# new chichlid tank



## loachman (Jan 21, 2012)

Hi all, 

wanted to get some expert opinions. I have many types of fish but never had a cichlid tank. I am acquiring a 65 gallon tank and am thinking of housing cichlids. I have had oscars, jack dempsey, jewel, pike, mangeneuse, firemouth cichlids but am not thinking about these type, although I am thinking about new JD and jewel and frontosa as a few fish to start with.

I am thinking about cichlids that are not overly aggressive and do not grow too big. Also interested in colourful or ones with great patterns. Will probably add some different plecos and syno cats as well.

Any suggestions of fish to start with and also do some thrive better in pairs? And any other suggestions on tank set up etc would be greatly appreciated.


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## Tristan (Aug 15, 2011)

What are the dimensions? A 65 has got you pretty limited to what you can keep (in terms of the big peaceful haps). That being said there are still lots of options out there for you. The best thing to do with a tank of that size (if its a standard 36x18x24) given you want to had plecos and synos, would be to do a nice species tank.

I would look at any fish in the Aulonocara variety, they are very attractive fish and often times you will be able to keep two males together in a tank of this size. For aggression sake I would stay away from the OB and anything in the Aulonocara Jacobfreibergi strain. 

Aulonocara Baenschi or Aulonocara Maylandi would be very nice on their own. 

Copadichromis Azures, Copadichromis Mloto or Copadichromis Trewavasae are nice fish and would also do well in a small group. 

I guess without naming off a hundred different fish there is a good guidline I can give you.

- Keep the max fish size under 6"
- Don't get any larger haps eg. electra, boryeli, phenochilus etc..
- Keep it around 2 males 4-6 females
- Don't keep different varieties of peacocks together unless you are keeping only males. You will never be sure if the fry are pure or not. 
- Don't keep the smaller haps with peacocks as the females look the same and hybridization can occur again (its a lot more unlikely but still a possibility, Electric Blue haps are bad for this)
- Plan out which fish you want and get a good quality strain. They don't need to be wild caught fish but a nice pure strain. 

All this is obviously just my opinion, I have kept some quality peacocks and haps over the years so I am a little more picky than most people. I am sure Sheldon can vouch for the quality of fish I have kept.


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## loachman (Jan 21, 2012)

thanks for your suggestions. It is a 65 gal bow front so think your dimensions are correct. In terms of pure strain you mentioned, how would I know when buying from aq store? I am assuming on the cichlids you mentioned sexing smaller fish is possible since many other freshwater fish I have raised in the past are difficult to sex until they are more mature.

I am going to do more research and look up all your suggestions before I buy anything.

thanks again.


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## Tristan (Aug 15, 2011)

Well if you go to mike at finnatics you can be guaranteed they are an excellent strain. DO NOT buy cichlids from big als. They are way overpriced and a lot of the times they use hormones to colour them up so people will buy them as juveniles. 

Once you figure out what you want I would post in the classifieds and see what you can get. I know a few guys on here keep a lot of really nice fish. Sheldon in Whitby as some really nice fish...He has most of my old fish when I got out of the hobby a year ago..


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## loachman (Jan 21, 2012)

ok thanks for the heads up on Big Al's as I go there often for my other community tank. I am in Oshawa so your contact in Whitby would be great. Can I put these fish with jack dempsey and jewel cichlids?

Let me do my research and looking at LFS to see first hand what they look like when they get larger and I will get back to you. Thanks


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## Tristan (Aug 15, 2011)

I don't think you should keep them together as they require different water parameters.


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## loachman (Jan 21, 2012)

ok here is my first pass. Guy at Big Al's told me you can mix any africans and number of males depends on the fish and tank set up. More hiding areas they you can have more males. Not sure what to think as I am still learning. I like the males as seems they are more colourful than the females in many of them.

Here is my first pass on some cichlids I like based on your suggestions and viewing at lfs. Feel free to give me any feedback. If anyone has any of these available for sale, smaller sized, let me know.

Usisya flavescent
Aulonocara Stuartgranti
Aulonocara baenschi
Yellow lab
Copadichromis Azures
Copadichromis Mloto
Auloncara calico
Auloncara masoni

let me know what you think of the list and if these fish would be able to live together.


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## Tristan (Aug 15, 2011)

I like that you went and did some research before you jumped in. You will definitely be successful down the road!

An all male tank os a thing of beauty and a lot of work. Having said that the reward you get for such a colourful tank makes it all worth while!

The list you have is a good start but realistically you can get two fish off that list. When it comes to an all male tank you have to pick males that don't look like each other or they will fight. 

The first three Aulonocara's are all basically the same with a few minor differences. My pick would be the Baenschi because it will be the smallest of the three. Alternatively you could go with Ussiya. Its an absolute beauty of a fish. The black dorsal really pops on the yellow body. 

The yellow lab is good, The Mloto is good, so is the Masoni. I would forget about the Azure and Calico/OB as they will get very aggressive even in an all male setup. 

The next fish I would think of adding if I was you would be an Yellow Blaze Lithobate. If you get a quality strain it will have a very very nice yellow blaze down its face. 

Thats all I have for now but I will do some thinking and see what I can come up with. I had an amazing Ussiya I will try and find photos of him to show you.


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## loachman (Jan 21, 2012)

ok thanks for your input again. I don't have to have an all male tank, but would like to have good mix of males and females if possible. I am setting up the tank for cichlids tomorrow and since it is an already establshed tank running now I should be able to start adding fish this week. I will probably add slowly. If you have any other suggestions on fish let me know. I am going by another lfs to have a look at what they have.


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## Tristan (Aug 15, 2011)

Well like I said, if your going to try and do males and females you will be limited to the groupings you can do. Now you could try to do some form of small mbuna with a peacock group..

Perhaps a nice group of peacocks, a group of Cynotilapia Afra Jalo or Afra Cobues (one or the other) and a small group of yellow labs. Both the afras and labs are pretty peaceful so a peacock should be able to share the same tank with them.

Here is my Ussiya. its a bad photo but you can get the idea of what a quality strain looks like of these guys. Nice solid black dorsal that fades into blue around the tip.










Or

The Aulonocara Stuartgranti "Chiwindi"










Or

My all time favourite Aulonocara Huseri...These guys are pretty hard to find but I think they are the nicest looking peacock. The black and gold colouration is very nice.


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## loachman (Jan 21, 2012)

nice pics, think I will look to get one of those. 

as for the other info, still learning so still trying to understand what can go together and what cannot. More complicated than I thought. Does your whitby contact have any I can buy soon otherwise I will be out looking in lfs. Thanks


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## Tristan (Aug 15, 2011)

I am not sure how busy he will be as he is about to have a baby in a couple weeks...or days.

I will pm you his info and you can check with him to see what he has. I know he has some nice baenschi and yellow labs.

Have you been to the www.cichlid-forum.com ?? It has huge lists of cichlid profiles. You can go through the lists and pick the ones you like search from there. A key thing to note is try not to pick two fish from the same name..


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## Riceburner (Mar 14, 2008)

too bad you weren't coming this a ways...my Peacock pair for sale


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## loachman (Jan 21, 2012)

thanks bit bigger than I want to start with. See you have some fry available?


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## Riceburner (Mar 14, 2008)

yep...from the above parents.


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## woadito (Jan 12, 2012)

Hi sorry to crash your thread but I just want to know if 1 Male Aulonocara Rubescens and 1 Male Aulonocara Baenschi would be OK in the same tank. If I wanted to add a third Male Aulonacara, which other kind would be most suitable (preferably one that is not so hard to find)? Thanks!


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## Tristan (Aug 15, 2011)

Anything that is blue will fit in with the pair of them.. You might have issues with the rubescens and baenschi but only time will tell.

If there are any females in the tank it will be a write off no matter what.



woadito said:


> Hi sorry to crash your thread but I just want to know if 1 Male Aulonocara Rubescens and 1 Male Aulonocara Baenschi would be OK in the same tank. If I wanted to add a third Male Aulonacara, which other kind would be most suitable (preferably one that is not so hard to find)? Thanks!


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## loachman (Jan 21, 2012)

tank is now been stocked with some fish and so far so good. 

Here is what i have in there (males):
- stuartgrandi
- german red
- eureka red
- hybrid peacock
- ob peacock
- Pink peacock (this is what the store called it think it is wrong)
- orange starburst peacock
- cobalt blue zebra 
- blue orchid peacock
- one other peacock can't remember his name.

- yellow labs
- 2 syno cats
- clown loaches
- sailfin pleco, gold spot pleco, pair of busy nose plecos

all is good execept the stuartgrandi chases german and eureka red and hybrid. German and eureka were last to be added so this may subside a bit as time goes on. 

Thanks to Tristan and big thanks to Sheldon for helping me stock my tank. I am guessing I will end up buying a bigger tank as I just love these peacocks and want more. Love the yellow labs too they add so much colour, don't grow big and don't cause any trouble.


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