# Looking for some variety in cichlid tank.



## Merc Dr.

I'm setting my 90 gal. tank up tomorrow. I know I need a few weeks to fish in, but this is what I'm looking for. First off I want to incorporate a Fire Eel. I had one before and love them. I already bought "Cichlid Sand" from my LFS. It is a fine enough for the eel to maneuver through. Secondly, I don't want to have 6-7 of one species of fish. I'd like 2-3 max of each fish so I can keep as much color and shape variety as possible. Thirdly, fish that swim at different levels. The 90gal. tank is only 4ft. long, so it does have a little extra room up top. I don't want fish that all stay at the bottom and fight for territory.
I know I'm asking a lot of semi-aggressive fish, but hopefully this is the place for answers.
A little more info on my set up: 90gal. tank, 80lbs. of CaribSea African Cichlid mix (kinda natural beige sand)substrate, 25lbs. of red slate stone for stacking and creating hiding spots, and a couple fake plants that I plan on siliconing to the tank bottom in areas to hide the heater and other tubing. Bought a new Aquatop 125gal. capable canister filter. Heard mixed reviews, but my LFS owner told me he'd stand behind it for 2-3 years. As well as a heater. I'm deciding on a background, not a big fan of the "green plant" look. I will be needing an extremely quiet air pump(suggestions?). I'm trying to keep noise and additional equipment to a minimum. I read that Lake Tang..... cichlids need a lot of water flow so I'd prefer to avoid them so as not to need powerheads in the tank. If I absolutely need them I will do so. 
I know it's a long post but I want to do this right. My tank's been in storage for 5 years and a lot has changed since I had it up and running.


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## dalfed

All-Male Malawi Tank some ideas


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## cichlid420

Recommend a kenyi, Jacob frie peacock, or jewel cichlids I have one of each


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## ratbones86

I say do an all male hap/peacock tank i your looking for allot of color mate. One male of different species and in a 90g tank you would want to add about 18 males that dont get over 8" max i would say. They say over 6" because it is a 4' tank but rules are meant to be bent a little bit. I would say 16-18 Males. In my 55g tank i will have about 13 males when i get the rest of my stock. ATM i have 8 males (all my peacocks). Working on finding my haps now. lol Anyways hope this helps you out if you have any other questions by all means ask away.


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## Manafel

do you know what lake you are wanting to do? There are a lot of tangs that are very colorful, like tropheus and Cyathopharynx Foai... it just depends on your preferences...


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## Merc Dr.

Thanks for all the replies. I haven't decided on what lake to go with yet. Not even sure if it's as important as some say to split them. When I had this tank set up before I had a combination of Africans, SA, Iridescent sharks (great for early warning of ICH), Gar, Fire eel and a few others. I had a mass die-off from disease and shut it down for a few years.
My main concern is to keep the Fire eel, that I plan to have, safe.
I just got the background on, gravel in, and half the water in yesterday. Waiting on my box of red slate to arrive tomorrow to finish setting up. I'll get around to pix later. In the meantime, I'll head to the library to find a good Cichlid picture book to choose from.


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## dalfed

Merc Dr. said:


> Thanks for all the replies. I haven't decided on what lake to go with yet. Not even sure if it's as important as some say to split them. When I had this tank set up before I had a combination of Africans, SA, Iridescent sharks (great for early warning of ICH), Gar, Fire eel and a few others. I had a mass die-off from disease and shut it down for a few years.


It may of been the stress caused by this mixture that led to the susceptibility to the illness !! These "rules" are out there trying to save people the disasters that many before have gone through, there are a couple of tanks that I have been keeping an eye on, hoping for the best, that have recently been set up mixing different cichlids. Moderate success so far but really need to follow for a couple of years to when they are full grown.
I myself have not seen any long term successful tanks with mixed Africans and south americans but would like to see it done to find out the parameters and setup that allowed success. Lots of claims on boards of success for 6 months but none of full grown grumps!!


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## Merc Dr.

It lasted for a couple years, but the Gar started eating the small Africans. I think I introduced some new fish that brought in disease/stress combo.


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## dalfed

Merc Dr. said:


> It lasted for a couple years, but the Gar started eating the small Africans. I think I introduced some new fish that brought in disease/stress combo.


A couple years! you may be the man I've wanted to grill lol. What water parameters did you keep PH low for SA or high like Afr. like? What decorations hiding places and what fish? Sorry but if your willing I'm learning lol.


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## Merc Dr.

I credit dumb luck. I had the sharks that were decent size when I started adding the cichlids. The gar started small, but grew quickly. Like others were saying, the SA's were small when I got them, so I think that's why they lasted. I do remember I only had one of each species of both the Africans and SA's. This was a tank that started as a plain fresh tank. Then I decided after a couple deaths to switch to cichlids without understanding all the water condition requirements. They must have been in the "average range" for both SA and African.


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## Merc Dr.

I know I had a jack Dempsey , firemouth, texas, and even a snakehead in the tank at different times as well as together in some combo.


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## DigitalBuddha

I agree with all male haps, peacocks and others with an eel and maybe a catfish. For other haps I love Protomelas, they are not overly aggressive.


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## Merc Dr.

I GOT FISH IN THE TANK!
I decided to go with a combo of Community Malawi's. To start the tank I picked up a Bumble Bee, a yellow Melanachromis, a blue Mel, an OB peacock, and a Livingstonii. I have more ordered for Tues. I decided against the Fire eel because of PH conflict and decided on a Black spotted eel.
Black Spotted Eel, Mastacembelus dayi Spotted Spiny Eel Fish Guide
My LFS has Red empress, Clown knife, some Labs, and Aulonocaura coming.


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## Manafel

Merc Dr. said:


> I GOT FISH IN THE TANK!
> I decided to go with a combo of Community Malawi's. To start the tank I picked up a Bumble Bee, a yellow Melanachromis, a blue Mel, an OB peacock, and a Livingstonii. I have more ordered for Tues. I decided against the Fire eel because of PH conflict and decided on a Black spotted eel.
> Black Spotted Eel, Mastacembelus dayi Spotted Spiny Eel Fish Guide
> My LFS has Red empress, Clown knife, some Labs, and Aulonocaura coming.


Melanochromisi are very aggressive, plus the livingstonii will grow to about 10".
I advise against the clown knife, a 90 gallon aquarium is far too small for a species that can get up to 24"+, and with the aggressive cichlid species you have listed, I'm afraid he will become a victim of very severe beatings.
While labdichromis are pretty good at holding their own, their level of aggression does not match or even come close to an adult melanochromis. This list might work for now, but I would be wary of the future, because that is when aggression starts.


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## rift lake

clown knife likes a lower ph than any african. Malawi likes a low 8 ph and tangs show off the colors best at around 8.5 8.9 range


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## Merc Dr.

Actually it's an African knife. I had clown on my mind. Ph of 8 and only 8-12". The Mel's don't seem to be bad. The Bumble bee seems more feisty.


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## coralbandit

There is a large difference between African RIVER fish and African LAKE fish.


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## Manafel

you need to figure out your stocking situation before you find yourself in a bind. 
Go to AQadvisor.com and plug in all of your fish choices, and tank size. though the African knife won't get as big as a clown, it is still not a good idea to keep such a docile fish with a melanochromis and other aggressive species, the same goes for the yellow labs. They might seem to get along ok for now, but down the line you will have problems. you should probably get more of each species if you are for sure you want what you have.:animated_fish_swimm


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## rift lake

the clown knifefish isn't from africa, its found in Indonesia, India, and parts of Southeast Asia. t is best kept at PH 5.5 to 7 and needs an aquarium of 100 gal or larger, and need alot of hiding places and is mainly a nocturnal creature. And i my opinion is not a good match to be housed with African Cichlids


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## Merc Dr.

rift lake said:


> the clown knifefish isn't from africa, its found in Indonesia, India, and parts of Southeast Asia. t is best kept at PH 5.5 to 7 and needs an aquarium of 100 gal or larger, and need alot of hiding places and is mainly a nocturnal creature. And i my opinion is not a good match to be housed with African Cichlids[/QUO
> 
> It's an African not a clown. I typed the wrong name.
> 
> 
> I may return the melanchromis. I'm not sure how it made it on my list. Once you guys mention the aggressiveness I re-researched it. It's not in thefish I originally had written down. I must have written down the wrong name from the website I was looking at.


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## Merc Dr.




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## Jim Albright

If you put the Melanchromis when you acquired the others I would say they would be fine---I have to Auratus in with my Malawi Mbunas and they are fine together as of now! But you never know---personalities are all different---I would just keep an eye on them and go from there! I even have a Julidochromis in there with my Malawis and they seem to be fine..Most of my fish were put in together though! This is all they know so far!


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## Merc Dr.

Manafel said:


> you need to figure out your stocking situation before you find yourself in a bind.
> Go to AQadvisor.com and plug in all of your fish choices, and tank size. though the African knife won't get as big as a clown, it is still not a good idea to keep such a docile fish with a melanochromis and other aggressive species, the same goes for the yellow labs. They might seem to get along ok for now, but down the line you will have problems. you should probably get more of each species if you are for sure you want what you have.:animated_fish_swimm


AQadvisor sucks. It doesn't list half the fish I'm looking at. If you plug in a Mbuna it says you can't mix with other fish. There are a lot of Mbuna/hap/peacock tanks out there. Especially all male tanks. I prefer to do more research then looking at one member's site. I currently have 6 cichlid books sitting next to me that I have been reading up on that I trust a little more.
Please don't take this as a hostile reply. I don't mean it to sound like that.


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## dalfed

You need a lot more rock work! The fish all need ways to break vision paths with aggressive fish.


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## Jim Albright

Looking at your 2nd picture from the top---that looks like a EB Johanni or a Maingano?? And I have not had very good success with AquaAdvisor either---hard to find the fish I am looking for!


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## Manafel

Merc Dr. said:


> AQadvisor sucks. It doesn't list half the fish I'm looking at. If you plug in a Mbuna it says you can't mix with other fish. There are a lot of Mbuna/hap/peacock tanks out there. Especially all male tanks. I prefer to do more research then looking at one member's site. I currently have 6 cichlid books sitting next to me that I have been reading up on that I trust a little more.
> Please don't take this as a hostile reply. I don't mean it to sound like that.


I have never had a problem finding the fish I have. Sometimes I can't find something by the common name, but I can by the scientific. I'm not saying that it is perfect or even terribly accurate, but it is correct on some things. 

You can read as many cichlid books as you want, but that does not guarantee that you will have the same problems that they have had. Some cichlids are exceptions to the general rule, and aquarium keeping is a constant learning process. 

Your tank looks nice, I think the fish would benefit from more rock work/caves as well. Mbuna cichlids love caves, and they will help with any aggression issues. It sucks though because rock is expensive where I am, so DIY caves might be something you would like to look into...


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## Merc Dr.

I actually have an idea in mind for caves. Since my tank is so tall I was considering a making a fish condo. I thought of gluing pots together in sort of pyramid. If I feel energetic, I'll slap some concrete over it to make it look more natural. Any thoughts on if the fish will go higher up in the tank to access these caves?

My main goal is stick to Non or very slightly aggressive fish. So far it looks like the bumble bee and peacock like to play together. We'll see what happens as they mature.

I was kinda wondering what the blue one was. I haven't found a good picture to truly identify him.


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## Manafel

Merc Dr. said:


> I actually have an idea in mind for caves. Since my tank is so tall I was considering a making a fish condo. I thought of gluing pots together in sort of pyramid. If I feel energetic, I'll slap some concrete over it to make it look more natural. Any thoughts on if the fish will go higher up in the tank to access these caves?
> 
> My main goal is stick to Non or very slightly aggressive fish. So far it looks like the bumble bee and peacock like to play together. We'll see what happens as they mature.
> 
> I was kinda wondering what the blue one was. I haven't found a good picture to truly identify him.


hybrids are actually a common occurrence in the mbuna area, so it could be a hybrid. I have seen some people that make 3D backgrounds that have caves inside them made out of PVC pipe that you cover with rocks or quikrete. making a 3D BG can be some work, but very worth it in the end. or you could get some pieces of PVC pipe, and silicone them together in a pyramid shape, slather it in silicone and roll it around in gravel if you don't like how unnatural the PVC looks bare.


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## Jim Albright




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## Merc Dr.

Manafel said:


> hybrids are actually a common occurrence in the mbuna area, so it could be a hybrid. I have seen some people that make 3D backgrounds that have caves inside them made out of PVC pipe that you cover with rocks or quikrete. making a 3D BG can be some work, but very worth it in the end. or you could get some pieces of PVC pipe, and silicone them together in a pyramid shape, slather it in silicone and roll it around in gravel if you don't like how unnatural the PVC looks bare.


What about the height? Any opinions on if they will go 3/4 of the way up the tank? Or will they just occupy the lower holes?


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## Merc Dr.

Yeah Jim, that looks like him. Is that the Johanni?


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## Manafel

Merc Dr. said:


> What about the height? Any opinions on if they will go 3/4 of the way up the tank? Or will they just occupy the lower holes?


I have no definite way of knowing, since I haven't done it myself... might be something worth looking into. *pc


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## dalfed

I have my rocks almost stacked out of the water and they use it all, the dominant ones claim the bottom but the others take what they can.


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## Jim Albright

That is a female maingano..honestly when they get to be adults it's very hard to tell the difference, but EB Johanni females start off as yellow/orangish color----and I never have had them...


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## Merc Dr.

No sooner then I get a positive ID, the poor girl died. She was hiding a lot at the LFS, but there was 2 bigger fish with her. I never really saw her out as much as the rest. Then I noticed she wasn't eating and losing energy(laying over). I took her out and put her in abucket, but she was too far gone. The LFS gets their shipment today, so I'll find a good replacement.

I had originally ordered a box of red slate, but no one sells it anymore. They only had black(don't want that dark of a tank). The rock that is in there is the only stuff I liked at the LFS. That's all they had at the time.


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## Jim Albright

That's too bad!


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