Matto Posted April 14, 2010 Report Share Posted April 14, 2010 Hi i want to have a community of cichlids. Will i be able to keep giraffes,yellows,red empress,peacocks and living stoni in one tank which they will breed happily? The tank is a 450 liter tank and has a 1000lh canister and a 1000lh mechanical filter running. thanks matt Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spoon Posted April 14, 2010 Report Share Posted April 14, 2010 i would say yes to that combination as long as the nimbochromis arent huge compared to the rest when you get them also the two types of nimbochromis are likely to interbreed but that wont be a problem unless your planning on breeding them seriously in that case it would be adviseable to only have one type of peacock in the tank also Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted April 14, 2010 Report Share Posted April 14, 2010 Nibmos are very likely to cross breed and will grow quite big a 450L tank is probably alright but they will make it look small ina few years. The empresses may also try and cross with the nimbos but that is less likely. Usual story if you want to breed pure fish then breed in a species tank. My giraffes don't successfully breed in the display tank as all the other fish nip in and eat all their eggs before the female can even take them up. I would also say the peacocks would never breed pure as they will have big haps being the boss of the tank so would struggle to fight for enough turf to get into and lay their eggs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matto Posted April 14, 2010 Author Report Share Posted April 14, 2010 so giraffes ,red empress and yellows then? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trace&steve Posted April 14, 2010 Report Share Posted April 14, 2010 hello ive got a 700 litre tank with 4 venustus 3 that are fully grown and a colony of livingstoniis they range from 7-9cm not breeding at this stage and aulonocara baenschi breeding group 1 male and 3 females a breeding pair of dogtooth afra's and about 5 dolphins they all seem to get on just fine but thats probably because they have alot of room i wouldnt put all mine in any less :bounce: :bounce: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David R Posted April 14, 2010 Report Share Posted April 14, 2010 Can't comment on the fish, but two times per hour turn over is nowhere near enough filtration for a well stocked cichlid tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firenzenz Posted April 14, 2010 Report Share Posted April 14, 2010 so giraffes ,red empress and yellows then? Yes to that combo. I would think a robust peacock like Red shoulder might have a show in that setup. I male to 4 females would be good. As for breeding- chances of fry surviving is very low in that tank anyway Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matto Posted April 14, 2010 Author Report Share Posted April 14, 2010 Can't comment on the fish, but two times per hour turn over is nowhere near enough filtration for a well stocked cichlid tank. so what do you recomend? As for breeding- chances of fry surviving is very low in that tank anyway so would they stop holding? or would spawning get interrupted? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firenzenz Posted April 14, 2010 Report Share Posted April 14, 2010 Rule of thumb is with filtration is cycling water 4X, so you need to double yours. With piscivores like giraffes in the tank fry will be eaten, if you are looking to just let them be in the tanks. A lot of rockwork would might protect some for a while. As Ryan suggested earlier the only real way to be sure against hybrids is a seperate breeding tank, and then the fry would have to be well grown before they could be introduced to main tank. FYI- fry are the final result of spawning and brooding stage. eggs-then fry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trace&steve Posted April 14, 2010 Report Share Posted April 14, 2010 mine spawn just fine together i strip my fish so theres no chance of fry getting eaten Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matto Posted April 14, 2010 Author Report Share Posted April 14, 2010 so i need another filter.what fish do you recommend then i have already purchased some red empress fry and i have yellows what about having living stoni instead of giraffes? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trace&steve Posted April 14, 2010 Report Share Posted April 14, 2010 maybe livinstonii would be a better choice than having venustus aswell as the tank size wouldnt be big enough unless u get a bigger tank :lol: i have about 8 livingstonii ive had them since they were tiny like 1-2cm and now the biggest would be about 9-10cm i love them wouldnt part with them!!! l but i love my giraffes to :roll: thats why i have such a big tank we run a fluval fx5 on our 700 litre its awesome..... ok so you have got some red empress fry and yellows are they fry also??????? you dont want to be putting fry in with any bigger fish how big are your fry??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firenzenz Posted April 14, 2010 Report Share Posted April 14, 2010 They are basically are cousin to a giraffe as are polystigma and 'fusco's'- They are all nimbochromis genus and all get big and predatory. They are cool fish though and them in a tank with eyebiters, copadichromis sp. would be cool. Since you already have the empresses and yellows you could go for more docile haps like Electras, lithobates, or Blue Dolphins all of which would also work well with peacocks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David R Posted April 14, 2010 Report Share Posted April 14, 2010 Rule of thumb is with filtration is cycling water 4X, so you need to double yours. Or more if your tank is heavily stocked, up to 10 times turnover isn't unheard of on heavily stocked tanks. Why do you want them to be breeding in a community tank? I would have thought all males would be the way to go, but I don't know much about african cichlids... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matto Posted April 14, 2010 Author Report Share Posted April 14, 2010 i have brought 8 red empress at 3cm and i have a male yellow and two females and i also have some 2 or 3cm yellow fry. i want it to be a community because i don't have the space for species tanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted April 15, 2010 Report Share Posted April 15, 2010 I would say the filtration is fine, I don't think it is a case of needing more probably a case of more would be better but it would still be fine I have run heavily stocked african tanks on smaller filters and had no issues. Yes there is a little bit of muck floating around the bottom and if I overfeed or skip a week of water changes then the water gets a little brown but I have never had any issues with tanks crashing. Some of my big tanks even have air powered box filters on them with no issues.. Yeah I agree with david if you want a nice community tank because you have no room for extra tanks then why not just mix it up with a heap of nice males and leave it at that? You wont have room to setup tanks for growing fry out in anyway. Not alot of difference in size between giraffes/fusco's/livingstonii/polystigs, I have heard that the giraffes are a little less predatory (and they seem to have a smaller mouth than the liviingstonii fuscos and polystigs). I can't back that up as I only keep giraffes and they are not predatory enough I still have mongroul fry survive in my mixed tank. I have also had no aggression troubles at all with my giraffes I would almost classify them in the same aggression class as the electra and dolphins. mine spawn just fine together i strip my fish so theres no chance of fry getting eaten Do you breed in your mixed tank? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matto Posted April 15, 2010 Author Report Share Posted April 15, 2010 i have just brought 5 living stoni at 4cm for $26 so i will grow my fish up before i mix them all Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smidey Posted April 15, 2010 Report Share Posted April 15, 2010 i have just brought 5 living stoni at 4cm for $26 so i will grow my fish up before i mix them all you won't need to at 4cm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matto Posted April 15, 2010 Author Report Share Posted April 15, 2010 ohh well i will anyway cant be too sure my male killed my female giraffe so im sad Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted April 15, 2010 Report Share Posted April 15, 2010 Gutted Harem spawning male africans are very hard on the females so you really do need multiple females for every male.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matto Posted April 15, 2010 Author Report Share Posted April 15, 2010 yea i know i was in a hurry to get some more but couldn't find any Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trace&steve Posted April 15, 2010 Report Share Posted April 15, 2010 I would say the filtration is fine, I don't think it is a case of needing more probably a case of more would be better but it would still be fine I have run heavily stocked african tanks on smaller filters and had no issues. Yes there is a little bit of muck floating around the bottom and if I overfeed or skip a week of water changes then the water gets a little brown but I have never had any issues with tanks crashing. Some of my big tanks even have air powered box filters on them with no issues.. Yeah I agree with david if you want a nice community tank because you have no room for extra tanks then why not just mix it up with a heap of nice males and leave it at that? You wont have room to setup tanks for growing fry out in anyway. Not alot of difference in size between giraffes/fusco's/livingstonii/polystigs, I have heard that the giraffes are a little less predatory (and they seem to have a smaller mouth than the liviingstonii fuscos and polystigs). I can't back that up as I only keep giraffes and they are not predatory enough I still have mongroul fry survive in my mixed tank. I have also had no aggression troubles at all with my giraffes I would almost classify them in the same aggression class as the electra and dolphins. Do you breed in your mixed tank? my giraffes try spawning but i actually think they are past the point of spawning my livingstonni are still to young to spawn the only 2 that spawn are the pair of afra's and beanschi's Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David R Posted April 17, 2010 Report Share Posted April 17, 2010 i want it to be a community because i don't have the space for species tanks. You can still have an all-male community with out the hassles of breeding... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matto Posted April 17, 2010 Author Report Share Posted April 17, 2010 i will grow them up before i try to breed them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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