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Beginner to Africans!!


evilknieval69

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Hey guys.

I am wanting to take the plunge and setup a tank for some africans ( i know, what am i thinking?!?!?! :lol: ) but have a couple questions. I did a bit of reading through old posts but thought id better confirm....

I have a spare tank here which is aprox 750 x 300 x 450 (l x w x h) that im thinking of using. Ive read that a pair of neolamprologus brichardi (sp?) would be sweet in a two footer so was hoping to get some of them, plus i quite like the electric yellows so wouldnt mind getting a couple of them.

So my question is, would 3 brichardi and 3 e. yellows be sweet in a tank that size? Should there be more? less? comments????

No doubt ill get hooked and setup a bigger tank in the future anyway but ya gotta start somewhere :lol:

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i have done that, started a trial tank & am now completely hooked on africans. I am in the process of getting together all the equipment for my new 4 footer. I currently have 5 fryeri, 3 e yellows, 2 red zebras & 2 cobalt zebras. they are all about two inches long & they are in a two footer 24Lx20Hx12D. they have enough room for now. the only setup difference between my african & community tank is crushed marble as a substrate to raise the ph a bit. my ph is around 7.8 & they do well. I do recommend a high filtration rate, I have a cf1000 on my +-100L african tank.

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They would be sweet in that tank.. However people dont recommend mixing the tangs and malawi's together, and if your brichardi pair off they will get pretty nasty probably destroying the 3rd and generally making live hell for the rest of the fish.. Yes a pair goes fine in a 2ft together but thats one pair only with no other fish..

Of course you could get all males or all female brichardi and then you would get away with it.

You tank is pretty small but you can add more fish than what your planning and get away with it, bearing in mind most africans will outgrow that sized tank.. I guess you could do yellows and demasoni and your brichardi (providing they dont pair off..). Maybe a pair of peacocks or something like that too but your tank is a bit on the smaller side.

Thats just my 2cents worth anyway im sure others will come on and start a discussion :) Good luck im sure you will enjoy them!

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Wow evil where has the "Africans suck" guy gone! :o :lol:

Great to see you have developed a special taste ;) :lol: :D

Brichardi are excellent for people to start out with, fantastic to watch rear their young.. they live in mass families in the wild, hundreds of fish school together in one mass colony... A couple will pair off.. and go off to breed in a selected spot.. they will protect the eggs and young when hatched and once the fry are free swimming and venture from the rocks the rest of the Brichardi will help keep an eye on them while mum and dad go and have a snack. I have had a tank full of Brichardi and they have bred readily and all been as happy as larry in a family unit. The only time the pair will be snakey is when the eggs are laid and the fry just hatched... in a 2ft tank I would always say just a pair.. due to the fact of space and needing space for the fry to grow on, they can have rather a few fry in one go. Brichardi will get nasty with other species of fish tho when spawning.

With regards to your question in regards to 3 Brichardi, if you have enough space in your tank, 3 should be fine. I acquired a trio of Daffodil Pulcher adults, 2 males 1 female... they constantly produce and the third male has never been picked on, once babies are up and about, the spare male is included in watching over the fry also. He just keeps his space till the babies are out in the open.

Let us know what you start with, exciting!

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ha- read the latest TFH mag have you Evil?

ah, nope :lol: whys that?

Wow evil where has the "Africans suck" guy gone! :o :lol:

Haha i know!! hes gone on holiday..... 8)

Great to see you have developed a special taste ;) :lol: :D

Just taste testing ATM :wink:

Thanks for all the other info Mekhaela, Might just start with a trio? of brichardi then if i decide i need more/have room for more, then il see what other species will co-exist with them. Maybe just more brichs? lol

Needa wait till the fishrooms ready (next week!!!) then ill get them going!

More ideas on what will go with them would be great too!

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I'm going to follow your progress on this with interest as I want to get into some electric yellows etc. Just found out though that I'll have to wait until next year to get started - hubby wants to go away for three or so weeks at Christmas time. I'll just have to get everything ready instead!

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3 demasoni are a bad idea! I had 6 at one stage and ended up with 2 big males the biggest male scraps with every other fish and you need a few to spread the load..

I have 12 now and they're sweet hopefully they will start breeding soon! You could do a few maybe 8 demasoni and some electric yellows or something like that.. If I was going for brichardi or something like that and I was intent on mixing it with mbuna, I would get one only (or even a pulcher because they're alot nicer) and mix it with mbuna, that way it should stay relatively passive and not pair off and you can still enjoy the fish.. Pretty much any african stocking list is an experiment you get rouge fish or things and dont work so all you can do is try it and have a spare tank or divider or breeding trap or something to separate any fish that get beaten up (or beat everything up int he tank) so you can re-home them..

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Ohk, will stick with the Brichardis for now then. Have found a place to buy some so will hopefully get some next weekend.... Gotta move the fish that are currently residing in the 120L tank into another couple tanks in the fishroom then chuck my coral rock etc in.... then ill be ready for some nice Africans :D

Im gunna put a BN or two with the brichardis aswell, that will be fine aye?

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Yeah they are sweet with african's seem to do well in the high ph etc, mine breed regularly in my display tank :)

I think your supposed to have a little piece of wood in there for them some of my tanks don't and they seem to do alright and grow and that but yeah its what people say :)

Good luck with the brichardi they're cool fish :)

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Sweet. i will chuck a little bit of wood in there for the BN, just to give them something to suck on. Wont alter pH much, especially since im gunna have coral rock and coral sand in there i spose :lol:

Thanks for the help guys/girls... i will post pics once everythings up and running

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I had Malawi's in blue and yellow. Other African's eg Electric yellow in a large tank. All was good until my blue grew to a couple of inches long, then it took out most of it's tank mates. African's are fantastic fish to keep.

Some just get way too aggressive. I sold my tank to someone here on the forum on January this year. I have marines, but I miss the tropical fish tho.

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ull like the little guys .... ive seen a very similar fish to the brichardi but there fins are yellow, woulda paid through the nose for them

what price/size have u got urs lined up for?

if they ever start breeding id advise you to tank out ANY other fish in the tank .... theyll heard the others into a corner and if they come out theyll be toast (experience talking :cry: )

gd luck

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