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Newbie cichlidophile tank stocking needed


Priscacara

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Hi! Just getting back into the fish hobby after 10 years absence. Started a 65L Aquaone community tank and next step is an Aquaone AR 980 Rift Lake cichlid tank. The tank is 215L according to brochure, I have shell grit strata and "base rock" limestone which consists of old coral rocks (best description I could come up with sorry), heater is 200w and filtration at the moment is the inbuilt one. It has been filled and running for almost a week with 4 comets to help the cycle along..............they seem to be having a ball! I plan on adding more rocks as they become available for purchase so I will have even more nooks and crannies for my fish. Cichlids wont be added for some time, despite wanting to get them in asap I've learnt more patience in the ensuing years :roll so only once the tank is cycled properly will the new residents go in.

Now for the hard bit, what to put into it. My short list consists of 3 Lake Malawi cichlid species (happy to be corrected if I have location wrong so feel free :yes: ). From what I've researched 1 male and 3 or 4 females of each type would work out nicely, I wont be actively breeding them but hopefully a few fry will survive now and then. The species are Iodotropheus sprengerae, Pseudotropheus saulosi and Labidochromis (species unknown, just as electric yellow). I'm also not sure what catfish to add if any at all but assume they would help keep things cleaner as well as being interesting in their own right.

Any advice and opinions/comments would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers.

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E. yellow = Labidochromis Caeruleus and as for catfish good old bristlenose do a good job of keeping algae in check.

The colours of the 3 species you are thinking of should contrast well.

HTH

Anything else you need help with or would like to ask the board?

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  • 3 weeks later...

Just a quick update, added some fish to my tank today as well as to the shell dweller tank and they all seem to be doing well. In the 4 footer (close enough in size) I have 6 pseudotropheus saulosi , 1 male and 4 or 5 females.......1 of the females the seller was unsure of sex so may turn out to be another male. The largest that she was 99% sure was the male is about 6 cm, rest are around the 5cm size. They are busy exploring the tank at the moment and check me out any time I walk past so doesnt look like the stress has been too much for them but early days so fingers crossed.

The shell dwellers are Neolamprologus (not sure on spelling), 6 of them again with the largest being about 3cm. I was given 2 shells from the tank they were in along with some of the yellow snail shells, also had some nice sized shells from a trip to the beach a few years back (before the whole coast was made marine national park :-( ) that I added. All of the fish took refuge inside the larger shell during transport with 2 coming out to check out their new digs so far........that must have been a tight squeeze! The shells from the beach were soaked in boiling water just on the off chance that anything could have survived while they were in the cupboard.

For food I bought New Life Spectrum Cichlid Formula pellets, about 2mm across so they should be good for both tanks.

Cheers, Les.

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