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The calvus i'm planning to get are the fry from my friends spawning pair which are currently kept in the same type of setup. So there still would be a chance of them spawning in this setup.
I guess i'm not really buying them only to breed them but if they do breed i would be very happy. I'm currently planning to buy a 4ft tank and i would be able to use that if it's necessary for the calvus breeding.

I have heard that calvus are slow moving fish and don't like to much activity, thats why i'm not adding that many fish and i believe that this amount would be good.

I'll still add the electric yellows as well then.

This is going to be my first african cichlid tank but i have done plenty of research on all the fish that are in my stocking list.

Thanks acei for the reply.
If there are any fish you recommend me to take out or add please tell me.

um not sure but i think you might be stuck on the pelco in a setup like yours they would creat more mess then they clean up and they would be compeating with your other affricans as they also like to eat their greens.

Yeah, your probably right. A bottomfeeder isn't really that important.

Do you think the tank will be overstocked with that many fish. I've been thinking that it might be a bit but im not sure.

It won't really be overstocked,
but if you want to breed fish like electric blues I would takeaway some electric yellows.
peacock cichlids a mostly hassel free.

Alright I'll take out a few electric yellows and maybe one or two peacocks.
That way it won't be crowded and the fish can safely breed.

Thanks everyone for the help

Alright i've come up with this stocking option:

2 Frontosas
2 A. Calvus
2 peacocks
6+ Electric Yellows
2 BN
I still may add one or two more fish later on but for now this is my plan.

Does that sound good or bad?
whats your opinion on this setup?

And yes i know that Frontosas normally need to be kept in groups of 6+.
I'm getting these two Fronts (they're still young) off a friend who currently has them in a 55g but does'nt have the large tank he was planning to get so he offered them to me once my 125g is setup. I've spoken to a few poeple and they said it should be alright to keep only 2 of them.

Thanks again everyone who posted replies to my thread.





Last edited by PJ at 09-Dec-2004 05:38

first of all, you have some pretty good choices. i dont agree with you about the fronts and think youshould leave them out. they will eat your smaller fish. fronts get to 12" and will snack on your little ones at night while they sleep.
if you are going to breed, then i recommend fewer species. i say this because you will need at least one extra tank for each species you wind up breeding. the fry will never make it in that tank, well, not enough to make it worth while anyway. you are going to have to take the females out )that are holding fry) and raise the fry seperately. i suggest you not worry about breeding them for now. get 3 or four species YOU really like and get one male and 4-5 females of each species. you should really take diet and aggressiveness into consideration when picking your fish out.
also, from experience, dont mix mbuna and haps. you can keep yellow labs with haps but that is usually the exception. their diets are usually way different and one species will suffer while the others flourish. i would recommend to you a mbuna tank. you can get some killer beautiful fish and they should be more compatible than trying to mix oddballs. you really dont want to keep a herbivore species with the fronts. how are you going to keep the high protein foods away from the herbivores. fronts need treats of live fish and very meaty foods. that will quickly kill some sensitive mbuna. some things to think about. check out the library section at ciclid-forum.com. there are some great articles about stocking a tank, fish compatibility and a huge species profile list, which will tell you the basic needs of each type of fish.
it is easy to jump in as a beginner and go over your head. the more informed you can be in the beginnning, the better off you will be in the end. good luck with whatever way you decide to go.

Alright Thanks for all that info acei. And thanks for giving me your opinion on this setup

I guess it's not really a breeding tank but there still is breeding potential in this setup.
Well I was only planning to breed the A.Calvus and the Electric yellows. I have a seperate 25g tank for both which i am planning to put the fry in.
I am also planning to get both peacocks male.

Yes, i do understand that you can't keep mbunas with haps but after asking people on fishProfiles they said that Electric Yellows are the only mbuna which can be kept with haps. If you don't recomend keeping yellows in my current setup plan then i'll take your advice and not.

The reason why the Fronts are included is because my friends is having to give them up, but he does'nt want to give them to just anyone as he has had them since they were only fry. So to be nice i said i'll look after them for you. Thats why they're in my stocking list now.

The reason why i'm not going all mbuna is because we don't have a very good selection down here where i am. Also because the Frontosa issue and also the fact that the one fish i want are the A. Calvus.

i may not have been too clear in my last post. i was trying to say the yellow labs can be kept with the haps. they are an exception to the rule that you shouldnt keep mbuna iwth haps.
as for the comps/calvus that you want to breed; they are a pretty sensitive fish and will probably not do well in your setup. they are very, very shy compared to everything else. they make the fronts seem outgoing. they will have a hard time breeding in the tank becuase they will never be relaxed enough or left alone enough to spawn. (most likely). also, they will have a hard time getting fed because every other fish will go after food, but the calvus wont chase the food and it will all get gobbled up before they get a chance to grab any. they may get by with the bare minimum. they are best left to the 25 gallon on their own. seriously. the tank should be big enough for them to breed in. they are very secretive breeders and you will most likely not witness it or know it even happened. i would go with your original setup and stick the calvus in the 25g tank, especially if you want to breed them. the calvus/comps are very slow growers and may take a long time to spawn too. as beautiful as they are, the calvus are not very active fish. i have some comps in a 20 long and aredoing great with a couple leleupi, although i dont know how long that will last as the leleupi are quite a bit more aggressive, but still allow them to get food.

Nah, I'll prefer to have an all african tank than a tank with a oscar and a arowana.

I want a pleco/bottom feeder but don't really know what type yet.

strangly enough, i think the calvus are the fastest fish i have ever seen. but they only move like that when they have to. normally they are very slow moving and not very assertive in the tank under normal circumstances. cool fish though. if you think you have a great setup and have done enough research, i say go for it. personally, i have better success with fewer species per tank, but that may work out for you. good luck and a great thread.

I will probably leave it like it is, well at least to start of with. Maybe later on if i see problems i'll remove one of the species, yellows/peacocks and maybe add more of another species, Calvus.

So hopefully this stocking option will be compatible and i'll see some breeding action As I said early i'll hopefully be buying a 4ft 115g tank soon and I can always use that for breeding if needed.

I have to say thanks again to everyone who was involved in this thread

good luck PJ.

i'd put in some nice discus types in there. that is deff big enough to get like 3 or so easily. they get really big, but they are extremely pretty

maximadriver, why do you think disc us would be a good addition to this tank? just curious because they have completely different diets, different water requirement and totally different temperments than africans. i dont understand???

Just have shoals of angels and discus, it would look great.

Thankyou for your suggestions but i've already decided on African cichlids a long time ago.






Last edited by PJ at 15-Dec-2004 22:37

i like a lot of different ones:

lab. trewavasae
mel. johanni
mel. auratus
mbamba
cyno. afra
pseu. acei
b.b zebra
red zebra
pseu. elongatus

just to name a few, search around and find some you like and get a few ideas. not to mention other sites, but cichlidforum.com has some nice layouts you might want to look at.


chris

hey Pj
it's ghostfish
my ides are

maybe
some
electric blues
peacock cichlids
or if you want it more peaceful
some african lumpheads.

Steer clear from fish with the scientific name
psudotropheus my ones killed electric yellows,blues and my peacocks.

p.s I posted here instead of the malawi forum only because no one answers your posts there

lol i think i went in there mabe once lol.
I jewel cichlids would be a good addition as well as a polypterus senegalus senegalus. Are you sure you dont want some frontosa??? there pretty cool. And you could get a few of them w/ a tank like that.