Stocking 29G - Tanganyika tank possibilities?

[FroggyFox]

Hi All...

I have this new 29...would like to put cichlids in it.

Can you throw me some possibilities you can see for it? Obviously I can't get any fish that get too big. Also...I don't want to do a species tank. OR if I did do a species tank I'd like to make sure its something really difficult to breed.

Here's my thing....I really dont want to breed them. If they breed I have NO idea what I'd do with the fry...and I've just about had it with fry.

Two possibilities (fish I know that my cichlid store has) are Neolamprologus cylindricus and Altolamprologus compressiceps.

I'm wondering if it would be possible to maybe put a couple comps and a couple cylindricus in there...plus maybe one more of something that would get along with them and can be kept alone. I just don't know much about these guys...so maybe that idea is totally off base.

Thanks in advance for your input!

Just for reference:
http://www.myfishtank.net/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=19680

 

[Orion]

In the last week or so I just moved my N. brichardi to my new 29gallon setup. They seem to love it and it gives me a lot more room for rock placement.

Also with the 29 I am able to house a much larger number of fry than in the 20. Plus with the extra rocks, that gives more places for the fry to hide, and increase there chance of survival. I have a pair, and 5 juvies in there, with 4 danios for target fish.

The comp might be able to work in there, but really it would almost have to be by itslef. They are preditory, so as they got bigger you would have to watch any smaller fish in the same tank. Altho this could prove usefull in getting rid of those unwanted fry!

I still really love the calvus. You might be able to get away with a couple of these guys for a while in that tank. They are very slow growing, and I belive only top out at about 5 inches.

Study on some rockwork and get some nerve up to use it. Proper rockwork will allow you to house more species in a tank with different teritories set up out of the line of sight of other teritories. Plus it helps recreate the natural biotope where they come from.

I have not kept any of the mentioned fish except for the brichadi, so mabey some who have could give a better detailed account on the experinces they have had with the fish.

I want to say there is some more good prospects for you if available, I just cant think of any at the moment! lol, when I think of them I will let you know.

HTH

 

[Cichlidian]

2 may be 3 pairs may fit in provided with lot of territories. But remember african tanks hv the big threat of hybridization. If u dont hv the intention of saving the fry, tht wont be a prob.
I'd advocate u to buy around 2" juvs and groom them together. Adding anymore later would defenitely create a territory prob.

 

[FroggyFox]

2 or three pairs of WHAT cichlidian??

 

[Orion]

Julies would also make a nice addition to the tank. Some of the smaller ones;transcriptus, ornatus would be nice. Both are beutiful fish.

Are you planing to adjust your water to that of there natural habitat? If you havent thought much about this then it is worth a mention. As said many times it is not nessecary to rase you ph, gh, and kh. While many cichlid fans would say to do so, most can live quite well at lower levels without any problems. I like to keep my main tank juiced up a little with hopes that this will encouage spawning, however my growout tank is straight tap water. I started the growout (10gallon) with water from the main tank, and slowly reduced it over a period of time with water changes. I have not had any loss of fry in the growout tank, and it hasent seemed to adversely affected them in any manner. The fry are healthy as horses, and eat like pigs.

If you want to raise the levels in your tank there are many pre-made mixes out there you can buy. On the other hand it is quite simple and cheaper to make your own. Bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) is used to raise the ph, while magnesium sulfate (epsom salt) raises the hardness of your water. It might take a while to get the hang of the proper mix of each to use, so dont get discouraged to quickly. Dont raise the ph and hardness to fast, but of couse this part you already knew.

Gads, sorry I have drifted off the topic. Back to it now....

Mabey a mix of some of the Neolamprologus would do nice in there. Be on the look out as stated before for species closely related togeather as they can produce viable eggs and hybridize in your tank. N. lelupi can add lots of color, N. brichardi are an active species, N. cylindricus is another good choice.

I would go for more smaller species, than a few or one larger species. You most likely will not have much problem with aggresion in a properly setup tank untill somebody decides to spawn. When they do, the parents can become absolute terors to the other fish in the tank. A posible soulution to this is to always have a 'time out' tank ready. This could be used for a pair who have spawned but are over aggresive to the point of hurting or killing the other fish, or a fish who has been badly damaged and needs to recoup a bit before being reintroduced to the main tank. You might be able to just keep a small filter running on the main tank so that when the need arrises, you can just take some tank water and the small filter and put in into an empty tank for the fish that are going to be moved there. This would keep you from having a tank waiting 24/7.

I know that this hasent given a lot on actual species, but these are a few things that still need to be considered.

 

[FroggyFox]

Yeah...I forgot to mention that my water is pretty hard and has a relatively high pH to begin with. I dont think I want to mess with setting it up any higher. I will check again to see what the real numbers are...but I know my pH is in the "high" range because its the highest color on the normal pH kit. Beyond that I dont know...I might have had it tested once...and if memory serves its just under 8.

The only things I can think of to discourage them from spawning would be to keep a single of one type (and make sure there isn't any closely related fish in there so no hybrids happen) or keep two females of the same kind. Of course the only problem with that idea is that when you get young fish its hard (or impossible) to sex them...

Unfortunately I dont have space/time/money for another tank setup...I would probably end up putting the aggressor or whatever into my 10G misc guppy/snail tank I'm sure they wouldn't appreciate that...but its the only option I have.

 

[Orion]

Thats great that your water is naturaly hard! It would be fine to keep them in another pre-existing tank so long as the water params were pretty close. Just that if it is agressive fish you are removeing, then keep a close eye on the other tank mates.

If you kept calvus or comp.'s, then they would pretty well keep the survival rate of the fry down. I dont know how tough they are to suvive the beating the parents might give them, but I would say they are pretty hardy when it comes to that being natural preditors and all.

 

[FroggyFox]

Luckily all of my tanks I dont screw with pH or hardness or anything...so they are all very similar in makeup. The tetras and everyone seem to do just fine with it...so I figure why fix what aint broke. I'm not planning on breeding anything (although I can't get the guppies to STOP).

So how horrible would it be to have a tank full of single cichlids? Ya know...like a singles mixer...one of these...one of these...and plenty of territories for each to stake out their claim. No breeding...maybe they'd get along???!

 

[Cichlidian]

comps & cylindricus may fit in the tank