stocking ideas for a 55 gallon
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dogofwar
CCA Members
A group of Yellow Labidochromis and a group of some other milder mbuna (rusties or Cynotilapia) would be great....
Matt
Matt
monfrey29
Members
And maybe some yellow tail acei
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monfrey29
Members
Like that you get a good mix in color
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verbal
CCA Members
10 of each would be ideal if you go with 2 species. You can thin out excess males when they reach adulthood
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monfrey29
Members
Maybe 5-6 of each.if you are doing three species
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Jefft
Members
I have all the rusty, yellow lab, and red empress fry you could ever want. Take 10 per species and you have a breeding colony. I keep all three in one tank with no issues. Red Fin Borleyi are pretty laid back as well. Plus you would get to watch them grow from fry to adults. Ohh jeeze you are in Florida. scratch that.
hahaha yeah i am in florida but thanks anyways but now that you mentioned that, well i might just work something like that but how big is the tank you have all of them in there??
Jefft
Members
Not enough..
I have a 55g that holds my Red Empress and Rusty colonies. I have a 75g that holds my RF Borleyei, Acei, Met. Elongatus, Yellow labs, Met Cobalt zebras, and three Cynotilapia Cobwe Orange and black, please keep in mind though my fish are not fully grown. I guess you would say all my fish are babies to teenagers as nothing is full grown even though they are breeding like rabbits.. I have one colony of electric blue ahili in a 30g.. and I have a 40g breeder which holds several colonies of various fish and breeder nets with all the fry in them. My next three purchases will be another 40g breeder another 55g and then I will be looking for a 125g. Everything in the 75g and 55g rusty and red empress will go into the 125, everything in the 40g will move to the 75g... the ahili will move into a 55.. and fry will be grown out in the 40s. My tanks hold their load right now but I know they will not handle the amount of fish I have once they are all grown to full size. But I have purchased a double steel rack for the 55s.. and the 40s I purchased tool shelving from Home Depot which will eventually hold 5 40s. Make sure you decide what part of the hobby you want to pursue early on and then grow your fish room/tanks/collection as your gallon capacity increases. By what part of the hobby I mean do you want to breed your fish, or do you want a really stunning show tank of all males. If you are going for the show tank, save up and make a single 180g purchase and set up a stunner. The 55g in my experience are good for a single breeding colony but due to the lack of bottom space (they are narrow) you have little area to set up your rock caves and line of sight breaks etc. Take a look in my photo albums and you can see my tanks. I also have two 10gs in my closet in case I need a QT or hospital tank to set up.
I have a 55g that holds my Red Empress and Rusty colonies. I have a 75g that holds my RF Borleyei, Acei, Met. Elongatus, Yellow labs, Met Cobalt zebras, and three Cynotilapia Cobwe Orange and black, please keep in mind though my fish are not fully grown. I guess you would say all my fish are babies to teenagers as nothing is full grown even though they are breeding like rabbits.. I have one colony of electric blue ahili in a 30g.. and I have a 40g breeder which holds several colonies of various fish and breeder nets with all the fry in them. My next three purchases will be another 40g breeder another 55g and then I will be looking for a 125g. Everything in the 75g and 55g rusty and red empress will go into the 125, everything in the 40g will move to the 75g... the ahili will move into a 55.. and fry will be grown out in the 40s. My tanks hold their load right now but I know they will not handle the amount of fish I have once they are all grown to full size. But I have purchased a double steel rack for the 55s.. and the 40s I purchased tool shelving from Home Depot which will eventually hold 5 40s. Make sure you decide what part of the hobby you want to pursue early on and then grow your fish room/tanks/collection as your gallon capacity increases. By what part of the hobby I mean do you want to breed your fish, or do you want a really stunning show tank of all males. If you are going for the show tank, save up and make a single 180g purchase and set up a stunner. The 55g in my experience are good for a single breeding colony but due to the lack of bottom space (they are narrow) you have little area to set up your rock caves and line of sight breaks etc. Take a look in my photo albums and you can see my tanks. I also have two 10gs in my closet in case I need a QT or hospital tank to set up.
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Jefft
Members
You mean like the only fish you have in the tank period? If I was only to put in one type of fish and only one I would look around and find your favorite fish in the various cichlid books listing the various types and pictures research their needs and what size they will be if you cannot grow your tank/ gallon capacity with your fish. In other words if your 55g is as big as your tank collection will ever get then find a fish that will not out grow your tank size. My cynotilapias are laid back and are very colorful or at least supposed to be .. lol.. I have yet to see a cynotiplapia cobwe orange and black actually look like the pictures. The met. elongatus cherwe are very interesting though one fish will color up and the rest Sub doms kinda stay grayish. I guess if I was you and I couldn't get any more tanks other than the one 55 I would look towards something like my red empress. One brilliantly colored red and blue fish with incredible fins and his group of females. I have also seen a fish where the male is a brilliant blue and the female was incredible yellow can't remember the name will have to look for you but that might be a way to go. All that said I am a few months ahead of you in fish keeping getting my start only in March of this year so really getting good information on types of a single brilliantly colored colony will have to come from some of our more experienced members.
Tony
Alligator Snapping Turtle/Past Pres
Borleyi may be "laid back" when they're 4" long, but tell me how they are in 6 months...
Jefft
Members
yeah sure... keep in mind though your acei full grown will be about 6 inches a piece yellow labs bout the same from my understanding. so for a 55 that might be a few too many.
Jefft
Members
I will have to let you know!! My RF Borleyi is about 6 inches at this point. What I have read about them all maintains they are more laid back. Heck I had to move the 2 1/2 inch ahili out of the tank along with his females as he was harassing the hell out of the Borleyi. But you are way more experienced with the fish than I am and if you say in your experience the RFB will go all alpha territorial as he gets older, eventually killing other fish in my tank, I will bellieve you over two or three articles online. I will certainly make sure to up my schedule towards a few more tanks so nothing gets mauled.
Azraphael
Members
+1 to that, keep an eye on them, mine changed temperament almost over night, luckily my venustus and Lombardoi keep them in check
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Tony
Alligator Snapping Turtle/Past Pres
They're not on the level of a male Nimbochromis or Tyrannochromis, but far worse than any other Utaka (open water Malawi hap) that I've kept. To boot, they get 8"-9" long.... much larger than any other Copadichromis. A male kept with females will need a 125+ to give the females (and other tank mates) some space to get out of the way when he decides to spawn.
Not murderous, but certainly not something I'd classify as mellow.
