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Im tryen to get a stocking list going for my new 55.Its going to be mbuna.Its going to be yellow labs for sure and either snow white socolofi or P.Acei.are there any bottom feeders that can go in it?

the only ones idont want are Plecos or some of the more rare Synodontis cats.


Thanks

I had a syno eupterus with mine but it was a 180g tank and I had them in a group of 3. I'm not sure how they would do singly, and I would only recommend one in a 55g tank due to their size.

Sorry I cant help you with any other ideas.

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Before you criticize someone walk a mile in their shoes. That way you're a mile away and you have their shoes.

Syno Multipunctatus(4-5), Syno Petricola(4-5), Yoyo loaches(4-6).

First choice - native Rift Lake Synodontis. Of which there are several to choose from, including njassae from Lake Malawi and the rare and hideously expensive granulosus from Lake Tanganyika. Many of these fishes will have adapted to live alongside your rough and tumble Rift Lake Cichlids (indeed, one of them is the infamous 'Cuckoo Catfish' whose breeding involves dropping its eggs into the middle of an Ophthalmotilapia spawn so that the mouthbrooding Cichlids take care of the baby Catfishes!).

Second choice - if you can find them, because they're seriously rare in the hobby at the moment - are Chiloglanis species. While they belong to the same Family (the Mochokidae) as the Synodontis cats, they're radically different in appearance. And have sucking disc mouthparts! Chiloglanis lukugae lives in rivers that flow into Lake Tanganyika, and might be compatible with some Rift Lake Cichlids, but there's not a great deal known about this, so be advised that you're definitely in experimental waters here ... however, if this and other species (some specimens of neumanni are found in Lake Malawi) prove to be compatible with your Cichlids, then you'll have found the answer to every Rift Lake keeper's prayer - a Rift Lake version of the good old Otocinclus - and consequently, these fishes (generically known as Rock Catlets) deserve to be MUCH better known in the hobby.




Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

u can have clown loaches
ihave 3 with my malawis and i have frontoza in as well the clown loaches are now 14 cm and they only grow to 20cm. in the wild they only grow to 30cm and they are very slow growers ive had my for 3 years


Last edited by danny at 06-Nov-2005 17:53

I am told by at least one keeper of suckermouthed mochokids that they are very shy, not to mention that most chiloglanis are completely riverine, and prefer soft acidic waters. You're better off with the run of the mill hardwater synodontids. Needless to say, njassae would be best, but they are, at best, uncommon.

Re Chiloglanis ... there are some species found in the Rift Lakes in the wild. It was these I was thinking of. However, as I also said above, they're seriously rare in the hobby at the moment (though deserve to be far better known) and it would be well worth the investment if native Rift Lake Chiloglanis were studied for aquarium viability. Let's face it, they'd be a far better choice than several of the South Americans (which like soft, acid water) that tend to be pressed into service out of desperation because there are no native Rift Lake analogues to hand.

I would imagine that native Rift Lake species of Chiloglanis would be reasonably compatible with Rift Lake Cichlids, having evolved alongside them for about 12,000 years ...


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

it dont matter wat kind of ph there in u just have get them use it it because loaches arnt supost to be in 8.5 ph but myn are and holpo catfish in there too it just matters on your bacterial colone and your ammonia and nitrite levels my are allway kept on 0 so yer

I know of none that are regularly found in the main body of the lake itself (perhaps swept out into it's outskirts by unusually heavy current action), but are instead almost always caught in the fast flowing coolwater streams feeding into it. It is easy to forget that African riverine environments are comparable to those of South America, hence, fish hailing from the general area are about as capable of adapting to hardwater rift lake conditions as are SA loricariids.





Last edited by Cup_of_Lifenoodles at 06-Nov-2005 18:31

Take a look here ...

Chiloglanis lukugae

Note the distribution and biology info :

Africa: Luapula basin. Tributaries of Lake Tanganyika, Angola, affluent of Cuango River. The types localities are not situated near Kalémie (Albertville) but actually on small tributaries of the Luvua River on the road between Kalémie and Kiambi.

Inhabits rocky shores of lake and rapid stony stretches of streams

Apparently specimens do live in the lake.

Also, Chiloglanis neumanni

Africa: Limpopo River system, Cunene, Kafue, Zambezi (above and below Victoria Falls), Okavango, Upper Congo River in Zambia, Lake Malawi and Lake Kariba. Also known from the Pugnwe and Buzi systems and east coast rivers in Tanzania (Ref. 7248).

Again, specimens cited as actually living in the lake.

Admittedly many other Chiloglanis are riverine, and live at different pH and hardness levels, but I've found two that are compatible with Rift Lake chemistry.


Last edited by Calilasseia at 08-Nov-2005 08:45

Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Not to forget
"Common in the cool waters of mountain streams."

and

"Tributaries of Lake Tanganyika, Angola, affluent of Cuango River"

You'll notice that neither is found in the girth of the actual lake, and would henceforth prefer surrounding streams feeding into the lakes.

It further seems odd that the quoted pH for the nueman's squeaker is:
"6 – 7.5"
-Not what one would expect from a genuine Malawian fish, it being the possessing the hardest of waters.

Secondly, this question was posted on the PCatfish boards some time ago, actually requesting whether or not these fish did indeed hail from Tang. as fishbase stated, to which the answer was, and I quote;

"no.

there IS a Chiloglanis living in Lake Malawi, though.
Chiloglanis neumanni.
It's not an endemic species; occurs in many rivers and a few other smaller lakes in that region in Africa. "

Henceforth neither naturally occurs in either lake and incidents quoting their respective capture in these locations have evolved from being swept downstream.

You'll notice that neither is found in the girth of the actual lake

is somewhat at variance with the quote I already posted, namely:

Inhabits rocky shores of lake

Doesn't the latter imply that the fish is actually in the lake, rather than nearby in an adjoining stream?

Remind me to go looking for them if ever i acquire the funds to go collecting in the Rift Lakes. If I find some, i'll post some pics. If not, I'll report accordingly.




Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

"Is somewhat at variance with the quote I already posted, namely:"

Is it? I recall rocky shores as only being referred to as the mere outskirts of the lake itself, whereas the bulk of the area in said lake occurs in it's center, not the coastline. Keep in mind the former doesn't even OCCUR in Tanganyika, merely the rivers that feed into it.

"Doesn't the latter imply that the fish is actually in the lake, rather than nearby in an adjoining stream?"

Not really. Considering how each and every other habitat listed there is rverine in nature it would seem that given fish would have a preference towards quote adjoining streams. Furthermore, they are, by all accounts, not considered at all common within the lake itself; occuring more often in surrounding tributaries.


"Remind me to go looking for them if ever i acquire the funds to go collecting in the Rift Lakes. If I find some, i'll post some pics. If not, I'll report accordingly."

Or better yet, heed the information provided by sidgup, as posted above, who has indeed collected such fish and is quite knowlegable in general with the family itself.


EDIT: You're better off looking for specialist experience regarding these fish. As you should know, fishbase is often wrong, and just from my experience browsing through the loricariids listed there, numerous range/classification/size issues have shown up.





Last edited by Cup_of_Lifenoodles at 10-Nov-2005 19:18

Ah, so you're saying that the provenance of the sources I'm using is open to question?

Ah, a different issue.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

"Ah, so you're saying that the provenance of the sources I'm using is open to question?

Ah, a different issue."

Au contraire, that is only a mere part of the issue, which I'm sure you already know. As aforementioned, even the sources you state clearly show that the first fish isn't even found in lake Tanganyika, and the second is found in small numbers in Malawi (and furthermore, not in it's vast depths, them being the girth of the lake itself, but rather, sporadically along the outskirts of the lake), caught more often within the surrounding rivers feeding into said lake.


Last edited by Cup_of_Lifenoodles at 11-Nov-2005 01:59

I have a mbuna setup - 4ft.

I have 4 clown loaches
1 bn

I had them from a previous setup before I switched over to mbuna's. The bottom dwellers continue to thrive.

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~~~ My fish blow kisses at me all day long ~~~