Questions for experienced Cichlid keepers (Best answer gets the points)?
This is a question only for those who have actually kept African or American Cichlids. I can do my own internet research for various opinions on the the answers to my question(s). But there seems to be such a wide variety of opinions on the matter. Please only state your successful experiences… not what you’ve heard/read. I am an experienced community and goldfish tank keeper. I am just getting into a area I have no experience. So your suggestions of any kind are welcome as long as based on experience.
I am starting a cichlid tank. American/New World or African. I’m not really sure. What I value most is ease of care and number of fish I can get in the tank.
My setup is a 50 gallon hexagon tank. I am using a fluval 404 canister filter, which I use on my 55 gallon tanks and works exceptionally well. So messy breeds are okay.
Since I want to get as many as 5-6 fish in this tank, I am looking at breeds that will be about 6 inches or less (15-16 cm for any metric folks) when mature . My main question is how many can I really get in this 50 gallon tank? Is my 5-6 reasonable?
I’d also like a variety of breeds if possible/ Any suggestions?
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5-6 is reasonable yes. Keep in mind that this 50 gallon HEX where hex is the key, is actually limiting you then what a regular 50 gallon would offer. Your hex types are more about height then offering bigger footprint. Footprint is the cornerstone to keeping any type of cichlid, regardless of lake of origin. What is confusing or misleading is the part “But there seems to be such a wide variety of opinions on the matter.”
You never did state what exactly seems to be the variety about. Numbers, species, tank size?
You probably have heard it said with Africans you need to overstock or whatever. Sometimes you do have to. I have done both over stocking and under stocking. What should go hand in hand with that strategy is basing that on the number of males in your stock. THAT is a better key to follow. Overstocking is done in order to prevent any one dominant male in a group from killing off the others or taking over a tank. Too many top guns in one tank, you can’t target any one person, and you need to watch your own back jack.
However, if you know the sexes of what you are keeping, and you keep one male of that group and the balance are females, you are not going to have issues. Most cases of keeping Africans it’s best to keep them in a harem setting where it’s one male to 3-4 females. This also prevents any one female from being a target for breeding all the time from an over assertive male.
I’ve not yet kept my groups in harems per se. I’ve had more like pairs and extra males. However, my footprint is a 6′ x 2′ x 2′ 180 gallon main tank, and I keep selected stock in 100 and 75 gallon tanks. I’ve had seven different African species breed for me, and had multiple generations also breed in my tanks. I just recently started keeping endangered or extinct Madagascar cichlids, and hope that’s good enough credentials for you. I have photobucket and Youtube if you desire to see my tanks as well.
If your main question is 5-6 fish only in the tank, then yes, you are quite suited for that, even with a hex, as long as you make sure there is just one male of the species. You could probably do two species in that footprint, however, the second species you’d want would be a Hap. I don’t feel a hex would offer enough space in the substrate to make enough territory for two Mbuna types, even if one was passive aggressive like Labidochromis Careleus (Yellow Labs) The peaceful type would suffer due to a compressed area. Move that tank to a 55 regular, then sure, two differnt species shouldn’t be an issue at all.
The only draw back and why I’m not talking deeply about Haps is most would tend to go over your 6 inch limit listed.
electric blues and yellows 2 of each and may be 2 malawi eye biters