# New Tanganyika community set-up -- Help!?



## jessicaday4 (Sep 21, 2010)

Hi!
I'm new to cichlids and am looking to set up my new 29 gallon tank with a Tanganyika community.
The tanks is in the process of being set up with lots of caves (rocks, and I made a background with many hiding spots) and sand substrate. I know that I would like to have some shellies and have an open space for them in the middle of the tank. 
Other than that I would love to stock my tank with as much color and personality I can fit! I know 29 gallons isnÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t very big for cichlids, but it seems like a Tanganyika community is a good bet.
Things I have considered and am interested in are:

-I would love a young Altolamprologus I know it will eventually outgrow the tank, but for now maybe?
-Some Julies would be great
- A tanganyika clown (Eretmodus cyanostictus)
- Rainbows?
-Peacocks?

To make matters more difficult I really donÃ¢â‚¬â„¢t have a tank available to place odd fish in if pairs chase others out during stocking. I don't have a problem with single fish, because I dont want to breed, but I am not sure how happy some of these fish would be as singles.

I would really love any input I could get on stocking my tank!

Thanks so much!


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## jlagory (Aug 11, 2003)

I just stocked my 29 with a trio of Altolamprologus calvus, hoping to get a pair. From everything I heard on this forum they do just fine in even a 20 L tank. I plan on finishing the tank off with a pair of some species in the Julidochromis genus.

I also keep a 10 gallon that I inherited from my brother which contains 3 pairs of Lamprologus brevis, and they seem to get along beautifully in such a small space. I imagine they would do well in a larger environment, although you would probably want something else to fill that vertical space of a 29. I have heard that any shelldweller would do well in a tank with a calvus pair, although I have also heard that the calvus may eat the shellies.

I highly endorse the calvus, but seeing as I just got them last week I can't vouch for their compatibility with others in a smaller tank size.


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## Manoah Marton (Feb 17, 2009)

I vote calvus. I have a 20L setup just for them, and they ARE my favorite fish I've ever kept.


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## jessicaday4 (Sep 21, 2010)

Great! I'm sold on the Altolamprologus calvus! This is sort of what I am thinking right now but maybe someone could tell me if this combo would work?

2 Altolamprologus calvus(they can have the caves on one half my tank)
2 Julidochromis of some kind-maybe 2 that are different species if this would help stop aggression (they can have the caves on the other half)
a handful of rainbows (3 or 4 maybe?) as dither fish
Some shellies (2 or 3?)

I don't really know if this is feasible so please feel free to give me some feedback!
Thanks!


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## Manoah Marton (Feb 17, 2009)

Lose the julies. in your size tank there isn't really enough room for two rockdwellers, especially if a pair forms.
everything else sounds good!

mm


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## nodima (Oct 3, 2002)

I think your plan is sound. I'd go with the calvus/compressicips, then a trio or so of julies. My experiences with julies (transcriptus, dickfeldi, regani) is that they are robust enough to defend a territory but do not generally beat up other fish. For shell dwellers, try brevis - I found that multis and similis quickly overtook their tanks. Having a tank set up with a ton of rockwork will allow subdominant fish a place to escape, particularly if you can get the rock work up towards upper corners of the tank. In a 29, the biggest challenge is building a large enough rock pile while leaving enough open space for shell dwellers.

A number of years ago, I had a tang set up in a 29, with a ton of rocks in which I had julies, syno multis (don't recommend doing), compressiceps, 2 leleupi and one or two others. My experience was the julies spawned repeatedly, the comps did an ok job predating on the fry, but I still had to break the tank down a couple times per year to "harvest" fry to trade to a LFS.

I'd stay away from rainbows as dithers as they get fairly large, perhaps look into danios, but with sufficient rockwork dithers are probably not required.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Manoah Marton said:


> Lose the julies. in your size tank there isn't really enough room for two rockdwellers


These are my thoughts as well. Even in my 72" tank the fish that are most frequently rejected (as in get them out or they will be killed) are "extra" julies.


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## jonathansruelas (Aug 28, 2010)

i would try the calvus, and some brevis. i also hear that julies would be a good fit with calvus.


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## jcampos8782 (Aug 15, 2010)

I would tell you to stay away from mixing calvus with any shellies. The calvus will munch on the shellie fry and once full grown, a male may be able to get some of the larger ones as well. If you really want to go with calvus, you might just want to mix in a couple of small catfish or something... something like synondontis polli. Or, you can do the julies (transcriptus are my favs) with the shellies.

Just my two cents.


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## jcampos8782 (Aug 15, 2010)

jonathansruelas said:


> i would try the calvus, and some brevis. i also hear that julies would be a good fit with calvus.


I had a pair of julie transcriptus and a pair of calvus in a 20 gallon. The female julie was killed by the male calvus


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## triscuit (May 6, 2005)

First off, welcome to C-F! :thumb:

Secondly, there's a bit of confusion and maybe even misinformation in this thread... opcorn:

Tangs need very clean water and lots of space to do well- overstocking will severely limit your chances of success. A 29 gallon tank can fit 2 species of cichlids if carefully chosen. Starting with calvus is great- they tend to be good neighbors. While this is the first I've heard of a calvus killing julies, I suspect that there was a lack of suitable territory. I wouldn't suggest having 2 rock dwellers in a 29 gallon, but in larger tanks calvus and julies get a long just fine. Calvus also get along with adult shellies- they will munch on some fry, but under most circumstances the adult shellies are safe even with adult, wild caught altolamps.

Some shellies (multies would be my choice) in with the calvus would limit territorial disputes. I suggest starting with 6 juvenile fish of each species.


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## jcampos8782 (Aug 15, 2010)

Yes triscuit, it was a small tank where my calvus killed the julies. I was actually only holding the julies for a week for the person that was purchasing them from a package of fish I purchased... didn't have room in my other tanks and unfortunately, turns out I didn't have room in that one either!


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## jcampos8782 (Aug 15, 2010)

... and I do believe that the larger calvus (4 inches or so) will munch on the adult shellies. Mine have been eating full grown zebra danios for snacks lately


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

My shellies seem to be find with my full-grown calvus. It's the leleupi that bother the shellies in my tank.


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## jonathansruelas (Aug 28, 2010)

jcampos8782 said:


> jonathansruelas said:
> 
> 
> > i would try the calvus, and some brevis. i also hear that julies would be a good fit with calvus.
> ...


20 gallon was probably to small for the 2 pairs , and probably didnt have enough territories especially if there wasnt enough caves for them to call their own


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