Adding to Lake Malawi Cichlids tank

[Conform]

Hi,

I have an African Cichlid tank with mostly mbuna cichlids. I have; Cynotilapia spec. "Jalo" (x1), Labidochromis caeruleus (x4), Maylandia estherae (x2), Melanochromis johannii (x1), Pseudotropheus acei (x2), Pseudotropheus demasoni (x1), along with haps; Aulonocara Albino Rubescens (x2), and Sciaenochromis fryeri (x1). They are all jeuvies, and in a 55G tank. I have also included two plec*s for glass cleaning duty. ;-) I would like to know if you think this is really too many fish or if it would be advisable to add Kuhli Loaches at all to this tank?
I also understand that as these fish start to grow I may have to expand to a larger tank, my second question is how long does a typical fish, of Africian Cichlids, take to grow to their adult fullest size?

Thanks for all your time,
Mike

 

[N©KI]

What size tank? Filtration?

 

[Conform]

It is a 55 Gallon Tank with a 330 gph filter I believe it to be pengiun or atleast a similar type filter. I will soon be upgrading to a emperor 400 soon also.
Would a UG filter be any help with Africans? or would it be useless? I understand I would have to change the whole tank setup again though, to install it.

P.S. Anyone have any experience with Kuhli Loaches with African Mbunas?

 

[wayne]

Well I've seen worse. Just watch the johanni, they can be very hard on other fish, as are SOME demasoni, esp as the haps and Lab. caerulas are quite mild.
I wouldn't bother with a UG gravel, they're a p.i.t.a. , esp. in cichlid tanks where there's a lot of digging.
I wouldn't add extra fish to this lot, though theat's partially determined by the 'aquascaping' you've done.

I've never tried kuhlii loaches with africans, but I don't see it being successful. Even assuming it's NOT a bloodbath, you're going to struggle to get food down to them.

 

[steve535]

kuhlii loaches would be toast (dinner ) with that fish list. try clown loaches,if they are big enough they wont get picked on.just watch your ph.

 

[mike the zealot]

I second everything wayne's said =) Also, Aulonocara are peacocks, and Sciaenochromis are haps. You might have issues down the road due to dietary differences between the mbuna and the peacocks/haps. Here's a pretty good article on feeding africans:

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/feeding_african_cichlids.php

 

[mike the zealot]

Ah and size - they reach sexual maturity after about a year, about 3"

another good article:

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/haps_vs_mbuna.php

 

[Somonas]

Conform; Just a minor correction in your fish list. Maylandia should be Metriaclima.

I can cite references if requested.

 

[Conform]

Thanks for the info to all that replied. Also, thanks Mike for the read, it was informal. My local fish stores usually don't tell you much other then africans should be kept with other africans. That's about all they tell you. That and feed them only flake food. The one that has the most information told me that they should only be kept with other fish of the same lake, and not by groups within the lakes. Mine, I believe, are all from Lake Malawi. I was sold the haps and mbuna's together before knowing that there was a difference. I was told to 'pick' out which ones I wanted to start off with, roughly 6 to go through the 'cycling' of the tank, then gradually get more every week or so..
As far as the Maylandia/Metriaclima, as far as what I've read and the names I was told when I bought them, they were Maylandia. But they could have changed, if you could give me an URL reference, I'd like to read up on them. ;-)

Thanks again to all that are willing to give advice!

 

[wayne]

I tried clown loaches in an african tank, and it was a disaster (for the clown loaches)- I don't believe this reliably works. The ph is wrong, and they just get hammered. And I don't keep any africans considered aggressive.

 

[steve535]

i have 3 clown loaches with my Mbunas. i keep the ph around 7.4.i havent had any prob, yet(3 mts).they are taking care of my snail problem.steve