# Is a victoria tank harder than an all male hap tank?



## cholile

I've kept Haps for some time now and love them, but when I see pictures of fish from Lake Victoria the colors are better than any other freshwater fish by far IMO.

I'd really like to get a medium (36" best, but no longer than 48" in length and roughly 100G max) size tank dedicated to lake victoria fish but wondering what makes it more difficult than keeping haps.

If I wanted to set up a tank with a half dozen of the fish linked below showing the colors the fish in the pictures show would that be possible? What size tank would I need? The Kyoga flameback, hap rub, and red tail sheller are my favorites.

Astatotilapia sp. 'Thickskin' (sp. 44)
http://www.safhl.net/davesfish/images/A ... p%2044.jpg

Haplochromis sp. 'Ruby'
http://www.safhl.net/davesfish/images/H ... 20Ruby.jpg

Paralabidochromis sp. 'Fire' Ugandahttp://cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/po ... topic&f=11
Cichlid-Forum :: Post a new topic
http://www.safhl.net/davesfish/images/P ... 20Fire.jpg

Paralabidochromis sp. 'Rock Kribensis' Uganda 'Yellow'
http://www.safhl.net/davesfish/images/P ... Uganda.jpg

Platytaeniodus sp. 'Red Tail Sheller'
http://www.safhl.net/davesfish/images/P ... heller.jpg

Pundamilia sp. 'Blue Bar' Hippo Point
http://www.safhl.net/davesfish/images/P ... %20Bar.jpg

Pundamilia sp. 'Crimson Tide'
http://www.safhl.net/davesfish/images/P ... 20Tide.jpg

Xystichromis sp. 'Dayglow' 
http://www.safhl.net/davesfish/images/X ... ayglow.jpg

Xystichromis sp. 'Flameback' 
http://www.safhl.net/davesfish/images/X ... meback.jpg

Xystichromis sp. 'Kyoga Flameback'
http://www.safhl.net/davesfish/images/X ... meback.jpg

And one of these four:
Hemichromis lifalili: http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/s ... hp?id=2508
Hemichromis sp. "Bangui": http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/s ... hp?id=2512
Hemichromis sp. "Moanda/Muanda": http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/s ... hp?id=2622
Hemichromis stellifer: http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/s ... hp?id=1347

I know lake victoria fish are fewer, more aggressive, and show their brilliant colors only in the right circumstances so is that why there are so few lake victoria tanks relative to the malawi and tang. tanks?

I went to the library to read up but didn't see anything tailored to lake victoria. I also went looking through the tanks section but didn't see too many tanks that seemed to do these fish justice. Surely I'm missing something.


----------



## mezzy

To get the best colour out of vics you need to keep a male, with a good number of females that he can strut his stuff to. You can only keep a couple of species together because of the high level of hybridization.
The other problem would be if you have two types of fish with similar colours, one type will be more dominant and wont let the other species show their true colour.
You might get away with a tank of red tail shellers, blue bar hippo point and a thickskin 44 sp as the colours and looks arent as similar IMO.


----------



## dementedarego

Yeah their colors will play the biggest part of pulling it off. Perhaps it would be best to go for more extremes in the colors, such as , golden ducks (black), sp. 44 , and Blue bars.

as far as tank size goes a larger less crowded tank could make a nicer show tank. It would give the multiple species of fish plenty of room to have their own areas of dominance.


----------



## samaki

Hi In a 100 G tank yu may house no more than 4 or 5 species together with a sex ration of 1 male for 4 females. Yu'll have to respect a simple rule when building yur fishes's community . Don't house in the same tank different species with the same male nuptial dress and with females being close in their marking and body form also don't house 2 species from the same genus together. Respecting this yu may keep some brillantly colored fishes without big risks of hybridization.
xris


----------



## cholile

Very helpful all.

Does height of the tank matter for vics? I know for haps and mbuna it really isn't all that useful relative to the dimensions of length and width.

If I wanted a 36" x 18" x 12" could I have two different groups of fish? Would making it 24" instead of 18" width make any difference? What about 18" instead of 12" for height?

I'd ideally like to have 2M:5F of each of the following two:

Xystichromis sp. 'Kyoga Flameback'
http://www.safhl.net/davesfish/images/X ... meback.jpg

Platytaeniodus sp. 'Red Tail Sheller'
http://www.safhl.net/davesfish/images/P ... l%20Shelle r.jpg

Obviously if the males won't show beautiful colors it isn't worth it since that's the goal of the tank.


----------



## dementedarego

I think the females of those 2 species will look the same. I have "kyoga flamebacks" and The females have the eyebars, and similar marking to sp. 44 females.

Although it is not easy to do, the best way to go for mixing victorians is to get species that dont have the same body shapes. Harpagachromis, pyxichromis, and neochromis, all have very distinct body shapes compared to astatotilapia, or "haplochromis" species.


----------



## patrickeriksson

Hi,

I have 5 of the species listed above and Xystichromis sp. 'Flameback' and Paralabidochromis sp. 'Rock Kribensis' work great together.

Even though I have not tried it yet, I think that Xystichromis sp. "Kyoga Flameback" and Haplochromis sp. "Ruby" might work together as well. The females look quite different, and so does the males. They also origin from the same habitat in the wild. Maybe someone else have experience with this combination?

I have only had bad experiences with keeping 2 males in a tank. At best the sub-dominant male is able to barely stay alive by always hiding. I would suggest either 1 male or 3-4 or more males. My best breeding groups consist of 8-10 fish with a 50/50 sex ratio.


----------



## cholile

patrick,

if I could have a 1:1 M:F ratio and have the males truly showing off their colors I'd love to do a species tank.

Do you think it'd be possible to keep 4M:4F in a tank that is 36" x 18" x 13" (or by 17" if added height makes a difference) and have the males really showing their colors?

I know it's on the smaller side but the profile says the males max out at 6" and most of the haps or peacocks I see with profiles saying a max of 6" almost never reach even 5" and I'm sure the females are smaller.


----------



## patrickeriksson

cholile said:


> patrick,
> 
> if I could have a 1:1 M:F ratio and have the males truly showing off their colors I'd love to do a species tank.
> 
> Do you think it'd be possible to keep 4M:4F in a tank that is 36" x 18" x 13" (or by 17" if added height makes a difference) and have the males really showing their colors?
> 
> I know it's on the smaller side but the profile says the males max out at 6" and most of the haps or peacocks I see with profiles saying a max of 6" almost never reach even 5" and I'm sure the females are smaller.


I keep 9 Xystichromis sp. "Dayglow" in a species tank 36" x 18" x16", 4 males and 5 females. At times, I have 3 or even all 4 males colored up at the same time. The fish is about 3" in size right now. These guys stick to the bottom of the tank most of the time, so a few inches less on the height won't make a difference.

Here are some pictures.


----------



## cholile

Wow, that's excellent. From the simplistic yet sharp aquascaping on all your tanks to the incredible detail in all your photos you're clearly a pro. In other words, I'm sure you make what may be difficult look easy.

Now I just need to room to stick another tank and a seller in the MD area who sells them or nearby so shipping costs aren't prohibitive (I've never seen these fish even in the nicer stores in the MD area).


----------



## exasperatus2002

Hows everyones Vic's? Any new pics?


----------

