# My mixed cichlid tank.



## davedudeman (Jun 25, 2007)

The top tank is an all glass 45gallon bowfront with a penguin 350 bio-wheel filter. The decor includes fake plants, rainbow rocks, drift wood, and river rock as the substrate. I feed my fish sprinula flake food, cichlid staple, cichild gold for color, frozen peas, and once in a while I throw an algea wafer in for them to play with. Bottom tank has a wild mix of babies I can't bring myself to destroy. They eat spinula flake food.


















Here is my lazy Mama yellow lab resting in her favorite spot.


















The two pics above are my mel johani-male. He doesn't come out much unless he's eating, so though the pictures are not great, it's the best I could do.



























Blue pea**************** and red zebra-both male









Albino zebra-female









Blue/Pseudo elongatus-female
Other yellow lab-male


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## oliesminis (May 7, 2007)

wicked tank, how many babys are there in the bottom tank roughly, love the design

-olie


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## boulie (Mar 2, 2008)

Very color cichild.


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## shade2dope (Jan 21, 2007)

Pretty cool the ali looks like he getting picked on.The Sciaenochromis ahli will need a bigger tank.I would say a min of atleast 55g.


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## BV77 (Jan 22, 2005)

all of them are gonna need a bigger tank, IMO the johanni may get a bit mean for the lab


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## davedudeman (Jun 25, 2007)

I think there are 8 babies on the bottom.

WOW! No offense to anyone, I realize you all are just trying to help, but I have kept these fish for 2years now and have watched their behavior closely. Plans have been made to receive store credit for the ahali, johani, elongatus, red zebra, albino zebra and turning my tank into a species tank for yellow labs. 

I agree, the tank size is not ideal. However, I have not had any problems with my fish, and upon bringing my electric blue ahli home 8months ago, I had known even then I would need to find him a larger tank. 

Once I have more space, in hopefully a years time, I will be building a 120gallon cichlid tank. 

Browsing the site I had seen so many pictures I enjoyed I thought I would share mine. *Your "expert" advice is not needed.*


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Don't take offense. It's kind of reflex now to tell people they need a larger tank. Its almost always true and its amazing how many people don't know it. We get so sick of hearing stuff like "my betta, oscar, Jack Demsey, Auratus, pacu, and 6 goldfish in my 10 gallon tank are all either dead, bloody or have missing fins and the survivors are gasping at the surface. The petstore said they would all be friends and my betta needed company. What kind of disease is this?" Stick around and you will understand where we are coming from. 

Your fish look happy and healthy. Keep it up.


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## Guest (Mar 14, 2008)

davedudeman said:


> I think there are 8 babies on the bottom.
> 
> WOW! No offense to anyone, I realize you all are just trying to help, but I have kept these fish for 2years now and have watched their behavior closely. Plans have been made to receive store credit for the ahali, johani, elongatus, red zebra, albino zebra and turning my tank into a species tank for yellow labs.
> 
> ...



If you know your tank is not set up for the ideal needs of the fish, and you dont want criticized about it... then dont post up pics. There are actually people who keep fish...and try and do so with in the needs of the fish, not the confines of the space, or lack of space they have. 
There is NO reason for you to get snippy at people who are simply trying to help. The "expert" as you put it happens to not only be a well respected member of this board, but one of the more knowledgeable fish people i know. Your lack of respect was just out right rude. Not a single person in this thread was rude, but instead offered advice, and opinions in a very nice manner. 
The fact is, in that size tank aggression is elevated, just because you have gotten away with it for 2 years, doesn't mean it will always work, cause it doesn't always work. I am not the only one who has seen this mix of fish (or one similar) turn into a disaster because they was not enough space to give the fish the proper territories.
With that said, enjoy your tank, and i hope you dont need any "expert" advice in the future.


Oh, and btw, your "blue peaco ck" is not a peaco ck at all, it is a Sciaenochromis fryeri.


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## karazy (Nov 2, 2007)

dont worry about the whole people offering alot of addvice thing. i got totaly pwned by that stuff when i first came here. but i have grown to enjoy and thank people for the constructive critisism, and hopefully you will too. because just saying you know what your doing doesnt help around here.

and i like how you have the fry tank underneath


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## shade2dope (Jan 21, 2007)

We are just trying to help...One thing I must say is that the small tank may have allready had an affect on the ali.They seem small for how long you have had them imo.But if it works for you and you acknowledge they will be taking care of then np.Tanks looksa good by the way.


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## kay-bee (Dec 6, 2006)

GoodMike said:


> ...Oh, and btw, your "blue peaco ck" is not a peaco ck at all, it is a Sciaenochromis fryeri.


...and that "Blue/Pseudo elongatus-female" is actually a pseudotropheus socolofi.



davedudeman said:


> Plans have been made to receive store credit for the ahali, johani, elongatus, red zebra, albino zebra and turning my tank into a species tank for yellow labs.


That actually does increases the odds of success for the tank.


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## Guest (Mar 14, 2008)

kay-bee said:


> ...and that "Blue/Pseudo elongatus-female" is actually a pseudotropheus socolofi.
> 
> 
> 
> That actually does increases the odds of success for the tank.


to that first part, no i dont believe that is a socolofi, elongatus is correct.

to the second part...that is extremely debatable


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Are you sure its 45 gallons? It only looks about 24 inches wide in the pic. 36" would be much better for mbuna. A 120g would be lovely, you could keep all kinds of cichlids.


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## kay-bee (Dec 6, 2006)

GoodMike said:


> to that first part, no i dont believe that is a socolofi, elongatus is correct.
> 
> to the second part...that is extremely debatable


Definately a socolofi (female slightly displaying stress bars, in fact), I breed this species. 

'Pseudotropheus elongatus' females are typically gray-brown (and not 'identical' to socolofi's which are 'powder blue' with black fin markings). 

The colors of the females of the pseudotropheus sp. elongatus variants (of which there are over two dozen), however, will vary depending on which collection point they originate from, but I don't believe any are blue like the one in depicted in the photo. 

Limiting the types of cichilds in a tank that size to contain just yellow labs WOULD indeed increase the odds of success, than keeping pseudotropheus, melanochromis and metriclima species in it (since the latter species are inherently more aggressive than labidochromis caeruleus; debate unnecessary).

"Increase the odds of success" doesn't necessarily equate to "successful" (i.e., as currently stocked it might have a 0-15% success rate, as a yellow lab species tank it might increase to 30-60%). Ideally, though, any type of mbuna or 'hap' should be kept in a 55gal or larger.


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## davedudeman (Jun 25, 2007)

I would first like to apologize to everyone for going on the defensive. It just seems funny everytime I post pictures of my tank on this site, and this site only I am told my tank is too small. I understand their living conditions are not ideal, but given my impulsive buying habbits to save a fish I have done a fair job. Feed them a few times daily and chaning the water weekly seems to be working out for I have never lost any sort of cichlid.


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## davedudeman (Jun 25, 2007)

shade2dope said:


> We are just trying to help...One thing I must say is that the small tank may have allready had an affect on the ali.They seem small for how long you have had them imo.But if it works for you and you acknowledge they will be taking care of then np.Tanks looksa good by the way.



I would have to disagree for I have only had that one fish for 8months and when I purchased the little guy he was nothing but a baby. Probably less than 1" like all the fish I have bought. I haven't tried venting him since I knew it was male and that's usually when I measure their size. I would say he's probably 4 1/2" long and though I havne't noticed any large growth spurts for about 2months, I can guarantee he's still growing.


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## davedudeman (Jun 25, 2007)

emc7 said:


> Are you sure its 45 gallons? It only looks about 24 inches wide in the pic. 36" would be much better for mbuna. A 120g would be lovely, you could keep all kinds of cichlids.


Yep. It's 36" long/12-15"wide/21"tall. I have so many large rocks it probably just looks smaller. Hopefully someday I'll find a house with a basement for my 120gallon dream tank.


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## davedudeman (Jun 25, 2007)

GoodMike said:


> If you know your tank is not set up for the ideal needs of the fish, and you dont want criticized about it... then dont post up pics. There are actually people who keep fish...and try and do so with in the needs of the fish, not the confines of the space, or lack of space they have.
> There is NO reason for you to get snippy at people who are simply trying to help. The "expert" as you put it happens to not only be a well respected member of this board, but one of the more knowledgeable fish people i know. Your lack of respect was just out right rude. Not a single person in this thread was rude, but instead offered advice, and opinions in a very nice manner.
> The fact is, in that size tank aggression is elevated, just because you have gotten away with it for 2 years, doesn't mean it will always work, cause it doesn't always work. I am not the only one who has seen this mix of fish (or one similar) turn into a disaster because they was not enough space to give the fish the proper territories.
> With that said, enjoy your tank, and i hope you dont need any "expert" advice in the future.
> ...


There is one simple thing I would like to point out. THE THREAD TITLE! Where does it say, 'I need advice', or 'Is this tank big enough?' I am completely open to advice as I post on cichlidforum.com and regularly asking people on that forum their opinions. 

You must realize these fish have personalities... I have one that swims around the whole tank day and night, one that never comes out from the rocks, one that loves to nap in the grass. THESE FISH HAVE PERSONALITIES AND I HAVE WATCHED/TAKEN CARE OF THEM JUST FINE. 

Someone on this forum once told me I could never mix my Chinese algea eater with my cichlids for they would just thrash Bo-Ling all the time. You know what? He has been in there cleaning the tank since day one and they never pay any attention to him. I'm not saying this will definitley work as a permanent solution, but upon my observations it should work for a good time longer.


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## davedudeman (Jun 25, 2007)

kay-bee said:


> Definately a socolofi (female slightly displaying stress bars, in fact), I breed this species.
> 
> 'Pseudotropheus elongatus' females are typically gray-brown (and not 'identical' to socolofi's which are 'powder blue' with black fin markings).
> 
> The colors of the females of the pseudotropheus sp. elongatus variants (of which there are over two dozen), however, will vary depending on which collection point they originate from, but I don't believe any are blue like the one in depicted in the photo.


Yep. I guess that's about right only mine is kinda fat.


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## Gourami Swami (Jul 4, 2006)

Guys, leave the guy alone, he seems to be doing fine to me. There are not steadfast rules in this hobby, and if his mix of fish works for him, let him be. He seems to know the fish will outgrow his tank and has plans for that. and anyway, its not like we are talking about a 20g here. That tank would be big enough for almost all of the fish in it.


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

3' long with extra depth and height. That tank is the next best thing to a 55g. Labs may get a little tight eventually. But with a lot of rock, they should be good for a long time. He could alway take out the biggest ones. I once had a socolofi kill everything in a 55g, they do get meaner as they get big.


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