A lil help for a newb please!

[Solaba84]

I used to always run a 29g and 15g fish tank for years.  Never anything tricky.  Just your basics: danios, cory, swords, tetras, barbs, plecos, mollys, tiger oscars... and so on.  The oddest fish I ever owned was a black piranha.  I got out of it about 10 years ago but have always wanted to get into an african cichlid tank.  As an early christmas present my wife bought me a 45g with all the supplies to come.  I want to due my due diligence and learn more about the cichlids and not just jump right into it...the fish are amazing and at least deserve that respect!  I wish I could get at least a 75 but We dont have a good spot (in my wifes opinion) to put a tank that large.  I would really appreciate some help in first deciding the correct equipment/supplies and then help with deciding what species I buy that can live together.
In my 46g tank, I have already bought tahitian black moon sand.  I would like to place live plants as well as a natural rock wall with caves. I have read that I should use a canister filter, so I have my eyes on a fluval 206 (thoughts?).  I intend on buying an aqueon 700 circulation pump (thoughts?), Ehein Jager heater (listed as shatter proof glass). 
Again, I am new to cichlids.  I am in no rush to get this tank up and running with fish.  I want to learn as much as I can and focus on doing it right.  I would appreciate any help and suggestions that you guys are willing to offer.

Thank you very much,
Marc from Monroe

[African cichlid Keeper]

Is the 45 gallon a 48" tank?

[Sean]

Welcome to the forum. First off, that tank is on the smaller side, so you'll want to stick with smaller fish like peacocks and mbuna. A lot of cichlids will eat or uproot plants, so they may not be the best choice, but you could make it work. The equipment you listed sounds good (at least to me) the only things I see is you might want to bump the filter up a size. With most cichlids, you'll want to overstock to keep down on aggression, so it helps to have a filter that is rated for tanks bigger than yours.

[Solaba84]

the tank is only 36" long, not 48".  Definitely small for cichlids I know.  Hopefully I can upgrade to at least a 75 in the future.  I know that I will be limited in the type if cichlids I can go with.  Id like to start with small 1 or 1.5" and watch them grow.  I dont think my aquarium should hold a fish larger than 4 or 5" in this case.  I should over populate because it keeps down on aggression by not allowing them to become territorial right?  What kinds of fish do u recommend? also is it important to have a combo of males and females? and if I buy 1" of 1.5" fish can u determine the sex of the fish at that size?

[African cichlid Keeper]

the tank is only 36" long, not 48".  Definitely small for cichlids I know.  Hopefully I can upgrade to at least a 75 in the future.  I know that I will be limited in the type if cichlids I can go with.  Id like to start with small 1 or 1.5" and watch them grow.  I dont think my aquarium should hold a fish larger than 4 or 5" in this case.  I should over populate because it keeps down on aggression by not allowing them to become territorial right?  What kinds of fish do u recommend? also is it important to have a combo of males and females? and if I buy 1" of 1.5" fish can u determine the sex of the fish at that size?

if you want breeding then you could do 1 species of cichlid if not then do all males. In that tank size not bigger then 4". I would just wait intill you can get bigger then them do African cichlids.

[Solaba84]

im not going to focus on breeding at all yet.  Can a breeder determine which is male while still only 1 or 1.5"?  Im glad a previous poster said I could go with peacocks and mbuna.  I love those.  how about the yellow labs?

[Solaba84]

thanks for all the quick feedback! 

[djlamonica]

I would actually go with a 206 and also add a hang on the back filter instead of going with a larger canister, I just like to use two filters gives you more flexibility with media, also if one goes out you have a back up.  Something like an aquaclear 50 would be a good choice but there's a bunch out there.

I also noticed you sad you kept tiger oscars and black pirannahs in a 29g tank, my advice to you is do your research before buying any fish.  Africans aren't just Africans there are so many different species to choose from that bring different requirements.

I'd say you are all set with your equipment, list looks good.  live plants and africans dont mix so I'd cut those out.  If you like the look you can buy some very real looking silk plants, if you like the experience of growing the plants I'd look another direction with your stock list maybe South Americans and angel tank or something. 

 If you don't know what the aquarium cycle is go look it up it is probably the most important thing you will learn and will teach you about water quality and all that good junk.  There's a bunch of threads and info about that already so I'm going to skip that and talk stock.  There is also ways of by passing this month or so long process but I'd urge you very much to still do your research about it.

Ok so you have your tank all set up its cycled and your ready for fish.  Well you have a decent start you want to do africans ok well what is your purpose of the tank?  Strictly show, breeding, a little of both, biotope, not sure just want to watch fish swim around, whatever it is  will change the way you stock your tank so figure out what you want out of the tank.

There are 3 main lakes which aquarium fish come from lake Lake Malawi, lake tanganyika and lae lake victoria.  There are also Madagascar/ancient cichlids but I'm going to skip those.  Generally you want to keep tangs with tangs, vics with vics, malawi with malawi.  All the lakes have something different to offer. 

Your tanks dimensions will also factor in your stocking. So I'll wait for you to respond and we can chat some more.

Here is a great web site that separates the fish by lakes and sub species alsohas minor info and nice pictures.

http://cichlid-forum.com/profiles/

[djlamonica]

Darn a bunch of replys while I typed mine.

So not interested in breeding, and a 36" tank I think a group of electric yellows would work very well maybe 15-18 depending on how many water changes you wanted to do.  You could also do 2 smaller groups Yellows and another more mild mbuna.

[Sean]

The reason to overstock is so that the aggression is spread out among a lot of fish in stead of a couple. I'd listen to djlamonica when he says that you should do it by lake. It's possible to mix them in larger tanks, but in that size you definitely want to stick with one lake. Each lake has very different looking fish in it so it all depends on what you like best. Mbuna or peacocks are your best bet from Malawi because of the size and colors. At 1-1.5" cichlids aren't able to e sexed so most people but 6 I them at a time and weed out females and extra males. I personally like to get fish that are already colored because growing them out can take a while and make the tank look empty so you add more fish until its too overstocked. I got a good amount of my haps an peacocks from STEVENS on this site. He has a great selection of peacocks and a couple mbuna too. I definitely wouldn't jump in to breeding if this is your first cichlid tank. All male is the way to go.

[Marty]

Welcome to the site!

I'm guessing this is a 36" x 18" tank?  If so, this is a decent size tank to house a moderate amount of adults, but probably on the small side for an all male "display" tank.

I would recommend picking a type of Aulonocara (peacock) species that you like, along with some electric yellows and you should be in good shape. 

As mentioned above, live plants probably aren't a good idea with most cichlids, as a number of them dig, and some eat plants as well.

I would recommend a substantial amount of rocks in the tank stacked to form caves and to break up the tank to reduce aggression.  Holey rock is a good way to go, because the rock is limestone, which will slowly dissolve and create water conditions which are ideal for African cichlids.  It also comes with holes already in it, which serve as hiding places for your fish.

I'm a fan of having more than enough filtration, so you could go with a larger canister filter, or a medium size canister filter and hang on filter like suggested above.

If you have a chance, get in touch with Josh Cunningham (jcunningham0295).  He's in Newport, and may have some peacocks available.  Even if he doesn't, it's worth the short trip to see the setup in his basement.

[danielratti]

Do a species only tank with one of the smaller more timid peacocks that will only color up in a species only tank. Like Aulonocara Chitande Type North, Aulonocara kandeense, Aulonocara maylandi, or Aulonocara saulosi. All those seem to color better in a species only tank from my experience with them.

With the Aulonocara Chitande Type North I have julies mixed with them and they all do fine together. It was going to be temporary but if its working Im going to just leave it be.

[greg y]

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/cookie_cutter_40g.php

Above are some cookie cutter setups

If I were you I would go with South American cichlids. I would buy the filter used if you want a canister but I would just order an aquaclear 110 hang on the back filter off amazon, much cheaper , order the heater there while you're at it.

Good luck.

[Super Turtleman]

Lots of good advice...so which way are you leaning?

[four_by_ken]

I wont repeat what everyone is saying... as its a great advice so far.

The one point I will restate... I really believe in over filtering.  A nice EASY TO CLEAN canister filter and an AquaClear would be perfect.  You wouldnt have to worry about keeping clean water (still need water changes of course).

If you go with a canister filter, I would look into an inline heater.  That gets it out of the tank.  I hate that all my heaters are in the tank.  Looking to change that in the future.

For fish... Peacocks are an excellent way to go if you are looking at getting a lot of bright color, cant go wrong.  Just be PATIENT if you are buying small.  We bought all small peacocks and after a year... we finally have a tank of colorful fish.  If you demand color right now... but at least juvenile that are starting to show color already.  If you buy small, you will have to weed out the females as they become apparent.





Now... what I would do with a smaller sized tank...

Go for a Tanganyika setup.  But, you still would have to watch exactly which ones.  Like all Africans, would be a bummer to have one fish dominate 35 gallons of your 40 gallon tank.

I was going to start posting pictures of the fish, etc.  But I dont want to effect your decision.  Just start playing with Google images and  Tanganyika cichlids.  Then ask lots of questions.

Might now have as much color, but I have seen some really cool set up smaller tanks like this.