# New 300 Gal Tang tank - advice needed



## Jorsay (Jul 14, 2008)

I am getting my new tank in a couple of weeks. My plan is to stock it as follows:

12 Tropheus Bemba
12 Tropheus Iliani
10 Frontosa Zaire
6 leleupi
5 Brichardi
12 Similis
6 Red Fin Compressiceps
8 Julido Marlieri
12 Cyp Utinta

All these fish will be juveniles and I assume that I will lose some as they grow. However, I think the tank is big enough. I suspect that the biggest problem will be the brichardi chasing the similis. Any suggestions on numbers and types of fish?

My intent is to order fish by mail. I have never done this, and am wondering if this is the best way to go. What is the best place to order from?


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## h0nkzz (Dec 27, 2006)

I think tropheus & frontosa in the same tank is a no-no ... 
brichardi will chase just about anything if they start to pair up & established a terrotory.
If its my choice, I would put a 2nd species of shellies instead of the brichardis. a colony of multies would be awesome.

just my 2cents.


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## Jorsay (Jul 14, 2008)

Thanks for the advice. I currently have a 90 gallon with 5 adult tropheus and 6 Frontosa (5-6 inches.) They ignore each other. The local fish store guy told me that he used to raise them in the same tank and he told me that once, while stripping a frontosa, he actually found a tropheus fry in the mouth of the frontosa.

The multis and the similis are very similiar, no?

the more I read about the brichardis, the more I think you are probably correct about them.


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## youngb074 (Jun 22, 2008)

I would die to have a 300 gallon tank!


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## Jorsay (Jul 14, 2008)

Yes, I am very excited. 15 years ago, my brother had a 300 gallon tank. It was awesome. Since I live in CA, my house is small, but my wife has kindly agreed to let me put it in the middle of the living room.

I can't wait.


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## youngb074 (Jun 22, 2008)

Nice wife! You better be nice to her :thumb:


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## Multies (Mar 9, 2007)

what are the dimensions of the tank?
i personally dont think there is enough room to fit all those guys in.


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## Jorsay (Jul 14, 2008)

8 feet by 2 feet by 30 inches high

I am thinking that as they grow, I will likely lose a few but as juveniles, there will be enough room.


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

It isn't a mix I would attempt on multi levels.

First, frontosa are predators. Should they choose, they could easily eat any of;

6 leleupi 
5 Brichardi 
12 Similis 
6 Red Fin Compressiceps 
8 Julido Marlieri 
12 Cyp Utinta

Cyprichromis happens to be a mainstay in the diet of wild frontosas.

Second leleupi and marlieri are known for giving most shell dwelling species a particularly hard time, pulling them out of their shells to eat the babies. Often the mother is maimed or killed in the process. There are more aggressive larger shell dwellers that could work with these fish, but... .then...

Then we get a conflict between rock dwelling species usage of territories. The Tropheus will want to zip in and out of the rocks getting away from chasing conspecifics. The leleupi, brichardi, compressiceps, marlieri will be busy trying to spawn in these rocks, and will vigourously defending them. Fish will sustain injuries from these conflicts.

I also think that the Tropheus stand a reasonable probability of hybridizing. If they are being released into the tank, it doesn't matter much, as they'll most likely be eaten anyway, but if you plan on breeding, it isn't ideal.

My recommendation would be to decide which fishes you want.

Tropheus/gobies/Julidochromis/Petrochromis/aggressive shell dweller could work ok.

Frontosa... more Frontosa would work ok.

Cyps/Lamprologines/shell dwellers/Julidochromis could work ok as well.


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## Jorsay (Jul 14, 2008)

One year later and my 300 gallon is doing well with:

8 not 12 Tropheus 
4 not 10 Frontosa Moba (9 to 10 inches each) 
5 not 6 leleupi 
12 not 5 Brichardi (with hundreds of babies each week, some living to breed, others not) 
0 not 12 Similis (all died)
4 not 6 Red Fin Compressiceps 
2 not 8 Julido oranatus (I keep finding them in the filter dead) 
0 not 12 Cyp Utinta (I tried to batches of 25. My Frontosa loved them!)
1 pair of Tetracanthus that breed like crazy. (Some of their babies are surviving in the rocks)
3 sexfaciatus


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## @nt!x (Feb 9, 2009)

where are the pics?


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## frank1rizzo (Mar 14, 2005)

@nt!x said:


> where are the pics?


This


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## BioG (Oct 12, 2008)

yes pics.

I hate to say we told you so with the cyps! :wink: I just found this thread but I wasn't as worried about frontosa and Tropheus (because of the size of the tank) as I was about the Comps and the similis. Were the similis killed by human error, leleupi, tropheus? Do your Red Fin Comps suffer torn fins or any other injuries from the tropheus? Also it's a pretty big tank and 8 tropheus would be spread out pretty good, in other words, it doesn't seem overstocked. Sometimes figuring out what works is a big part of the fun of tangs! Where are the pics?

PS I thing your Julies were killing of unmated conspecifics?


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## Jorsay (Jul 14, 2008)

I never saw a cyp get eaten. Instead, each morning there would be a couple missing.

The comps have no problems. Their fins are not torn and I don't see them fight.

The similis just seem to vanish. I had at least 75 escargo shells, but they didn't seem able to claim them anywhere in the tank against those stinkin Brichardi.

When I put the tetracanthus pair in, the Brichardi settled down :wink: . They still mate, but they tend to lay low as opposed to bully everyone. The tetracanthus can't push around the Frontosa, so they stay to there little area.

I will get some pictures soon. I am a little embarrassed because it's not the best looking tank. It doesn't have any plants. The rock set up is permanent as far as I am concerned because I don't want to crawl inside and move them.


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## BioG (Oct 12, 2008)

I personally love the "reef" look of rock on sand without plants. There's hardly any plants in the lake anyway  . It's always nice to have a fish that can control Brichardi and it's even nicer to have found a way to keep Tetracanthus in a community, those are such cool fish. I hope you stare at this tank a lot


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## jb1234 (Apr 2, 2006)

I would also love to see some pics.


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## mel_cp6 (Feb 3, 2009)

cyphos are predators and opportunistic hunters.
they eat at night when the other fish are sleeping.
i've actually tried mixed tang before with my 8" gibberosa and 
came home one night to see him munching on a leleupi.
he even tried to eat a tropheus and some other malawis when i had them 
in there. 
my tank is only 125 though, but i imagine they will eat anything smaller than
them regardless of the tank size.

post pics so we could see how it looks, 
thats a nice size tank btw.


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## cisco2025 (Aug 3, 2009)

Hey, what happened to the pics? How did the other fishes die, aggression from other fishes?


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## Jorsay (Jul 14, 2008)

Jorsay said:


> One year later and my 300 gallon is doing well with:
> 
> 8 not 12 Tropheus
> 4 not 10 Frontosa Moba (9 to 10 inches each)
> ...


Another year later and my 300 gallon has:

Still 4 Moba (replaced the male about a year back)
Still the same 5 Lelupi (they bred twice - only one baby lived to be about 3/4 inch then disappeared)
Many Brichardi (they breed like lice)
Same four compressiceps
All Julies died
Female Tetracanthus died, but four babies have lived to be from 1 to 2 inches
Same three Sexfaciatus (2 are very sick recently and will die soon)
3 pineapple tropheus (put 20 in about 9 months ago)
3 Nkambe (they mated twice and I removed the about 18 of the babies the second time.)


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## Jorsay (Jul 14, 2008)

cisco2025 said:


> Hey, what happened to the pics? How did the other fishes die, aggression from other fishes?


The cyps, I assume were eaten by the wild-caught frontosa, although the frontosa from my 90 gallon tank (not wild-caught) don't seem to bother cyps at all. I have introduced cyps since then and actually seen them get eaten. The frontosa don't go after any babies in the tank. They only go after the cyps and, now I feed them minnows as well. They love em.

The similis never got established and I assume crawled under a rock or were eaten by nkambe.

The tropheus beat the snot out of each other and die off one by one of desease. They seem to pick one weakling and beat on him until he gets sick and dies, and then pick another. Funny, I have had 6 bembas in my 90 for two years and they do great. I actually had five for a while, added two. One died of a hole in its side, and the 6 have been together ever since.


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## TorontoRaptorsFan (May 20, 2005)

Eventually I'm going to get rid of my three tanks and get one large one (500 gallon +)

Either the tank will house:

1) Cyprichromis species, Xenotilapia Papilio species, and a Featherfin species

2) Petrochromis - lots of Red Bulu Points


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## Jorsay (Jul 14, 2008)

Yes! I love Big tanks.

I am trying to talk my wife into sealing off the dining room and making it into a fish tank with access from the upstairs. So far it's a no go.


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## mel_cp6 (Feb 3, 2009)

thats to bad about the cyps.

im not having good experience with my cyps as well.
they were together with paracyps, julis, comps, 2 small cyphos and multies but 
now most of their anal fins are bitten off. im not sure which are taking bites out of them

hey raptorfan, where in mississauga are you from?
i live is mississauga as well. 
any advice you can give me on my cyps? 
maybe i can check out your tanks. lol!


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## Tiberian (Jun 14, 2009)

post pics as you get is set up please


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## ggazonas (Jul 20, 2010)

Not realizing that Fronts eat other fish, since I've been keeping different size fronts for nearly 10 years, but recently I sold all my fish except the Fronts and added some marguenensis whom are doing fine.

I decided to then add some 6 Xenos and a group of 8 cyps. Well not even a week later I only had 4 Xenos and 5 cyps. A few days later another Xenos gone and a cyp. I ended up pulling the remaining Xenos and cyps and putting them in a 29.


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## Lamprichthys (Mar 10, 2008)

In the Lake, Frontosas wake up a bit earlier than the Cyps, and simply move from deep waters to shallower waters and munch on the sleeping Cyps. They do the same in tanks. Cyps are their natural prey.

If you want to keep Cyps, you need at least 10 and they must be with fish that will not harass them. Each male has a mid water territory about the size of a football, and they will spar with each other in that area, but the sparring keep them off the females too much. But any fish that sees them as competitors will harass them to death. I have my Cyps in a 120 with Julidichromis ornatus, a bunch of Synodontis lucipinnis, several Lamprichthys tanganicus and 2 Yellow compressiceps. I get about 20 to 30 Cyp fry every month and have been supplying the local trade quite nicely. I don't even have to remove the females; everybody leaves the babies alone.


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## fiupntballr (Jul 7, 2004)

for long term success you want way more than just a handful of trophs... you will want to stack them... having 5 or 6 in the long run will lead to issues


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