30" Tank Questions

[getts57]

Hi all, ok i've got a spare 30" standard tank and was wondering if i could put a small colany of say E-yellows/blues, i would like to have 1 male and 3 females or would this be too many, any help would be much apreacited. I have a hang on side filter,which does approx 570 ltrs an hour i hope this will be strong enough,this will be my first African Tank.

Cheers,

Heintz.

[Exiledonmainstreet]

Hi. Your close to the smaller side at 30", but with that few number of fish, and the type they are, you should be able to get by with a 30". I would definitely add plenty of rock cover, and if possible, get a larger tank later on. :^:

[hungsta]

IMO i think you need more filtration...

i have a 2ft that runs on AC300 (~1200 L/hr) and it cleans the tank well...u can never have too much filtration.

just a thought

[PHL]

IMO i think you need more filtration...

i have a 2ft that runs on AC300 (~1200 L/hr) and it cleans the tank well...u can never have too much filtration.

just a thought

Yes you can! It depend on what fish you have; some don't like being in a washing machine. If you have high flow, at least have some shelter.

[DanceswithDingoes]

30" is not enough for mbuna as you need lots of fish to dilute aggression and a 30" doesnt have the water to support a colony......best to get some dwarfs. :

[bimbo]

yeas you can provided youy have plenty of rocks and places for fish to hide. i have a 2 1/2 foot tank at home which used to house 1 male and 2 female electric yellows and they bred well. but in my tank i have a rock pile made of river stones (most are about two or three times bigger than the size of a tennis ball). the pile takes up about half the base of the tank and angles up to the top of the back corner(there is about 2 buckets full of rocks).

i think the tank is about 90L and it is filtered by an otto power head with sponges underneath it (pumps about 400Litres per hour) so tyhe filter you have is more than enough. most people aim to have the amount of water that is in their tank be filtered 4-5 times an hour.

it is true that you can't have enough filtration, but there is a limit to how much water flow you can have (the amount of filtration in not nessesarily determined by water flow.

i don't know if you have kept any fish or cichlids before but if you have i would say go for it but if you havent i reckon you might be better off going for a species of shell dwelling cichlid or even a species of julidchromis (spelling ?)

Cheers James

[getts57]

Cool

Thanks for the replies, and yes James i have a couple of other tanks a 6' and 4' they house my beloved Oscars and fire mouths. This one will be my first go at Africans. I think i'll go with 3 E-yellows, thanks again.

cheers.

Heintz

[Guest Montel]

Hi,i house my P.salousi colony 2m-5f in a 30x15x15 with great success using only a hang on style filter 570lph. The colony actually done worse and didnt seem as harmonious in a 36x18x18 so i moved them back to the 30". In the 30" i had at least two females holding at all times whereas in 3months in the 3x18x18 i only had 3 spawns and the extremely experienced females spat their eggs all 3 times! Once back in the 30" everything fine.

Cheers

[DanceswithDingoes]

Bimbo, a trio is not a colony and I for one would not advocate placing fish that can attain 13-15cm in size in a 30" environment regardless of the filtration. (the only exception may be some of the smaller mbuna like afra cobue or lions cove)

As for putting lots of rocks in there, that is fine but if further reduces the available water to the fish as the rocks displace a large amount. I doubt you would have 90 litres of water in your std 30" with 2 buckets of rocks in it.

People regularly have success stories on this forum of fish-keeping that defies all logic, however I believe we have the responsibility to offer advice that errs on the cautious, not on the exceptions.