# just changed my tank to african few questions



## buffro (Aug 17, 2005)

Ok so my oscar died and I went to LFS to figure out what i wanted to do. I decided african so they set me up with a few fish to start and I was wondering what would be some other good choices. I have a 150 gl and an un limited supply of great looking limestone which I have already fully stocked my tank with.

The LFS set me up with 2 red zebra's
2 electric blue johanii ( i think this is what the bag say's)
2 red top cobalt zebra

I like color full fish with differnt colors I want to add more as they said I could do 100 easily. I'm thinking about just doing like 20-30 total I know I want some front's could you guys recamend some more fish and link me to some pics I would like a nice variety and color. My ph turned out to be perfect at just above 8 so that was a bonus and the limestone should also do nice with the fish.


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## buffro (Aug 17, 2005)

after looking around a little bit I know I also want a few strawberry peacock's and some cobalts as well wil they do ok with the ones I also listed above


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## ladybugzcrunch (Jul 26, 2009)

I have heard it is not a good idea to mix lakes. I would return the mbuna and do a frontosa tank. Frontosa are awesome.


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## Bweb (Mar 31, 2009)

I don't see how any of the fish the poster has listed are from different lakes sounds like all Malawi's to me I would probably go with an all Mbuna tank or all Hap's and Peacocks but some crazy mixes work out for some.

I have 5 Species of Mbuna In my 125gal. with 5 Clown loaches The Mbuna's are all around 2" and I have to weed out some extra males but for now everyone gets along fine and they breed like crazy.


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## buffro (Aug 17, 2005)

I dont know what mbuna or haps are you guys are losing me lol. I have always done central and south american cichlids.

I'm just kinda wonering what all would work together and if you could post pics or links of pice to the fish you recamend. I really wanted to to do the color spectrum like purple yellow blue and the red peacocks. I just have no idea what works together and my LFS told me they will all work together so I dunno what do and I turn you guy's


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## caseyof99 (Aug 5, 2009)

ok so the fish you listed having are mbuna. They can be very aggressive and probably the most aggressive africans. Mbuna and haps are just different classifications of Lake Malawi cichlids. Since you already have all mbuna i would stick with that since any other mixture can cause harassment and death. Mbuna are very territorial and need caves and rocks to hide in. Just read up a little on them before you dive too much further in. When i started i threw all sorts of stuff together and it didnt work out too well. Since you do have a 150gal its more likely that you can mix in some peacocks with the mbuna but you cant be surprised when you end up with dead fish. There are plent of mbuna to choose from. There is a nice part of the library on this site that helps with mixes that are good and bad. Good luck and welcome to Africans! :thumb:


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## caseyof99 (Aug 5, 2009)

Bweb said:


> I don't see how any of the fish the poster has listed are from different lakes sounds like all Malawi's to me


Fronts are Lake Tanganyika


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## steelers fan (Jun 26, 2009)

yeah ya know stick with either mbuna or fronts...frontosa are very calm for the most part and will get harrassed and if they do survive will make a snack of your smaller mbuna. also peacocks are alittle calmer as well...mbuna are the african mob and do well with their kind and dont like tankmates that cant or wont stand up to them. that being said cobalts will do fine or any zebras for that matter, my favortite are the ice blue, as well as demasoni, acei, yellow labs, salousi, take a look through the library and go from there.


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## Bweb (Mar 31, 2009)

Sorry didn't catch the front's on the posters wish list I was looking at their stock list. Good luck with your tank Which ever lake you go with Africans are great lots of personality. :thumb:


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

> I like color full fish with differnt colors I want to add more as they said I could do 100 easily.


Beware of anyone who tells you you can put 100 cichlids in a 150G tank... 

If you want lots of colour, I would recommend going with an all Malawi, all male tank. This would mean no two fish of the same species, no females, and no two fish that look overly similar to each other.

I would not keep fronts with the fish you already have.

Did the oscar die in this tank?

Do you know what was wrong with him?

Did you take any precautions before starting to restock?


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## buffro (Aug 17, 2005)

the oscar had hole in the head in for years. I treated him with med's and water changes as well as aquarium salt and rasiing the temp in the tank. Also I have found out that my water hard as per them testing my water for the african's so this perhaps this contributed to the HITH. He would get better then get it back again. I also fed him the red hikari pellets and I was told by one LFS that was the problem. The guy said it was because the red hikari was mainly protien and he wasn't getting enough of a viariety. I dunno if this was true or not but it kinda makes sense because I tired every thing that a plethora of people suggested and nothing seemed to ever cure it. I had other fish with him for years and never had any other health problems. I aslo had a veja regani with him for years and about a year ago he decided he didn't like him any more and killed him. There also a cown loach in there and a silver dollar all are still very healthy. I did do a big water change when he died and I did another big water change when I brought home the 6 baby mbua from my local fish store as per their request.
As per my lfs telling I could have 100 I knew this was a stretch as it's way over the one inch per gallon rule


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

You can't go by the one inch per gallon rule with cichlids!

It's all going to depend on the species you choose!

Imagine having 150 inches of frontosa in that tank... 

Are you interested in breeding and distributing fry, or more interested in just having a showy tank?


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## buffro (Aug 17, 2005)

I decided to go with a mix of mbua and peacocks. I ordered 5 of each with the thought that when they can be sexed I will end up with 1 male and hopefully atleast 2 females of each species. I then plan to sell the addition males to my local fish store and I think at the very least I will make a profit or be able to trade them for additional females I might need. The reason I did this is because the site I am buying from is selling them unsexed.

I went with 5 of each
cobalt blue zebra
electric yellow
rusty's
socolifi
swallowtail 
german red
regal blue
sunshine benga yellow

here is a pic of my tank as well last night my LFS had a 100 gallon reef ready used tank and stand with a bunch of stuff for 500$ and looked in really good condition so I think I'm gonna buy it and do fronts in that.


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## buffro (Aug 17, 2005)

cichlidaholic said:


> You can't go by the one inch per gallon rule with cichlids!
> 
> It's all going to depend on the species you choose!
> 
> ...


I'm not interested in breeding and I couldnt really go by the 1" rule because there is like 200lbs of rock in that tank


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## buffro (Aug 17, 2005)

also I know allot of you use NLS any other suggestions for feeding?


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## Dewdrop (Nov 20, 2007)

I only use NLS but I've heard Hikari and Dianchi (don't think that's spelled right) are also good foods.

The first 4 species on the stocking list you have now are mbuna (and what I'm most familiar with).
I think you're right to only have one male of each but I would hope for 3-4 females of each. They are harem breeders and 2 females might not be enough to keep a male happy & to keep the females from being overly harassed.

I don't know what a swallowtail is but I think the next 3 listed are peacocks. Hopefully someone with experience with them can tell you how they may get along with the mbuna. All I can offer about them is that the females look alot alike and there could be crossbreeding going on. If you're not into breeding you can let the females spit their fry into the main tank where they will likely get eaten.

Good luck and happy fish keeping :thumb:


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

The peacocks will be stressed by the mbuna, _and_ they will crossbreed. You will also be unable to distinguish between the females of the peacocks to separate them later on.

The tank size may give you room for error, but this isn't an ideal stock list at all.


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## buffro (Aug 17, 2005)

I could care less about breeding if they breed their fry will end up as food for the other fish. As I said if it becomes a problem I will remove and sell some. At 6$ a piece i think I can atleast break even. 
So many people have so many differnt opinon's I don't really know who's advice to take so I'm gonna try the mbua and peacocks and see what happens. I have a big tank and lots of rock as well I work from home and am confident I can watch these fish enough to take one out before it gets killed. 
I've seen allot of pictures from people across a few sites including this one that are sucessful at keeping these 2 types of fish. The breeder I am buing them thinks I will be ok with them and suggested I not put some other fish in with these that I wanted.


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

buffro said:


> I could care less about breeding if they breed their fry will end up as food for the other fish. As I said if it becomes a problem I will remove and sell some. At 6$ a piece i think I can atleast break even.


I understand what you're saying...

But the problem is that once you mix all those peacocks, very few cichlid enthusiasts are going to be comfortable buying any of the females from you because you won't be able to tell them apart once you mix them.

Hybridization is also a very big problem area in the hobby - a quick look through the unidentified section will back me up - so selling or distributing fry that manage to survive in the tank is also frowned upon.

I understand that you think the fry produced by these fish won't be a problem, but over time, they will.

So, basically, if this doesn't work out for you, you've got quite the mess on your hands as far as getting rid of them.

Stress wise, you're likely going to have problems between the Cobalt zebras and socolofi - they look too similar to each other and are also prone to crossbreed. The higher the stress level in the tank is, the more likely the peacocks (and mbuna) are to have health issues...

The Rusties and yellow labs would have been fine choices with a bunch of peacock males!

Just trying to help you out, as I thought that was why you started the thread!

The tank looks very nice, by the way... :thumb:


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## aFinFan (Jul 29, 2009)

What did you do with the clown loach and silver dollar?Your tank looks good,I would keep an eye on how the mbuna and peacocks interact,usually peacocks dont do very well around mbuna and show colour loss because of stress level in the tank,feeding suggestions can be found in product reviews everybody seems to have their favs,I use a lot of fresh greens with spirulina flake and Omega one cichlid food variety is good just dont be to heavy handed about it ,also I believe the peacocks and mbuna have different dietary requirements u need to keep in mind ,good luck with your tank


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## buffro (Aug 17, 2005)

cichlidaholic said:


> buffro said:
> 
> 
> > I could care less about breeding if they breed their fry will end up as food for the other fish. As I said if it becomes a problem I will remove and sell some. At 6$ a piece i think I can atleast break even.
> ...


I appreciate the help and your right there might be problems with the socolifi and the cobalt at that time a group will be removed and sold or given to my LFS. It's not the end of the world and these problems are really easil solved some of you guys here make out this stuff to be much more difficult than it needs to be. I appreciate your advice and trust me I am taking it to hart I just don't feel like it's the end of the world if I have to remove some fish and sell or give them away. It't kinda my plan to get rid of some of the fish basically I won't lose any thing by culling some out and getting a store credit and I will still end up with the fish I want the most.


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## buffro (Aug 17, 2005)

aFinFan said:


> What did you do with the clown loach and silver dollar?Your tank looks good,I would keep an eye on how the mbuna and peacocks interact,usually peacocks dont do very well around mbuna and show colour loss because of stress level in the tank,feeding suggestions can be found in product reviews everybody seems to have their favs,I use a lot of fresh greens with spirulina flake and Omega one cichlid food variety is good just dont be to heavy handed about it ,also I believe the peacocks and mbuna have different dietary requirements u need to keep in mind ,good luck with your tank


silver dollar is still there and My son claimed the clown loach for his tank


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## cichlidaholic (Dec 7, 2005)

buffro said:


> I could care less about breeding if they breed their fry will end up as food for the other fish. As I said if it becomes a problem I will remove and sell some. At 6$ a piece i think I can atleast break even.


Surely you can understand the confusion this particular quote could cause...It sounded as if you were planning to sell the fry if they became a problem, hence my response.

I don't have to "prove you wrong"...As the fish mature, they'll show you everything you need to know, and then some. But if I can save someone the trouble by pointing out problem areas, I do that.

I'm only trying to give you your best chances for success with this set up, based on 39 years experience.

You'll find that if you ask around enough, you can get alot of different answers. Many times, people only hear what they want to hear, period.

When I take the time to make a response to you, I'm thinking more of long term potential for the tank, out of concern for the fish. There IS an art to keeping cichlids...There are countless threads on this forum to prove this. It's not as simple as throwing a bunch of fish in a tank and hoping for the best.

I got your pm, and agree that you'll be better satisfied (as will the fish) with two different set ups. I'm not confident that the fronts and peacocks together will be a good long term option, but the peacocks will certainly be less stressed, as long as they aren't food for the fronts. :thumb:


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## steelers fan (Jun 26, 2009)

> I don't have to "prove you wrong"...As the fish mature, they'll show you everything you need to know, and then some. But if I can save someone the trouble by pointing out problem areas, I do that.
> 
> I'm only trying to give you your best chances for success with this set up, based on 39 years experience.
> 
> You'll find that if you ask around enough, you can get alot of different answers. Many times, people only hear what they want to hear, period.


 :thumb:


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## caseyof99 (Aug 5, 2009)

my LFS just got in some Hikari Sinking pellets made for african cichlids and my fish love them. Its got good amounts of spirulina and veggies in it and I noticed the colors of my fish are getting brighter and they are more active. Haven't been using it long but that and some flakes seems to make em happy.


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## Dewdrop (Nov 20, 2007)

Cool. I've never used Hikari but know alot of people use it and it's good food. I've never read anyone say their fish didn't like it. In fact it's either Hikari or that Dianchi sp? that someone posted their fish prefer over the NLS that I and many others use exclusively :wink: .


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