i have just got a new custom tank about 300l

stocked with:

3 lithobates

3 Trewavasae

7 red zebras

7 Dolphins

4 aurora

filtered by a aqua one cf1200 and a internal whisper 40i

heated by a 300w aqua one heater

a pump with 2 outputs

a aqua one 30w marine blue tube

and a aqua one 18w sunlight tube

using about 1,1/2inch of coral sand

about 6kgs of coral

about 10kgs of limestone

and some other rocks/ornaments ect

any suggestions on other stuff i should add/remove

and is it overcrowded?

Sounds like a good setup some of the fish can cross but not too overcrowded. You may be lighter on numbers for the fish you have lower numbers on and if your ratios are out odd females may get some abuse.

Do you have any pics?

my ratios are:

red zebra - 1m 6f

dolphin - 2m 5f

aurora - 2m 2f (second male is only about 4cm tho)

lithobates - 1m 2f

trewavasae - 1m 2f

i am thinking of either growing up some females (lithobates, aurora and trewavasae)

or adding my aulonocara baenschi colony to the tank - 2m 6f

i have had hardly any aggression so far but early days

What are the dimensions of the tank? It looks like it is a really tall tank rather than a longer one which might mean the fish will outgrow it, your dolphins are still babies and will get allot bigger.

The fish look good if they're getting along there probably isn't any need to add any more, you would want more females if you were going to breed because you would be moving them into a less mixed tank to do that but in that mix there are enough fish to break up any aggression.

the front is about 90cm and at the longest point it is 120

the sides are 68 and its about 66 tall

- i set the whole thing up about a week and 1/2 ago and since then i have had a holding aurora, 2 lithobates and a dolphin - the dolphin spat after about 12hours and i have seperated the other 3

the front is about 90cm and at the longest point it is 120

the sides are 68 and its about 66 tall

- i set the whole thing up about a week and 1/2 ago and since then i have had a holding aurora, 2 lithobates and a dolphin - the dolphin spat after about 12hours and i have seperated the other 3

Awesome, well it looks good..

Good luck with the breeding, how do you know who bred with what? Half of those fish will readily cross breed..

:spop:

i watched the lithobate male courting both females around the tank before she was holding and i saw the auroras breeding

i have not had any problems with hybridization exept for one time when i started breeding cichlids - with electric yellows (about 3 of the fry came out like white with black trim to fins???)

what speices were you meaning when you say "readily crossbreed"

The problem is other males get excited and get in on the act too even a few hours later..

Your Trewavasae, red zebras and aurora are likely to cross.

Sometimes you get lucky and mixes seem to work or fish don't cross, but it really depends on what you want to produce and how confident you are going to be when you pass fry on that they are the real deal.. I breed fish to sell so I take the effort to put them in their own tank (or only mix with fish that are unlikely to cross or any crosses will be obvious ie mbuna/peacocks), I would rather have less quality fish than just cram everything in one tank and try breed as many as possible if it was going to compromise what I was actually breeding. I know plenty of people who just wont buy fish off people who breed in mixed tanks there are just so many crap fish being produced.

Anyway enough said your fish they look to be awesome quality, I really like the lithobates, I have just got a pair from a good strain back and getting another female from the same strain too to try and start breeding them. It has been harder to find descent lithobates recently.

Trewavasae look good too, I was over at HFF albany today they had a few nice females holding if you were after more girls for that nice boy.

Wow what stunning fish !drool: I love that trewavasae male

yea - i got the trewavasae a while back he was in a 60litreish tank and was quite dark with vertical bars but after a few days in my 200ltr malawi tank he was looking heaps better - even better now that hes in an even bigger tank.

ive found that my lithobates dont breed well with my more aggresive fish (kenyi ect) but breeds really well once in a tank were he is one of the more dominant fish. good luck with yours ryan

He's a nice fish, fancy putting something like that in a 60L tank.. Some people have no idea!

Yeah lithobates will be the only fish in the tank when I do breed them so wont be any issues with dominance, last time I tried with them I had issues with the male just destroying his girls Guess you run into that when you have them in their own tank because you don't have other fish for them to pick on..

yea me too - my male seems to chase the females around wenever he sees them and when they were in my smaller malawi tank they were looking pretty crapy (nipped fins ect) but i guess its harder for him to pick on them now they are in a bigger tank

he only ever stops chasing them around to breed with them :dunno:

ive also found that my lithobates have HUGE holds compared to my other cichlids like my last holds were 70+ and my females are only about 10cm were as most of my other cichlids have 30-40

id be really keen to see some pics of your litho's

Obviously that first fish is shying away from the meteor heading straight for the tank!! :rotf:

haha yea its very hard to get pics of my lithobates and aurora they go mental swimming round the tank and jumping ect. when i go right up to the tank

Yeah I found the litho males hard on the girls, I haven't had much luck with them, I had a trio and then the male killed 1 girl so I gave up on them for a while then the male died.. Now I have found a good pair from the same line to try again with.. Might just have to try them in the spare 5x2x2ft filled with rocks and see how they go

I am working on pics for other people too but he is pretty shy

i had mine seperate in a 3foot tank for about 2 months and they didnt breed - but when i moved them into my malawi comunity tank they breed within the first 12 hours :dunno: :dunno:

good luck with them - i have found that my fry sell very easy as well.

hope it all goes well - it would be good to see lithobates become a more common cichlid that people can readily purchase.

i agree, i have been trying to get some lithobates for ages but just can't find anyone breeding them, fingers crossed yours start soon ryan

Always the way I might try mine with my yellow colony and see how they go, they have a 250L 4ft all to themselves..

Yeah would be nice to see descent lithobates available I know I have quite a few people waiting for them..

let me know if anyone of you breed successfully.

I am knee some of the fry.

They are such nice looking fish :love: Cheers

ive had heaps of lithobates fry about 5 batches - ive currently got about 30 fry at about 1cm(new born) and a holding female

-if you want some i will probably be selling them in a month or two?

this is what my trewavasae male looked like when i first purchased him: