new 95 gal tank question

[Stellastrider]

I have a new 95 gal tank with the following:

1 large pleco

2 yellow labs (2 inches each or less)

4 Serpae tetras

3 tiger barbs

1 parrot fish

3 A. baenschi ( 1 is a male , 1 is prob a female, 1 is either but I'm beginning to think male)


so the questions are 1) what do I do if I have 2 male baenschi- keep 1, give 1 away and try to find another female or keep all and see what happens?
2) am I done with what I can keep in the tank? Can I add any other fish and if so which ones? ( kribs look nice but not sure I can add them)


Thank You for any advice and suggestions

[MatsP]

I guess you mean Aulanocora baeschi, rather than Apistogramma baenschi.

And parrot fish, is that Hoplarchus psittacus or a hybrid of Severum and midas cichlid?.

On question 1, I'd say "Keep them and see what happens", but that could, if you have two males (and I've got the right A in the above guess), then you could end up with a fight between them.

As to question 2: You probably have space for more fish, but you also have a broad mix of fish from different biotopes, native water types and temperament. You really should decide what type of biotope you're trying to replicate in your tank.

Yellow Labs and Aulonocara are African Rift lake Cichlids (Lake Malawi) and require fairly hard/alkaline water. Parrot cichlid (hybrid) doesn't have any natural environment, as it's a hybrid of a Central american and South American species, or Parrot cichlid (not hybrid) comes from South america and would like soft acidic water. Serpae tetras again are south american and want soft water. Tiger barbs are soft water species from South-east Asia. Pleco's natively come from South america (but many of the ones in shops are bred in either Florida or Thailand/Malaysia/Singapore in big ponds) - again it's soft acidic water in their natural habitat, but the common pleco (Liposarcus pardalis or Glyptoperichthys gibbiceps) are amongs the most adoptable you can find - they have bred in the San Antonio river and that's certainly neither soft nor acidic.

You can certainly keep these fish in water thas is quite far from the ideal conditions, but they are going to be happier in an environment that is close to their native.

[By the way, I've take a guess that by parrot fish you actually mean parrot cichlid, as the only other alternative is a Marine (salt-water) fish that I'm pretty certain that you're NOT keeping - but there are quite often varieties of fish that are called "new" names by the local shop or wholesalers, which may not be commonly used by other people - which of course confuse matters immensly].

I'm far from sure what to recommend at this time - Kribensis are a relatively peaceful species, and it's not really matching the temperament you can find in Malawi Cichlids (some of them can be outright NASTY to other fish - particularly ones that also want to keep a territory, like the Kribensis would).

If you plan on keeping tiger barbs, you probably want a bigger shoal of them - they do best in groups of 7 or more. Similarly, Serpae tetras like to be in a bigger group.

Of course, you say new tank - is it fully cycled yet [do you understand the concept of maturing a tank - if you don't know what I'm talking about, look up some of the other threads in this (For Beginners) section of the Forum - as I've written quite a bit about it].

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Mats

[Stellastrider]

Mats-

THANK YOU for your thorough and prompt reply.
Yes, the A is Aulonocara
Yes it is a parrot cichlid (hybrid)

the tetras and barbs hang out separately but school together- I would like to keep with the Lake Malawi biotope as long as I can keep my giant pleco.
What could I use as dither fish instead of the barbs and tetras then?

I think I'll pass on the kribs- I anticipate territory fights with peacocks and labs (yes? no?)

Thanks again
Rita

[MatsP]

Rita,

A Common Pleco will adapt to living in a Malawi biotope, as long as you have sufficient caves for it to hide in. The common ones are as tough as anything you'll find, have hard armour and can certainly fight back if they need to, so I don't see any problem with that. There are several other plecos that will go well in a Malawi biotope, but I wouldn't get anything EXPENSIVE, as they tend to be expensive mostly because they are harder to keep - and less good at adapting to different conditions than their natural habitat, which is quite different from the ideal Malawi setup.

You can have barbs from Lake Malawi (I don't know how easy these are to find, as I don't keep L Malawi species myself):
Barbus innocens Inconspicious barb 8 TL
Barbus macrotaenia Broadband barb 5 TL
[There are others, but they grow quite big, and althoug they wouldn't outgrow your tank, they would take up a lot of your tank-space and not really work well as "dither fish", more like "scare them in fish"...]

There are a few Synodontis species from Lake Tanganyika (and S. njassae that come from Lake Malawi). They all like the water conditions of a Malawi setup, and they are well adapted to the agressiveness of the local Cichlid population, so can keep up with that. I'd probably go for Synodontis petricola, which is one of the easier to get hold of, and they don't cuckoo spawn like S. multipunctatis - they lay their eggs together with spawning mouthbrooding cichlids, and the eggs get collected together with cichlid eggs by the cichlid, and when the eggs hatch they eat the baby cichlid(eggs). Not a good idea if you plan on breeding your Malawians.

Breaking the biotope, but keeping with the water conditions, and relatively easy to get hold of, would be a shoal of some sort of rainbowfish. They like hard/alkaline water (generally - check individual species before buying tho'). There are a few dozen different species. I've got some Bosemans rainbows in my big community tank, and they are fascinating to watch, and they spawn quite regularly (although I've only ever seen one fry, currently at around 2" TL).

Here's a link to Fishbase's list of species in Malawi: http://www.fishbase.org/TrophicEco/Fish ... ?e_code=12 [I hope this link works!]

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Mats

[Bas Pels]

Not keeping Malawi or Rainbow fishes, I'm a bit surprised by the suggstion to combine them.

A succesfull combination relys not only on similar water demands (chemistry, temperature, flow) but also behaviour.

Does anybody know the rainbow fishes can withstand the cichlids agression and/or can the cichlids cope with the fast, nervously swimming rainbows?

I have no clue

Bas

[Lisachromis]

Larger rainbows tend to do quite well in a tank of african cichlids. This of course depends on tank size, and the size of both the cichlids and the 'bows. Large rainbows can be quite hefty fish in their own right, so that needs to be accounted for as well. I used to keep M. herbertaxelrodi in a 6 foot tank with assorted Africans. I know of lots of people that use them as dither fish for the Africans. They tend to be fast enough to avoid aggression from the Africans and tend to make nervous cichlids come out in the open more often.

[Dan Woodland]

I use Giant Danios, Danio malabaricus, with great success. Their ability to live in numerous environments makes them an easy choice for a dither fish. The constant activity and schooling behavior has helped even the shyest fish feel comfortable.
I've had one group of Danios for over six years! They're showing their age but still kicking!

Good luck,

Dan

[MatsP]

A succesfull combination relys not only on similar water demands (chemistry, temperature, flow) but also behaviour.

Does anybody know the rainbow fishes can withstand the cichlids agression and/or can the cichlids cope with the fast, nervously swimming rainbows?

Bas

I don't keep Malawis either, but I do keep rainbows, and as Lisa says, they are quick enough that they can get "out of the way" if a Malawi gets too agressive. The only reason cichlids attack (and sometimes kill) each other is that they are COMPETING for the same territory or a male is trying to spawn with an unwilling female. The Rainbows are completely non-territorial, and don't arouse the males in the way that a female cichlid will - as long as there is enough space in the tank, they'll do fine. They are also "stupid" enough to swim back and forth and go all over the place, without ganging up in a corner.

Giant Danios are another option, but I prefer the colour and variability that the rainbows have, which of course is a personal choice.

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Mats