Kribs or the Butterflies? I heard that Julie pair bonds are fragile and moving their rocks and territories around could lead to their pair bond being disrupted with the end result being that one of the pair is killed by its mate.. Are the African butterflies fragile in terms of water quality and large scale water changes?

What dithers should I use? Any ideas? Appreciate all advice! Thanks!


----------



## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Same question and some answers here:
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=256973


----------



## ahud (Aug 22, 2009)

All cichlids will have the an occasional divorce. Its up to us to provide the tank environment that allows the female to escape (or male sometimes).

A. thomasi is not really an easy fish IME. The easy variant is no longer available in the hobby that I know of. Now, we only get the harder to spawn, and more aggressive one. I'm totally blanking on the two different locations, but a quick Google should tell you.


----------



## Darkskies (Mar 17, 2012)

Thanks for the reply, ahud! When I last went to the LFS, they had buffalohead cichlids! They're sort of a drab color but would a tank with buffaloheads and dither fish be entertaining? Do they have great parenting skills? I know they stay small enough for a 20 gallon long, don't they?


----------

