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I am going to start a 29 gallon hex, small mbuna set up.
I would like to know which species that I could get for this small tank.

-Vincent

Honestly, that tank is too small for many fish at all, mostly due to it's shape. If it was a regular 29 gallon tank, it would be much better for those types of fish since they would have more horizontal room to stay out of each others way. In a tall hex tank, they are quite literally stacked on top of each other, and might not appreciate that.

Make sure you provide lots of hiding caves and rockwork to try to break up what small territories will be available. I wouldn't keep more than 5 fish in there. Most Mbuna get to be 5 inches or more, and there simply isn't a lot of room for them to move. Pseudotropheus are some of the smallest and most common, and they are still too big and too aggressive to have many of them.

Would you consider a species-only tank of a smaller african cichlid, like something from Tanganyika, instead? With tall rockwork, most cave-dwelling neolamprologus species will occupy many levels of a tank. My Caudopunks use up all of their tall 20 gallon, and would be suitable for a 29 gallon tank. Caudopunctatus are particularly nice because they will live in both caves and shells, and they form colonies with the older generations helping to care for younger fry.
A similar setup would also be okay for a trio of comprisseps, or some Neo. cylindricus.

I do not think a 29 hex will be suitable for Mbuna, and you should either get a different size and style tank to keep them, or consider putting something else in the tank you have.

Hoping that there must be a word for everything I mean...

I agree with illustrae. If it was a reg. 29g, I think you might could get away with a Demasoni group (with alot of rocks), but really, a hex tank just doesn't offer enough surface area for these aggressive little fish. Also, in a reg. 29g, I think you could have a breeding group of Cynotilapia afra Cobue (like the one in my avatar). They only get about 4 inches, but they are aggressive little fish. My males rule my 55g, even though they are smaller than most fish in the tank.

Definitely consider Tangs. There are a good bit of them that would be able to live in a 29g. You could have a nice little shellie community, although that tank wouldn't be ideal for them, but it would work.

*Kristin*

My sister already got the tank, and she wanted some cichlid, so then what are a few tang's I could get? other than shell dwellers because my LFS doesn't carry them, from what I know


-Vincent

It might be better to give us a list of the cichlids that your LFS does carry, and we can narrow it down from there.

It is also possible to get fish through the mail by shopping online. While expensive, I have found it to be a great way to get the exact kind of fish I want that my LFS does not carry, and oftentimes, they are healthier than the fish my LFS stocks anyway. Aquabid.com is an excellent resource for this.

Hoping that there must be a word for everything I mean...

It is also possible to get fish through the mail by shopping online. While expensive, I have found it to be a great way to get the exact kind of fish I want that my LFS does not carry, and oftentimes, they are healthier than the fish my LFS stocks anyway. Aquabid.com is an excellent resource for this.

I totally agree. The LFS and LPS around here are not good at all, so with more "unique" fish I am forced to order online. You can find alot of fish on Aquabid.com and most sellers include shipping in the price, so really, if you get a group of the same kind, you can still save some money (as opposed to paying high prices at the LFS). I bought 3 of my Malawi cichlid groups online.

*Kristin*

would a stock like this work, I am sure I can find them somewhere nearby, If not I can buy tham on aquabid.
I am not going to set this thing up for atleast another week so its not urgent.
however give me some stocking ideas for tang's and I will see if I can get those at my LFS. whenever I get a chance to go see
http://www.aquabid.com/cgi-bin/auction/auction.cgi?fwcichlidst&1166407236
the link doesn't go to the exact page but its the one that says 4 species, 8 fish

-Vincent

I'll have to let illustrae answer that one. Because I'm more of a Malawi person, than a Tang.

I did look up the fish I was not familiar with out of that group and on cichlid-forum.com it says about the lelupi:

They should not be kept with most shell dwellers, as they have a habit of sticking their faces in the shells to suck out the brood. They've been known to (fatally) pull female shell dwellers out of the shells to achieve this.

Occellatus are shelldwellers, so if the pair you get are a m/f pair and they breed, then you might have trouble, but otherwise they should be ok.

Beyond that, I'm not quite sure how all these would get along. Judging by their sizes alone, they should be fine in that tank, but I'm not sure about aggression.

*Kristin*

Well, I couldn't find the auction you linked, but I can give you some tips about mixing tangs.

In small tanks, it's usually wise to go with a single-species setup. I originally wanted a group of shellies, julies, and brichardi, but I only had space for a small tank, so I knew the odds of a grouping like that working out were slim to none. Cichlids are aggressive and don't like to share space a lot of times. Even the tiny shellies can chase larger fish all around a tank. I know Theresa_M used to have a tank with stappersi shell dwellers and a pair of comprisseps that worked okay for a while. She separated them because the stapps either weren't breeding, or the comps were sucking the fry out of the shells similar to the quote GirlieGirl8519 gave. If you do decide to mix cichlids, I would only pick two species. Even though the number of fish in that auction would be ideal for your tank, the different types of cichlids wouldn't get along without the horizontal space to spread out and claim territory.

A tank full of bright yellow lelupis sounds awesome. You might think that it sounds boring to have only one type of fish in a tank, but lelupis are very active and have tons of character. With lots of rocks piled up, they should uae all areas of the tank, and in a species setup, you get to see colonizing behavior that you don't often get in community tanks. Cichlids are intelligent as far as fish go, and very expressive. I can watch my caudopunks for hours even though they are not flashy colored. And in single species tanks, you are more likely to see sucessful breeding, which lends its own set of behaviors, plus the opportunity for fry which you can sell to support your aquarium habit!

Hoping that there must be a word for everything I mean...