I<3Julia asked:
I just started an African Cichlid tank… the tank has already cycled so I added 5 (about 2 inches each) cichlids. How many more could I add to the tank?
The five I already added are…
I just started an African Cichlid tank… the tank has already cycled so I added 5 (about 2 inches each) cichlids. How many more could I add to the tank?
The five I already added are…
1. electric yellow
2. kenyi
3. kenyi
4. venustus
5. venustus
I wasn’t looking to get any cichlids outside of these 5 types.
May 24th, 2009 at 8:50 am
the rule to any fish tank is 1 inch of fish per gallon of water.
May 27th, 2009 at 2:53 pm
What species have you already added?
Some get over a foot, others stay at 4 inches.
May 30th, 2009 at 11:44 pm
The answer depends on much more than the size of the tank. If you added the wrong 5 fish(es) you could have exceeded the territorial needs of the mature fish already. The answers to the stocking needs of Mbuna won’t be obtained on this sort of forum. You need to invest in one or two good books.
Also we would need to know exactly which Cichlids you are considering. There are at a minimum hundreds of species that can be called African cichlids. Many require vastly different water conditions. If you were working with a basic knowledge of African Cichlids you could then be asking answerable questions.
June 3rd, 2009 at 1:41 am
bought 2-3 more and thats it
June 5th, 2009 at 3:02 am
You’ve already got the foundations of major problems in your tank even if the fish are only a couple of inches long.
Your Kenyi’s and Electric Yellow are Mbuna, and will grow to 4 or 5 inches top. Your Venustus is a Hap and will grow to about 8 or 10 inches.
1) Mbuna and Haps DO NOT MIX
2) Venustus are ambush predators and will quite happily take fish up to 3 or 4 inches.
I’d think again about what type of Malawi Cichlids you want to keep - Mbuna or Haps. Research the fish properly. Go back to the shop you bought these fish from and tell them what a bunch of w*****’s they are for selling you these fish together in the first place. Find a decent aquatic outlet that will give you good advice.
June 5th, 2009 at 1:44 pm
You should research on how big the different species get. Yes, you can mix Mbuna’s and Haps as well as Peakocks. However, keep in mind Mbuna’s are on the aggressive side and might bother the other fish.
In terms of how many you can add to your existing setup depends on your filtration and the length of your tank. As you probably know Cichlids like an rather large foot print tank and don’t care to much how tall it is.
Since you didn’t specify any of the above I would stick with whatever you have currently.