# 33 Gallon Long	48 x 12Â½ x 13 Tall Ideas?



## binro01 (Nov 25, 2008)

Hello all,

Well my wife now truly believes I'm completely nuts. I just started 2 new tanks on the main floor of our home, which brings the number up to 4 tanks there, and I brought her to the LFS today to show her a 33 gallon long that I was thinking about for our bed room on the second floor. I feel more comfortable putting only a 33G there because of the lower water weight.

She then rolled her eyes at me, but when I said she will get to pick the fish for the decor of the room, she was more open to the idea. But I told her that she will have to pick fish that will play nice with each other, and be Cichlids.

She perfers the colors of the Malawi cichlids. My question that I have, is can I look at the 55g cookie cutter for a 33g long since the foot print is the same. The only difference is the much shorter height of the 33 Long.

Your thoughts are highly appreciated and welcome. My initial thoughts was perhaps, 4 Yellow Labs, 4 Acei, and 4 Saulosi

Im going to filter this with a Aquaclear 70 and a Fluval 205 with a 200 W inline heater. Addl water movement via a Korella (sp) Power head, and a air rock or two. I will be using a pool filter sand substrate, and some limestone in the tank


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## football mom (Feb 19, 2006)

I have a 33 long tank also. I think that size is very popular with Reef hobbyists, my lfs sells a lot of them for that use. 
I bought mine for the lower level shelf under a 55... the shorter height makes it easier to do maintenence on that level than a regular 55. 
I have Julidochromis and shell-dwellers in mine, but I think you could stock with any of the dwarf mbuna. The acei I think would just get too large, and they do a lot more swimming in the water column than most mbuna. A large saulosi colony with a few males for blue color, and a large number of yellow females would look great in that tank, IMO, but I'm sure others will have more ideas for you.


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## smellsfishy1 (May 29, 2008)

I don't think 12 mbuna in a 33 long is going to work long term.
You should shoot for a number less than 10 since the volume of water is small and it may get difficult trying to manage a healthy system when they get larger.
Aggression will also become a concern once they mature and want to spawn.

You may end up taking some out or removing a species completely if you start with more than 3 species or too many of two species.
The saulosi would be a good idea since they are dimorphic, 2 blue males and 6 yellow females would look nice and I am sure you would get some breeding.
Don't limit yourself to just mbuna, Rams and Apistos are dwarf cichlids that are very colorful and stay small so you may also want to look at some other smaller species.
What are the properties of your tap water?


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## binro01 (Nov 25, 2008)

Thanks for the suggestions 



> What are the properties of your tap water?


My Tap water is very middle of the road. PH of about 7.2-7.4 and not hard. I have to buffer it for rift lake cichlids, and use limestone in my tank.

The idea of a new world tank is very interesting for me and could work if the fish are colorful enough for the wife. Im a complete newb to new worlds so any direction there would be most helpful.



> A large saulosi colony with a few males for blue color


What would constitute a large saulosi colony? 10-12 fish? 3-1 male to female ratio is what I was thinking so if I do 10, I would look for 2 male 8 female. I never kept saulosi. Do they hang in the rockwork often like my other Manuba? My wife will hope for more free swimming fish. She reads in front of my other tanks so the fish get inquisitive to check her out over time, but they tend to hand in the rocks more often then not.

I tried the open Manuba tank with minimal rockwork and no caves, but world war III broke out in the tank and I didn't like the look of the tank. Heck. I was getting stressed just watching them swim and chase each other in the open tank for one hour so I put the rocks back in. Fish are much more calm.

If I was to do a smaller saulosi colony. Say 4 fish. (1 male and 3 female) what other species would you recommend in a 33 gallon long to go in there with them if the Acei are out?[/code]


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## Bashiba (Feb 28, 2003)

I think this would be a pretty cool setup, straight from the 40 gallon long cookie cutter.

â€¢ Pundamilia nyererei - 5
â€¢ Labidochromis caeruleus - 5 
â€¢ Ancistrus temminckii "Bristlenose Pleco" - 2

I have Makobe Pundamilia nyererei right now and they are great fish, they don't get real big and they seem to get along with the Mbuna in my tank fine. They swim in the open water. The males are super colorful, though the females are a bit plain.


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## The-Wu (Jul 2, 2009)

Hello

I have the exact tank. it was great for a planted panoramic set up. I grew in a carpet of hairgrass and created a good sense of size with a school of small cardinals and minimal aquascaping.


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## non_compliance (Dec 4, 2008)

The-Wu said:


> Hello
> 
> I have the exact tank. it was great for a planted panoramic set up. I grew in a carpet of hairgrass and created a good sense of size with a school of small cardinals and minimal aquascaping.


OY!!! That tank is wicked awesome.

As far as the fish go, I woudln't get more than 10-12... consider some dwarf cichlids..

Like this nicholsi... note the wonderful color on the males. They are small, fast growing, and will breed easily...

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/s ... hp?id=1440

Maybe get some saulosi (2m/6f) going with 1m/3f of the nicholsi


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## football mom (Feb 19, 2006)

That tank is really cool. My Juli transcriptus are in a similar planted tank, but it is only a 20L.


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## hollyfish2000 (Aug 23, 2007)

Look at Bolivian rams in a planted tank with a big school of smaller tetras, like rummynose or cardinals, with a school of cute cories and an albino long-finned BN.

Or you can swap the Bolivians for a trio of apistos (1M-2F). I particularly like the borellis.


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## dwarfpike (Jan 22, 2008)

Yeah, 33 gallon longs were built for dwarf cichlids. :thumb:


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## harveyb27 (Dec 15, 2008)

You have a perfect tank for dwarf mbuna, fill it up with rocks, put on a blue or black background and you have yourself a cool aquascape and colorful display. I would do the following fish:

*14 Pseudotropheus Saulosi (4M/10F)*

or

*12-15 Pseudotropheus Demasoni (Preferably more females)*

or

*5 Pseudotropheus Saulosi (1M/4F)
4 Iodotropheus Sprengerae (1M/3F)*

_Note: I would also add up to 6 synos. Overfilter, this is a must and not an option for this size tank. As for your water being quite neutral, if you go down the road of rift lake cichlids, i would just add sand and rocks that would buffer and avoid adding chemicals. Caribsea do a number of sands that buffer the water to 8.2 by themselves. Holey rock or other limestone would also buffer the water and the mbuna would love the extra rock. As it is only a 30g the water would buffer well with this route. The only problem would be when you do partial water changes you would have to add neutral water. One way of avoiding trouble in this situation is to add the water very slowly, preferably through a fast drip or what i do with my 30g is put a bucket of water on top of the tank, and siphone the new fresh water into the tank. This process takes a little longer but does avoid shocking the fish, also helps if the temp changes._


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