# New Tank



## funks81

Hi all,

I'm in the process of setting up my first cichlid tank. Its a 55 US gallon tank that is 40 inches long. I am running 2 x filters on it and have used sand for the substrate - and created a rockscape using slate. It is currently undergoing a fishless cycle - but one of the filters contained media from an old community tank (obviously at a lower ph) - so not sure if this will speed things up or not! Anyway, I took the kids to a local fish store to get an idea of what fish they would like and my son has become completely fixated by the Ruti Island (Pundamilia Nyererei). So - the idea of this tank is to create as much colour as possible - but I realise that it is a small tank for cichlids. Would you suggest a species only tank - or would it be possible to have a few different species - and if so what would your suggestions be? I quite like the idea of the Zebra Obliquedens. Ideas of the numbers of fish that would work with this tank would be great.

Thanks

Jonathan


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## DJRansome

Welcome to Cichlid-forum!

They are quite beautiful but also quite aggressive. I would so a species tank and 1m:9f.

Unfortunately females are silver...only the male is colorful.

If you want as much color as possible I would go with mixed gender mbuna and 3m:9f Chindongo saulosi instead. Males are bright blue bars, and females are bright yellow/orange.


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## funks81

Thanks for the reply - sounds like i'll have to have a conversation with my son about the Ruti Islands!! Would you stick with the single species Chindongo saulosi (I do like the look of them) or could I mix various mbuna species?


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## DJRansome

In the 40" tank the saulosi would be ideal. There might be a couple of other species that you could do as a single species in the tank instead of the saulosi, but then you would be looking at half the fish and half the colors. Because they are peaceful and small and have 2 brilliant colors, they are uniquely suited to a small tank.

If you want several mbuna species, look into a 48" tank or larger.


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## funks81

That's great - thanks for the advice


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