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Shortly I will be preparing a 50 gallon tank (48" x 18 x 14) for cichlids.

My question is regarding stocking. When you stock a cichlid tank should you add all the fish at once so that they have equal opportunity to establish territories or just a few at a time.

The tank is currently set up as a community tank and I am gradually moving the fish from it to a 6ft. I was thinking of changing the substrate to lime sand instead of the coarse gravel that is in there. Will this mean i'm in for a mini cycle? I will be retaining the current filter and all its media? This is why I was wondering about stocking it gradually or not.

Thanks for your help as always - Crusha

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Those who say they cant, Never will !!!

Well you dont have to change the substrat if you want the ph to be higher. So by saying that Im assuming your going with African cichlids. You can just put a bag of lime sand or crushed coral in your filter. Your right when saying that you should add them all once. Its much easier to do it this way, just because you dont have to keep rearanging your tank and taking of dead fish.

If the aquarium is already up and running with a cycled filter, then your strategy depends upon which ystem you're using for biological filtration.

If you're using undergravel filtration, one way of proceeding would be to move the existing gravel to one half of the aquarium, then put in your calcareous gravel in the vacated half. Then, when the calcareous gravel has been colonised (should only take a couple of weeks with a large established colony in the remaining gravel), you can remove the old gravel from that half and replace it with the remaining calcareous gravel.

If you can arrange for some kind of divider to keep the two apart during the transition phase - several plastic rulers could be pressed into service here - then the whole process will be somewhat easier.

Of course you'll need to keep some fishes in there during the transition phase to keep the filter ticking over. Nice hardy fishes that won't mind the pH and hardness change, or fishes that will welcome it as it takes place such as Mollies.

If your biological filtration medium consists of something like bio-balls in a canister filter or external power filter, then the transition should be somewhat easier, especially if you're not using a deep substrate layer to start with. In that case, you could theoretically remove the old substrate in one go. But it might be a good idea to transition the substrate as cited above just in case there is some biological activity in the existing substrate.

Once you've transitioned the aquarium, and furnished it for your Cichlids, the next question is, WHICH Rift Lake Cichlids are you going for? Because the question of introduction depends very heavily upon the species you plan to introduce.

The ones most likely to be 'bad boys' if the introduction isn't handled carefully are Mbuna. Malawi Peacocks, Sand Dwellers, Utaka and the like are somewhat easier to handle aggression wise, though some of those can still deliver some surprises to the unwary!

If your proposed stocking consists principally of Mbuna, then the Mbuna should be introduced all at once. If you're mixing Mbuna with something else (which I hasten to add is quite a balancing act!), then put the Mbuna in last.

Post a list of species of interest to you and I'll do some further ruminating for you.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

Thank you Fish Guy and Calilasseia for all that information. I have an external canister filter so i can make the change all in one go if I wanted to. What would you recommend the depth of the substrate be. I was told not to make it too deep as this will cause problems with trapping gases, etc.

The cichlids I am interested in at this stage are(and please forgive, I dont know their scientific names) Electric Yellow, Maingano, Hongi Island, Sunshine Peacock, and Lavender Mbuna (Rusty). This is not the final list but they are the ones I am leaning towards.

Are they compatible with each other and should I just get one of each as I have been advised that having pairs causes aggression?

Thanks - Crusha

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Those who say they cant, Never will !!!

Yes pairs do cause aggrssion most times, trio's is the best way to go, but 15 fish in a 50 gallon is too much. If you round the list down to maybe 2 or 3 types of cichlids you could get some trios and babies in time lol.

yes crusha, its the best to introduce all the fish at the same time to the tank. I read a very interesting article on introducing/reintroducing the malawis in a tank..here's an excerpt...
"Whenever a new fish is added it starts from the beginning, that is from the bottom of the rank. During the first couple of weeks the fish will be chased and usually will not fight back as if checking the existing order of things and see where it could stand. When it gets fully acclimatized it will start to challenge fishes at the bottom of the rank and after climbing some places it will find itself among the others. It is astonishing to see that when a male Maylandia lombardoi challenged my dominant male Melanochromis auratus and won the fight, none of the other M.auratus challenged it. In contrast, when it lost the fight against the hyperdominant Melanochromis chipokae, all other chipokae, including females, fought against it at some time or another (in fact I am not sure who started the fights). After a while it became apparent to the rest of the tank that the place of the M. lombardoi was second to the male M. chipokae only.

The same thing happens when a fish is removed from the tank for any reason and returned after a couple of weeks. It has to re-establish its rank, at least among its own species. Therefore one needs to pay some attention and take certain precautions before introducing the fish back in the tank. This is better done when feeding, thus giving the newcomer a chance to find a hiding place. Another option is to add the newcomer and then turn the lights off. This will also give the fish some time. If you see that a fish is always chased and harassed it it better to remove it from the tank. Such a fish will sooner or later die and may become a life threat for the rest of the inhabitants."

courtesy http://www.malawicichlidhomepage.com/aquainfo/malawi10.html

Thanks mughal113 for that very interesting excert. That was my main concern with adding them gradually.

As far as pairs and trio's. Do they need to be in groups or can I just have one of each. Obviously I dont want to overcrowd the tank so if its better to have them in groups I will whittle the list down to a few that I really like.

If anyone has an opinion on which out of the selection I mention would be the best for a "beginner" cichlid owner, i'd appreciate your comments.

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Those who say they cant, Never will !!!

Id go with 4 Yellow Labs and 4 Johanni if it were me.

The Yellow Lab is the Electric Yellow - yes? With those numbers (4 of each) are they likely to pair up and breed (of course if I have both sexes!!)

Sorry, im really a "beginner"! Thanks for your help everyone.

Cheers - Crusha

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Those who say they cant, Never will !!!

a trio should do fine...just better to avoid species of similar color patterns as they might be confused with the same species and face the undue anger...
regarding overstocking, it is actually a good idea to overstock a cichlid tank a bit, to distribute the aggression...obviously the tank has to be over-filtered as well..

If you're running with Mbuna, check my thread on the groupings re aggression within species, and be very careful not to mix species from diverse groups. The thread that discusses this is here.

Yellow Labs and Rusty Cichlids Iodtropheus sprengerae will mix well together (Group 4 - relatively peaceful). Fishes that will NOT mix well together unless they have a LOT of space are fishes from Group4 and Group 1 (Group 1 is the group containing the hardcore criminals, the ones that are likely to behave like psychotic berserkers unless your furnishings are planned very carefully). So, I would stick with Group 4 fishes and perhaps the odd Group 3 species (chosen with care of course), and wait until you have a very large aquarium before taking on any of the Group 1 fishes.

Additionally, check your species identification VERY carefully - Pseudotropheus minutus is a reasonably sane Group 3 fish that will accommodate itself to a community with some fractiousness, but not a lot, but it bears a very close resemblance to Psuedotropheus elongatus, which is one of the worst of the hardcore fishes in Group 1! The trouble with Pseudotropheus elongatus lies not solely with its aggression level (which is extremely high), but with its adopted life strategy - this species is unusual among Mbuna in that males and females form well-defined pairs similar to Central and South American Cichlids, and when breeding, both male and female attack potential or actual fry threats working as a team in a manner not dissimilar from the demon Central American species Neetroplus nematopus - both of these fishes adopt a 'search and destroy' method of dealing with opponents in the aquarium, and in all but the largest setups wreak havoc when introduced. Avoid elongatus AT ALL COSTS unless you have a MINIMUM of a 6ft aquarium, and then only keep it with other bellicose aquarium terrorists such as Melanochromis chipokae. The small but vicious Pseudotropheus elongatus is basically Jeffrey Dahmer with fins, and goes into serial killer mode at the drop of a hat.

Also, try to avoid mixing fishes whose males look alike. If the fishes you choose have males whose colour pattern is markedly distinct, then you will see less interneciine warfare than you will if males of any two species look alike. A special caveat applies to Pseudotropheus lombardoi, which has reversed sexual colouration when compared to most other Mbuna - while many Mbuna have blue males and yellow or orange females, lombardoi is the other way round, so you need to exercise care because the females of this species may be mistaken for competing males by some other Mbuna!

For your first Mbuna setup, I'd go with Iodotropheus sprengerae, one of the Labidochromis species, and possibly Cynotilapia afra if you want three species. You might be better off restricting yourself to the first two alone, and leaving out the Cynotilapia to start with. A tankful of Iodotropheus sprengerae and Yellow Labs will be quite a display to start with, and will help you cut your teeth on these fishes before you move up and try your hand with some of the more belligerent ones.


Panda Catfish fan and keeper/breeder since Christmas 2002

My question is regarding stocking. When you stock a cichlid tank should you add all the fish at once so that they have equal opportunity to establish territories or just a few at a time.

I have a Lake Malawi set up (lucky to have very knowledgable staff at the Lams, the lfs near me). Setup although not strictly Mbuna only, but mosty mbunas with a few haps and 1 peacock

Becausse I knew I was moving house I did not have it fully stocked (didn't want to risk losses on a fully stocked tank)

Recently I added 5 juves... this doubled the stock. I ensured I changed the setup of the rocks so the inhabitants were checing out the renovations instead of kicking tails of new guys.... chichlid keeping tip I picked up from this site.

Also, have been told to add more than one if you are adding so they are reshuffling and the newie isn't the subject of oggling by all big kids.

I found one of each type works best. One male of each and no females to fight over protect. I agree with diversity so males do not look similar and pick fights perceiving threats. Each tank is different but I found early on more than one type is not 'company' and I ended up only with one anyway. So I have gone with a tank of handsome males (at least for the types where males can be identified).

That aside...

Cichlids!!!! How exciting. I am so glad I have a chichlid tank. I lurve it

I hope that if you do make the change you are as delighted with your tank as I am with mine.

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

Thank you for that information everyone. I'm going to read up on the the thread you posted previously Calilasseia. I see there is lots of very useful information there for me to take into account.

I am going to go with the suggestion of Yellow Labs and Iodotropheus sprengerae for now.

My tank is still a few weeks away from being ready for set-up so that gives me lots of time to research!

Cheers everyone - Crusha

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Those who say they cant, Never will !!!