OK, thinking Marine looks a little too much for the moment, but I think a nice big Lake Malawi Chichlid tank would be a nice alternative (lots of colours), my question is how many would fit comfortably in a 48"x18"x12" or a 96"x24"x24" , would it be okay to mix species and would they be agressive to each other?
Lake Malawi Chichlids
- Thread starter Britfish
- Start date
Some of them would be aggressive reguardless, but those tanks are large so you could fit all kinds of fish in there. Normally if I setup a mixed tank I go with males of different species that look different. Just watch with combining a milder fish like labidochromis careuleus with something like the Auratus. Some of the Mbuna have a horrible reputation for aggression.
I have them and love it. I used to have mbuna's which are much more agressive and now I have Peacocks with a few Frontosa's (I know that Fronzes aren't from malawi but they don't mind)
I tried to mix mbunas with peacocks but that did not work. I lost a large beautiful peacock in the process.
Here is a link that I learned quite a bit from. They are set up to sell fish but they also have a decent info section.
http://www.aquariumfish.net/catalog_pages/cichlids_african/african_cichlids_table.htm#top2
Hope this helps *celebratesmiley*
Jay
I tried to mix mbunas with peacocks but that did not work. I lost a large beautiful peacock in the process.
Here is a link that I learned quite a bit from. They are set up to sell fish but they also have a decent info section.
http://www.aquariumfish.net/catalog_pages/cichlids_african/african_cichlids_table.htm#top2
Hope this helps *celebratesmiley*
Jay
It all depends on size of the fish. Most say that you should use the max adult size in calculating this and figure 1" per gallon, but I usually go somewhere between current size and max size. I figure that I can always move them as they grow to a different tank or sell them back to lfs. In my 75 gal, I have 18 peacocks 3/4" to 2.5" and 8 frontosas 1.5" to 2.5". I also have a few choli loaches and 4 small clown loaches. This sound like alot of fish if you figure the frontosas will grow to be over 12" long. For now it is great as long as I keep up with water changes and as they grow I will probably sell a few off. The peacocks are all from one batch of fry and the frontosas I got as fry for around $5 each so I should have no problem getting my money plus a profit out of them.
Some say that acctually you should use surface area of the tank instead of gallons. So a 40 gallon long could support more fish than a 40 gallon hex.
In the tanks you describe you could support alot of fish. The trick with teritorial fish such as cichlids you either have to keep just a few so they each have thier own space or keep alot so the abuse is spread out. For example, if you have 2 or 3 mbunas the weakest one will be constantly beatup but if you have 10 of them the beatings from the more dominant fish will be spread over several of the less dominant fish. (It sounds crazy but it works)
Thats just my opinion. I usually seem to keep my tanks somewhat over stocked but I like the looks of many smaller fish more than a few larger ones.
Hope I helped a little
Jay
Some say that acctually you should use surface area of the tank instead of gallons. So a 40 gallon long could support more fish than a 40 gallon hex.
In the tanks you describe you could support alot of fish. The trick with teritorial fish such as cichlids you either have to keep just a few so they each have thier own space or keep alot so the abuse is spread out. For example, if you have 2 or 3 mbunas the weakest one will be constantly beatup but if you have 10 of them the beatings from the more dominant fish will be spread over several of the less dominant fish. (It sounds crazy but it works)
Thats just my opinion. I usually seem to keep my tanks somewhat over stocked but I like the looks of many smaller fish more than a few larger ones.
Hope I helped a little
Jay
If you have the chance now Britfish please go with the 96x24x24.
the 48x18x12 is very small (55 gallons) and could only hold a certain amount of fish
Overstocking mbuna tanks is a good idea to control aggression however you must try to prevent crossbreeding. Overfiltering is a must, I turn my tanks over at least 12 times an hour.
...oh 
I don't mean to nitpick but it's cichlid, pronounced "sik-lid" . it took me a while to learn this when I first started ;D
the 48x18x12 is very small (55 gallons) and could only hold a certain amount of fish
Overstocking mbuna tanks is a good idea to control aggression however you must try to prevent crossbreeding. Overfiltering is a must, I turn my tanks over at least 12 times an hour.
...oh
I don't mean to nitpick but it's cichlid, pronounced "sik-lid" . it took me a while to learn this when I first started ;D