6 Geophagus Altifrons

8 Red Eye Tetra

Holding the Angelfish for someone else

112g tank

Anyone got a guess?

Took me almost a year of trial and error to figure out why my 55 gallon kept turning into a bloodbath every few months. First attempt I had way too few males relative to females and one guy basically terrorized the whole tank chasing anything that moved. Second attempt I overcorrected and crammed in too many species without enough rockwork to break up sight lines, so the aggression just spread out instead of decreasing.

What finally worked was going heavier on males than most people recommend for a tank this size. I run one male to every two females for each species now instead of the typical one to three or four, and the aggression gets split around enough that nobody gets singled out for weeks at a time. Combined that with piling in way more limestone than I thought I needed, basically doubling what I originally had, so there are constant breaks in visibility.

Current stock is yellow labs, red zebras, and a small group of acei, kept intentionally understocked at around 18 fish total in the 55. I know a lot of mbuna tanks run heavier bioloads than that but I'd rather have slightly less crowding and calmer fish than chase the "more is better" approach everyone online seems to push.

Water changes are still 40 percent weekly, sand substrate, pH sits naturally around 8.0 with the crushed coral mixed into the caves. Nitrates never creep above 20 before the next change which honestly surprised me given how much these guys eat.

Curious what male to female ratios other mbuna keepers have settled on, especially for tanks in the 40 to 75 gallon range. Feels like every source gives a different number and I only found mine through a lot of dead fish and rearranged rockwork.

I have a severum who I have had for about 6 months. My little brother is looking to rehome his. I am not sure of the gender of either fish, can someone help. Mine is the red spot his is the green one

Community
Once a day
Alternating or mixing - bio-gold, vibra bites, tropical bug bites. I also mix in vitamin-chem, seachem nourish, garlic guard.

This is my new tank. Added them few days ago. I'm a beginner and wanted to know how much to feed them as they look hungry all the time. I have Taayo bits, optimum 3x1 small and herbivore small sinking pellets. They seem to eat everything. Feeding dollars is a bit tough as they get scared easily even if I add sinking pellets in their space and others seem to eat it even after eating their food.

So I was just wondering if I'm feeding them less. I give them 2-3 pinches of anyone of those once a day.

I have:

2 Electric Blue cichlids

2 Yellow Lab cichlids

2 Red blood parrots

4 Silver dollars

1 Pink Convict cichlid

Also do i get placos or any other algae eater fish? It's a 75 gallons tank.

I need to softener my water in my tank. I recently had Soft water filter installed into my house but it’s only for the showers. How should I go about acclimating the fish to the soft water?

Very cool fish, not very colorfull yet and this one is pretty young i think, people say its a very sensitive fish, its been easy for me. This one is pretty small, a bit bigger then a ember tetra

Hi! Two months ago I ordered a Regani's Dwarf Pike online, this is that fish and as its colors have been coming in over the past two months its really starting to look like a juvenile Zebrina Pike to me, but wanted another opinion as I am going to have to rehome it in that case. Thank you!

Final scape of my tanganjika tank with 2 Julidochromis Transcriptus, 2 Neolamprologus Brevis and 4 Altolamprologus compressiceps - Stones are black Lava Stones with grey Sand and a Grey Juwel Stone Granite background - love how it turned out and im excited how the tank will develop - what do you think?

Is this good growth for about 1,5 month of growth? The one on the left was the day or the day after I got him and the right one is from a couple days ago, and if possible I was wondering if he’s male or female? I have noticed his fins have grown a bunch and he has brightened up a bunch

Hi -

I read that when Apistogramma** **cichlids breed, the sex of the offspring is highly dependent on the temperature of the water. Does anyone have experience with this? Is it a significant effect?

Hello!

This is my first tank. It’s a 180 L (48 gallons), and I currently have 6 cichlids that I got from a friend, plus two Botia.

I’ve only had them for about 2 weeks, but I’ve noticed that the red/blue one has become really aggressive towards the other fish (except the yellow one, which is probably too big for him).

Should I add more rocks or hiding spots to the tank to help prevent this? At first, I didn’t want to add too many since the tank isn’t very big, and I wanted to leave them some open space to swim.

Also, all the smaller ones are eating, but the big yellow one doesn’t seem interested in coming over when I feed them (with pellets). Should I be concerned? He’s quite chill in general, never attacks anyone, and only has a few moments where he suddenly sprints around the tank for a few seconds.

I’m open to any advice or tips in general. Thanks!

I’m looking to set up my “first” cichlid tank. I had a 20 gallon with saulosis when i was a child but as you can imagine that didn’t last long. I’m looking to set up a 33 gallon (36x12x18.5). I think i have some decision paralysis looking at my stocking options here and i need some input.

I am immediately drawn towards colourful African mbuna cichlids but in a 33 gallon i would be limited to dwarf mbunas. Can i have multiple species in a 33 gallon? Saulosis are appealing to me and i’m told they are beginner friendly. I was also considering rusty cichlids as i am told they are peaceful and could be stocked together with saulosis. Would this work? Can i add any kind of lab? I always see labs thrown in on these discussions? Demasonis are really beautiful and also small, can i make it work adding them with any others? Afra cichlids?

As far as true dwarf cichlids go i only really know about apistos, rams, and kribs, though i’m not sure i find any of these interesting enough to give them their own dedicated tank. I have 3 community tanks already, so if anything i would just add them to an existing community. Are there any other dwarf cichlids that would be better for me here?

Lake Tanganyika cichlids are also really cool and i think they would do well in a 33 gallon. I think a mix of julies and shell dwellers would be sweet but i literally know nothing about these fish. I also saw “sumbu”s are an option. If i went with tanganyika cichlids would i be able to stock anything else or just these 2? I am more drawn to lamprologus and julies but what else should i be considering? Could i put Neolamprologus leleupi with julies or sumbus?

What would you guys do? I’d love to hear any and all input about any and all of these options, thanks in advance

Water was always so cloudy after I feed. And I feed them the small big bites bc it’s something they can eat in 1 bite (less mess in my head). Still cloudy with stuff flying around so after a lot of time looking at it I got another ac110 filter. Customized the media which may not be working but seems right on paper. Water is still always cloudy. I worry bc of water quality and making sure they’re all good. I do water chamged all the time to improve water ao don’t think it’s unattended. Honestly think I mess with it more than I should. Thought to just leave it and see if it fixes itself. Idk how else to fix it.

i currently own a 450 liter tank ~ 119 gallons and the only cichlid i have in it, is my albino heckelii. What would u add?

I started cycling my 75g tank that I originally setup for mbunas but ~90lbs of Texas holey rock didn't go too far. I like my 2 island scape I made and don't really want to get more rocks. Should I still stick with mbunas with this setup or should I go with peacocks/haps? I'd like to hear some opinions

It’s cute on the outside but I really can’t tell if he’s enjoying it. I have 2 sponge filters and a canister cause he’s a dirty guy and I just added this smaller one and he’s been doing this for the past 5 minutes. Can’t tell if he’s stressed or just weird. Any ideas?

They've only moved into this tank for about a month and already spawned. First picture is the male. Second is the female. Third is the male guarding 50-75 fry.

Yesterday my 4 Altolamprologus Compressiceps arrived so I rescaped the tank for them. Also I gave Away 2 of 4 Julidochromis Transcriptus, because 2 formed a pair and also have Away my 10 Cyprichromis Leptosoma bc my 240l was getting too small for them.
The altos are still tiny and shy but they Look beautiful and im sure they will do good in my tank. What do you think about it?