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I just though id run my stocking plan by everyone to see what everyone thinks. Ok well its obviously a 75 gallon with the following - 6 Buffalo Heads
- 4 Kribs
- 10-14 Cories
- 2 CAE
If i have the time I would like to add some Congo tetras.

a common answer is going to be about the CAE

i am sure you know there aggression.

I would change the chinese algae eaters to siamese algae eaters because they are less aggresive and clean algaee better.

-Vincent

My understanding of buffalo heads is that they get a bit over 4 inches in length and can be somewhat territorial. Now having never kept them I am not a postion to give facts but I would like give my opinion if I may.
I believe for your setup to work peacefully you would need lots of rock work, seeing as how both the kribs and the buffalo heads or going be fighting over available cave space and get close to the same size. Also it seems to me that you are "crowding" the bottom of the tank. I say take the cories and the CAEs off the list and go with the congos to liven up the middle of the tank. How do you feel about some of the African rainbow species, maybe Madagascars?

Got a scientific name for these "Buffalo Heads"? What family of fishes do they belong to? Got a link to a pic?


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

im pretty sure they mean the african blockhead cichlid, Steatocranus casuarius

In which case, this page could prove useful.

Apparently they're bottom dwellers with reduced swim bladders and behave a bit like gobies when swimming ... they're also somewhat aggressive if the notes on that page are anything to go by ...


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

also I believe buffalo heads (males anyway) can get closer to 6". you could probably get several juveniles of kribs and buffalo heads and eventually dwindle the numbers down to just a pair of each. a 75 gallon should provide enough space at the bottom for a pair of each to cohabitate, but I'd put the territorial boundaries (caves and such) at opposite ends of the tank to try to keep them apart.

The males only get 4" as the same with the females. I have had them now for about 6 months. I dont find them aggressive at all. I have kept africans before so I have lots rock work in there, and some wide plants to break up the tank. I need the cories and the CAE or SAE because with all the rock work i cant get down to the sand. So I need a cleaning crew. The Buffalo Heads are really neat when they swim as they are like gobies and dart around the rocks. I went with kribs because they are both from west africa.I'll see if i can find some SAE.

I'm still worried for the cories, I can't get over this one picture that sticks in my mind of a shell dweller(neolamprologus brevis) grabbing a cory by its dorsal and dragging it away from its shell. What about synos?
Synodontis multipunctatus, Synodontis eupterus or better yet Synodontis petricola(if you can find some).

Id like to have any of those species but its near impossibale to get them in here. Well I haven't even seen them hear before. The cories are doing fine so far but i'll keep an eye on them.