29 gallon tank

[Wblaze]

Hello. Setting up a new african tank after 3 years away from the hobby. I have a 29g due to space issues. How many fish can i put in there. I was thinking 5-7. Am I right? I like cheware, yellow labs, afra, socolofi, and brichardi. Although if I get brichardi, it should be a brichardi only tank, right?

 

[verbal]

A 29 could work for a pair of brichardi(it won't be a pair for long).

If you go malawi, a dwarf mbuna species tank is probably the way to go. I think Cynotilapia afra would be a good choice. Since you are pushing the limits a bit, you want great filtration and to keep up on the water changes.

 

[verbal]

Could you fit a 30 or 40 breeder in the space? That would give you more options?

Another tank is a column tank(56 gallon I think). They have a 30x18 footprint. It could be a really cool brichardi(or dwarf mbuna) tank with a nice rock pile in the middle.

 

[Tony]

Some good advice from Jesse.

29 is a tough size for Malawi cichlids. I have had some success with keeping less aggressive mbuna or smaller peacocks, but they have all been short-term successes. The only setup that may work long term would be a small female-heavy group of salousi. They seem to be the right combination of small and low on aggression.

Afra may work, but aggression/size may become an issue when they get up around 3"
or so. Adult afra can be pretty rough.

As Jesse said,, a 36" long tank would go a long way in greatly expanding your options. Footprint is king for African cichlids. They're all about territory.

If you wanted to do Tangs, you could keep a group of brichardi, leleupi, shell dwellers or small julidochromis. Another option for "short term" would be a young pair of comps and multis. The comps will eventually outgrow the tank, but they grow slow as molasses. If you did this, watch out for aggression from the multis. Comps are armor-plated, so damage wouldn't be significant, but the may end up stressed out.

 

[longstocking]

On most things I will agree with Tony... but the comps/calvus will be fine in this size of tank in the long run.

Julidochromis are probably one of your better options... once breeding and they have fry all over the place they will use most of tank if you build the rocks all the way up to the water line.