Cichlid for a 50gal?

[Keelo]

I need suggestions of what i should put in my newest 50 gal tank. Im thinking an african cichlid but im newer to cichlids and need some suggestions im wanting to breed what ever i get so if you could put down the name and/or common name and tell me a little bit about them that would be great! not wanting Kribs or rams.

[dennysfishroom]

If by Africans you mean East Africans (from Africa's Rift Lakes), you generally have 2 choices. Most of the fish you see as mixed Africans will be Mbunas. These are the cichlids that live among the rocks around the shorelines of Malawi, and they are generally considered pretty aggressive. You must have a lot of hiding places in your tank. You can keep a community of these fish, but will pretty much limit yourself to this type of fish. These would include Zebras, Auratus, Rusties, etc. Typically a little more cylindrical in appearance than the open water cichlids.

The other type would be the Haplochromis/Peacock type fish. These are more of an open water fish, and do tend to get somewhat bigger than the Mbunas, but not quite as nasty. Common names would include the OB Peacocks, Eureka Red Peacocks, Rubescens Red Peacocks to name a few. These still need tanks with many hiding spots, but usually it's just the females that take the beatings.

This is a really generalized description, but may at least get you started. There are other fish that you may run across, and people who may disagree with my characterizations, but it's a start. Denny

[kribkid17]

You could try rainbow or firemouths, they are easy to breed. You could do brichardis, I have a pair and they are pretty cool. I think exotic tropicals has some.
The rainbow and firemouths are central/south American cichlids. The brichardis are lake tanginika I think.

[Keelo]

Cool! i think im liking trophs, mbuna and peacocks out of my researching so far very interesting and SOOOO many options its going to be so hard to choose.

[dennysfishroom]

Any of those would be good, but my advice would be not to mix those groups. There is enough variety in each group so that you could get several different varieties or species to have variety in your tank. Hope that helps. Denny

[Keelo]

Yeah I agree i definitely dont want to breed hybrids.I have a list of small cichlids to look for at the auction thats coming up, im sure ill be able to find a species that reaqlly catchs my eye Cant wait!

[etheonut]

Hybrids are an unfortunate fact of life in the world of mbuna and peacocks. Even some of the most reputable dealers don't advertise the origins of their fish from these groups. You can't blame them though, with the diverse morphology of both of these groups classification of the pure strains is very difficult. The hybrids, unintentional and otherwise, in the hobby have simply made the job of keeping things straight even more difficult.

I would definitely do your research on the Tropheus before buying any for a 50 gallon aquarium. My own personal experience says that 50 gallons is a minimum tank size to keep adult Tropheus sp.. It would work for growing out a colony though, but be ready to upgrade.

Kevin

[dennysfishroom]

My comments were not to address hybridization at all, but rather were aimed at the questions of compatibility and aggression. There are probably whole websites out there just for the discussion of (mostly) the evils of hybridization. From my perspective, there's room in the hobby for both positions. Some people feel that aquarium fish should be "pure", and that even selective breeding is wrong. Others like the fact that many of the hybrids are more attractive than the "pure" strains. But we're also not just talking about African cichlids. The hobby has it's origins with the guppy breeders, Betta breeders, angelfish breeders, and discus breeders among others, who were selective breeding and hybridizing from the time people started keeping fish. If it is a concern for you, especially in the case of the East Africans, you should probably try to get FO or F1 fish (wild-caught or first generation), although even that won't guarantee "pure" strains. Then you should probably also only keep a single species in your tank. Most are very closely related, and the chance of hybridization is there. Denny

[Keelo]

Im going to for sure do one species tank. Im doing my research on each of the species i find interesting, i dont want unhappy fish. i will think getting wc or f1's will be a great idea! I'll jsut have to shop around for a while Thanks everyone some real great suggestions where made.

[mewickham]

A West African cichlid that's a favorite of mine is the jewel cichlid. The ones you see in stores are juveniles, and show little color, but adults are bright red and awesome. They are peaceful enough to mix in most communites-- as long as the tank isn't so small that their breeding territory doesn't take up the whole thing. A pair would work in a 50 gallon.

Here's a picture of one, though the picture doesn't do justice to the true redness of the fish: https://nwaas.com/forum/gallery2.php?g2_itemId=114

[etheonut]

Corey has a group of jewel cichlids for sale. I put my name on them, but I would gladly let you have them if you wanted them.

I believe they are Hemichromis sp. Moanda. Do a little google image searching for those.

Kevin

[Keelo]

I just wanted to announce on what i have decided to get. They will be shipped this coming week. Im getting 6 (2 male 4 female) of blood throat (Thoracochromis brauschi) and a few red shoulder peacocks (Aulonocara stuartgranti) not yet sexed fry. im getting them from a good friend in alabama and hes selling it all for 60 dollars so i feel like i got a good deal.

Thanks to everyone for the wonderful suggestions!

[sumpnfishy]

Keep on eye on the Thorachromis and be ready to pull the less dominant male if necessary. They can be very aggressive with each other. Very cool fish though and well worth it! They MAY also be trouble for the peacocks but as the Thorachromis are a bit more bottom oriented you may not have problems.

[Keelo]

thats what i was reading that they should get along but ill keep an eye on them. The peacocks will be tiny fry so im going to let them grow out for a bit with my community tank or with my krib fry which ever they seem to work better with. I wish they where adults so that i could introduce the peacocks to the tank then the blood throats but ill have to make due and just watch them when its time to put the peacocks in. I have lots of hiding places for them and ill probably end up selling one of the males. The guy im getting them from keeps them in a 55 with and said he hasn't had problems and that they have bred several times but he hasn't pulled the fry so they get ate (i have a 10 gallon for 1 mom and for the fry to start in) so lets hope they stay calm and cool the way they are and breed for me so i can share with the club

[rpddink]

Maybe you could get beeeder award points?