# New 55 gallon tank. Need help stocking.



## fishdudebro (Dec 1, 2013)

Hey there, the past few years I have been keeping South American cichlids but have recently transitioned to African cichlids. I have a 55 gallon tank with crushed coral as substrated, also with rocks and driftwood. Now I'm a little confused as to how many fish and of what species I should keep in the tank. I hear overstocking is common to help lower the aggression. But here's what I currently have..

2 Electric yellow (1 has a missing tail fin)
1 Red zebra
1 Acei
1 male auratus
1 bumblebee (supposed internal parasites)
1 Kennyi
1 Demasoni

I found out that demasoni's aren't the best to have in low numbers due to their aggression. What changes should I make in the tank? More yellows and red? Maybe get rid of the demasoni? Thanks!


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Since you have 7 species it seems you are going for an all-male tank. Get rid of all duplicates (labs), all look alikes (lab/kenyi) and all females. Demasoni is OK to keep as a single. Shoot for 8 males to correctly overstock a 55G all-male.

If you want mixed gender groups, choose 3 species and stock 1m:4f of each. Acei, auratus, bumblebee and kenyi are species not well suited to a 55G. Demasoni do need to be in large groups (12 minimum) if you have more than one and labs/red zebras crossbreed so choose one or the other.


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## fishdudebro (Dec 1, 2013)

Ok what about a yellow lab/demasoni tank? And why isn't an acei/kenyi suited for a 55 gal?


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## Michael_S (Aug 18, 2013)

Acei get large(7"), Kenyi are very aggressive when reaching maturity and afterword.

A yellow lab/demasoni tank would be nice.


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## fishdudebro (Dec 1, 2013)

Ok lab/demasoni tank it is. But isn't sexing younger cichlids difficult? How would I go about getting the correct ratios? And how many labs could go in a 55 gallon with 12 demasoni?


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## Michael_S (Aug 18, 2013)

I would buy them all as unsexed juveniles. Then later down the road you could remove the extra males that don't get along. I would start with 15 demasoni and get 5-8 labs. Maybe more, someone else could probably chime in on that.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Demasoni are not a beginner cichlid, they are more work than other mbuna IME. Are you looking for a challenge? :thumb:

I'd want to end up with 15 demasoni and 5 labs so I'd start with double that amount.


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## Raiderdane (Sep 23, 2013)

Demasoni and Yellow Labs work Great in a 55 Gallon Tank and is probably one of the Most Gorgeous Tanks out there. I would shoot for at least 12-15 Demasoni and 6 Yellow Labs. You will probably have to buy about 20-24 Demasoni and 10-12 Yellow Labs, then do the weeding out of Males. You can buy them young and they will be pretty small, since they are Dwarf Mbunas, they wont get real big at all. As long as you have lots of rock work for territories to claim, you could be ok with 3-4 Demasoni Males and the rest Females, and you might have that one Male who likes to disguise himself looking like a Female. They are a challenging Breed, but so worth it....they have a lot of Spunk!!! Good Luck.


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## fishdudebro (Dec 1, 2013)

Ok so if I had a lab/demasoni tank would the breeding be out of control? I've always tried so steer away from reproduction in my tanks because I didn't want my tanks to get overstocked.


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## pancakeloach (Feb 4, 2008)

Fry generally get eaten before they can grow up to become a problem if you don't take any steps to intervene on their behalf. Although I did find a 1" baby rusty in my tank just yesterday when I moved my rockwork around!


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Stock 5 Synodontis multipunctatus for additional fry patrol.


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