55 gallon community

Q&A About Lake Tanganyika Cichlids

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ViTxLz
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri Jan 03, 2014 8:36 pm

55 gallon community

Post by ViTxLz »

Dear Pam,

I have been contemplating on which fish to keep a community with and if it would work. The species are as followed:

Xenotilapia Flavipinnis
Alto. Calvus Inkfin or Alto. Comp. Muzi
Cyprichromis Leptosoma Utinta

Would the Xeno's be fighting for floor space with the calvus? Would it be possible to have fry from all 3 species? And would this make a good mix. If I substituted the cyps for paracyps how would the paracyps act as I've never kept them before? But I have a question about other cyps. Are cyp. Microlepidotus and cyp. Pavo considered jumbos?

Thanks in advance,
Sean
Pam Chin
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Re: 55 gallon community

Post by Pam Chin »

Sean,

I don't think you have a good mix there at all.

A 55 gal tak is too small for any of the Cyps. It would be okay to raise a group of juveniles in but at some point they are going to need more space. Cyps can be brutal to each other, and in small quarters the aggression is increased even more. Its not like they all kick off at one time, but in a year or so you'll be down to one Cyp!

Xeno's are very delicate, if you want to dedicate a 55 to just them, you could make it work. But as a community tank, I just can't seem to come up with a good tank mate.

Calvus & Compressiceps are ambush predators, they will eat anything they can fit in their mouths.

Its hard to pick good mixes when it comes to Tanganyika communities in smaller tanks. You need to showcase one species, and then you might be able add another. Also you may want to consider a species only tank, that will breed in a colony and allow the fry to grow up into one big happy group! It isn't difficult to breed multi species in the same tank, but it is very difficult to get any viable fry. You will have to steal the fry and raise them up with most species. They an be great parents to a certain point, but when the male wants to spawn again, and the female is still brooding fry, it is not unusal for the male to eat the fry. Not to mention that other tank mates are in the wings just waiting for a fry to wander their way.

Here is some more info on Paracypchromis, they are fun!
http://www.cichlidae.com/article.php?id=424

Pick you showcase Tanganyikan and then lets go from there.

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Pam
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