How many and what kind?

[lanewbie]

I just received a 46-gallon bowfront tank (about 40 inches long) with a cichlid setup for my birthday. Being totally new to this, I'm looking for advice on how many and what types of cichlids you would recommend. I won't be upgrading the size of the tank - it's in my office at work and I can't go any larger so I need to keep that in mind. Any advice would be much appreciated.

The LFS recommends starting out with 8-10 giant danios and then adding the african cichlids about two weeks down the road. They also said that we could put in up to 40 fish - which I just can't see from the little research I've done so far.

[merlyn2221]

This seems to be a very disturbing trend in pet stores...telling people they can put way too many fish into the tank than is possible, or good for the fish.

In a setup that size, to start with what you want to end up with, you should consider several things:
1) what colors you want
2) overall adult size of the fish
3) tank decor and ease of cleaning

Those are just some of the things needed for consideration.

If this were my tank, this is what I would do:
1) cycle the tank (run the filter) for three weeks and add BacterVital for salt/brackish water
2) monitor the levels of the pH, ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates every 4 days and adjust the levels accordingly
3) wait until levels have peaked and fallen off for the ammonia and nitrite, and the nitrate levels are around 40ppm
4) DON'T ADD THE DANIOS! They make as much waste as cichlids and are not really necessary in the tank; they will just take up space that you could use for beautiful cichlids
5) add all of the juvenile fish (or larger if you can get them) of the same size at the same time after the tank decor has been set up

I would not get more than 10 -13 fish for that tank, and that would be overstocked, with adult sizes being 6" or under.

Filtration is also a major issue. What type of filter/s will you be using? This is crucial to maintaining a good environment for the health of the fish. If the filtration is inadequate, you have to lower the number of fish you have.

If you are not sure of what to put in the tank, you really should explore the internet for either Neo-tropical or new world cichlids, or African or old world cichlids. Ideally, the two should not be mixed because of their different water requirements.

IMHO, I would put in, Aulonocara sp. 'chipoka"(blue and yellow), Aulonocara stuartgranti "marleri" or "baenschi" (yellow), Aulonocara jacobfreibergi "eureka red," or Aulonocara "german red," Aulonocara stuartgranti "mbamba"(blue and yellow), Aulonocara sp. "mamelela"
(blue and red), Haplochromis sp. "hippo pointe" (green and red), Haplochromis sp. "zebra obliquidens" (black, yellow, and red). All of the ones I mentioned should be males

These are just some fish that get to be a good size, and have similar dietary requirements.

On the other hand, if you wanted to do and all mbuna tank you could get some Labeo. trewavasaes, Lab. caeruleus, Maylandi estherae and you would have red (orange) peach, blue, and yellow in the tank for interest.
The decor should ideally have attractive rock work and optimal hiding places for the fish. The mbuna all have a similar diet as well, so this would work, too.

If you wanted to be really adventurous, you could do an all Tanganiykan tank with fish that stay relatively small, like Neolamprologines.

What ever you decide, cycle properly, and choose the fish carefully for compatibility of both diet and temperament.

Let us know what you decide.

[lanewbie]

Thanks Merlyn for your advice. The store set me up with the Emporer 400 Bio-Wheel Filtration system. Others I talked to said this would be a good system for my tank. Your opinion?

Where do the cichlids you recommended fall on the aggressiveness scale?

[aharris]

I have no problems with my Emperor 400. If possible though, I would look into adding another filter down the line. You want the entire volume of tank water to pass through filtration as many times as possible in an hour. You can never have too much filtration. Plus, if you lose one filter for wahtever reason, you have a redundancy. That can be valuable.

[SGypsyMermaid]

another possible combination would be rusties(iodotropheus sprengerae), yellow labs(labidochromis caeruleus), and gephyrichromis acei. i, personally, would add a second filter for additional filtration/back-up. you could also cycle the tank with the danios and later remove them when you've got your cichlids.

[Cichlid_Fan]

I have two emp. 400's on my 75 gal and they work great. It's nice to over filter, you also can change only one filter media per month to keep the precious biological fliter.

Your LFS gave the you 1" per gallon number for fish. Basically one inch of fish per gallon of tank. Ya, sure, in theory you could have 40 fish at 1", 10 fish at 4" but I don't recommend using this theory. I would max yourself at 10 fish. They do grow.

[Fishman02]

lanewbi, i just set-up a 46g bowfront with an Emperor 400 1 week ago. The tank is an Mbuna tank, which as you know are all African Cichlids. I decided to cycle my tank with fish, so I purchased 7 cichlids and received as a gift 1 pleco (probably not a good idea, since I don't have much algae). The ammonia has spiked very in the past week and I did a 15% water change, which has brought down the levels to .5. I have plenty of rocks, 1 live plant and a piece of driftwood. These fish are so tough and fun to watch, I have no problems with them, and they all seem healthy at the moment. Don't get more than 12 mbuna for a tank this size, these fish need lots of room.

The fish I have are as follows (I'm not gonna type all the scientific names)
1 Yellow Lab
1 Rusty
2 Electric Blues
2 Johanni's
1 Demasoni
1 gibbeseps pleco

My set-up is as follows:
1 Emp 400
1 submersible heater (forget the brand),
Lots of Lace Rock (be sure to soak very well)
1 piece of driftwood (check your PH, if very low, don't get)
1 bubbler to move some oxygen about, looks cool, but ???
1 Live Plant, plants can be fine with mbuna, although they will nip at the leaves. Just get a hardy plant with tough leaves.

Good luck!

[lanewbie]

So, finally I'm back in here to let you know what I went with. If you'll remember, I have a 46 gallon bowfront with no intentions to upgrade since it's in my office at work. I cycled the tank and did not get the Danios. Once everything was good to go, the local fish expert dropped by (no I'm not lazy, just very busy so I have a maintenance contract courtesy of my wife) and he added the following cichlids:

1 Pseudotropheus estherae (Red Zebra)
2 Pseudotropheus estherae ??? (Blue Zebra?)
2 Pseudotropheus socolofi albinos
3 Yellow Labs

My plan was for 10 cichlids offering a wide variety of colors. I have red/orange, blue, white, and yellow (my favorite). Any suggestions for the next 2-3 fish? I'd like to add them soon while they're still juvies.

Did he set me up for problems with the pairs of blue zebras and albinos? As they mature, if they're both males, I assume I'm in for trouble. They seem to be doing very well together now. They stay together in their pairs and usually the 2 pairs stay in close proximity. I thought the red zebra was going to rule the tank - and it did for the first few days. But now the socolofi seem to be dominant.

Oh... and my setup is this:

6 pieces of slate (stacked and/or leaning on each other)
2 pieces of holey rock
1 very large driftwood arrangement (3 different pieces)
Artificial plants
Natural pebbles
Emporer 400 bio-wheel filter (with another to be added)

It really turned out beautiful. I hope to add a pic soon. Thanks for the great advice early on!