# 75 Gallon Tanganyikan Stocking Ideas



## SpaceNeet (Oct 14, 2016)

Hello there.

In a month or so, depending on how long it takes to cycle, I will be setting up a 75 gallon aquarium.

In the meantime, I'm using a 20 gallon quarantine aquarium to grow out a 1'' calvus and 1'' leleupi. Once the 75 gallon aquarium has cycled, I will move them over. This leads to my question on what combinations of fish are available to me.

So far, I considered the following: 
- Neolamprologus multifasciatus
- Synodontis lucipinnis
- Cyprichromis leptosoma
- Paracyprichromis nigripinnis

Note that I'm not looking to add all of these but rather find combinations that could work.

Based on what I've gathered, multifasciatus and synodontis will have a hard time coexisting as the latter will stress the former into constantly defending their eggs. As such, I would prefer one or the other not because I plan on breeding the fish (If the fish do breed I will move the fry out into a separate aquarium to grow out and sell.) but rather to provide an environment for the fish to thrive in rather than defend. In addition, I heard both do better in groups so I don't want to have both and end up with a overcrowded aquarium.

As for the cyps and paracyps, I'm keen on these since I would like have more dither fish.

I'm also considering adding another calvus and/or leleupi once I can determine the gender.

I am open to other suggestions for stocking but there are some guidelines I'm following:
- the inhabitants can coexist with the leleupi and calvus
- the inhabitants (minus any possible fry) are appropriate for the size of the aquarium thus removing the need to upgrade to a bigger size aquarium
- the inhabitants are native to Lake Tanganyika although this is more for uniformity so I'm not as strict

Other detail(s) that might be important:
- I am feeding the calvus and leleupi NLS cichlid pellets, Xtreme cichlid pellets, and Spirulina 20 flakes.On occasions I will drop in thawed mysis and brine shrimp (I will be converting to live baby brine shrimp in the future). With this in mind, I would like final combination of fish to be able to share the same diet. This is to avoid killing of fish due to incompatible diets. On a side note, if someone sees a problem with what I'm feeding the calvus and leleupi, let me know please.

It would also help if I could an idea of how much of each species I can have in the aquarium.

If other information is required, just ask.

Thank you for any advice you have to offer! And best of luck of with your weekend.


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

I would recommend the following as a good mix for your aquarium

Neolamprologus multifasciatus
-Altolamprologus calvus
- Cyprichromis leptosoma
- Paracyprichromis nigripinnis

The Synos will go after any of the egg layers eggs, or fry.. including the Altos, and multifasciatus.

The leleupi will go after the nigripinnis and multifasciatus. I've seen leleupi kill multifasciatus, by pulling them out of the shell, and shaking them, to get at their fry.

I would recommend just getting another three or four calvus, and let them pick a pair.


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## awanderingmoose (Aug 11, 2016)

Another possibility to consider would be:

Calvus (1 pair/harem)
Leleupi (1 pair/harem)
Cyps (group of 8-12)

No guarantee that the leleupi won't go after the cyps to some extent, but in a 75, there should be plenty of room to get away (avoid combining leleupi with paracyps, however). Having rockwork/structure to break up sightlines will help.

That seems to meet all the 3 criteria that you laid out, and all will do fine on what you're feeding.


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## WiTangMan (Aug 2, 2016)

Just a thought would be a nice group of a dozen or so cyps with some kind of a sand sifter ....Zenos . Makes for a beautiful and active tank. The possibilities are endless providing you leave 85% of the "floor space" open. Either way enjoy and happy fishing.


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## SpaceNeet (Oct 14, 2016)

Fogelhund said:


> I would recommend the following as a good mix for your aquarium
> 
> Neolamprologus multifasciatus
> -Altolamprologus calvus
> ...


Hi there. I apologize for the late response. Uni got a bit hectic with the semester coming to in a month. There was work too.

I like your idea a lot. And noticed the leleupi has gotten more aggressive as of late. I don't know if that's because I expanded on the dry base rock caves in the aquarium which removes most open space and as a result expanded on its territory or otherwise. As such I am considering rehoming the leleupi. I like the colors and shape of the leleupi but I got back into the hobby for calvus so i don't want to detract from that.

In other news, I got a deal on a 100 gallon aquarium. It requires some work so it'll be a while before I can get it up and cycling. What I want to know though is does the larger aquarium provide more options? I know footprint is important so I'll try to get those measurements up at some point. As for the 75 gallon, I consider using it for the leleupi and inhabitants it can coexist with but I don't have that much space and enough time to maintain both so it'll probably be stored for now.

Thanks again for the suggestions, Fogelhund.



awanderingmoose said:


> Another possibility to consider would be:
> 
> Calvus (1 pair/harem)
> Leleupi (1 pair/harem)
> ...


Thanks for the suggestions awanderingmoose. As mentioned in my response to Fogelhund, it's been hectic this past week so I apologize for the late response. The advice on how to curve the leleupi aggression is helpful. Thank you!



WiTangMan said:


> Just a thought would be a nice group of a dozen or so cyps with some kind of a sand sifter ....Zenos . Makes for a beautiful and active tank. The possibilities are endless providing you leave 85% of the "floor space" open. Either way enjoy and happy fishing.


Thank you!


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## awanderingmoose (Aug 11, 2016)

SpaceNeet said:


> Thanks for the suggestions awanderingmoose. As mentioned in my response to Fogelhund, it's been hectic this past week so I apologize for the late response. The advice on how to curve the leleupi aggression is helpful. Thank you!


No recipe, unfortunately. The leleupi will be the most aggressive fish in the tank, so they will stake out whatever territory they want. In my case, I basically got lucky. I had two females, which couldn't stand each other, so they took up residence in opposite corners, with the male moving between the two. That left the middle of the tank for the calvus. If you're going to keep with cyps, have at least one tall obstruction to break sight line. If you aren't lucky the first time, you may have to rearrange the tank a couple of times. Also, be warned, the males can be brutal to the females. Having another tank to move aggressors or victims to is probably a good idea. Having multiple females would probably help. Females can also be aggressive, but not like the males.


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