# 55 gallon stocking ideas!!!



## Joey96 (Nov 29, 2010)

hi,
i have a 55 gallon i want to turn into a tank
this is what i was planning on having

1 x Calvus (Altolamprologus Calvus)
1 x Fairy Cichlid (Neolamprologus Brichardi)
1 x Lemon Cichlid (Neolamprologus Leleupi)
3 x Brown Julie (Julidochromis Dickfeldi) -
6 x Black-finned Cichlid (Paracyprichromis Nigripinnis)
3 x Cuckoo Catfish (Synodontis Multipunctatus)

is that a good stock for a 55 gallon or too much ??


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## Dough (Apr 21, 2010)

did you say you wanted an aggressive tank? I think your friend did. I would do a mbuna tank. beautiful fish stay small about 5-6" max and are very aggressive. Do some searching on tank setups though, and give lots of hiding spots. this will cut down on them killing each other. with a 55g you don't have a tone of space so try and do all males so you get the best colors. here is a link to a setup on youtube. I know it is a 180g but you get an idea. good luck. 
YouTube - African Mbuna Aquarium


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## charles (Apr 21, 2010)

Joey96 said:


> hi,
> i have a 55 gallon i want to turn into a tank
> this is what i was planning on having
> 
> ...


I would stay with 1 leleupi instead of 2. And even then, if you have an opposite sex of brichardi and leleupi, they will breed. And what you have are all rock dwellers. You might have a problem of space issue.

Try dividing your tank with each type of fish taking a section of the tank; open water, rock dweller, sand dweller, so it will be easier to control aggression issue.


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## ncutler (Apr 26, 2010)

If you want aggressive, as much as I love my Tang Tanks, mbuna (Lake Malawi) will always be more aggressive.

I personally love my Tanganyikan tanks and would suggest adding a shell dweller to your list like lamprologus oscellatus, lamprologus meleagris/stappersi, or if you like lots of breeding - lamprologus multifasciatus. The nice thing with tang tanks is that successful breeding is easier because many will not invade each other's territory, so you don't have to remove the fry like you do in mbuna tanks - because of the aggression.

I also think you should contemplate how aggressive you want. If you go too aggressive, then you'll find it very hard to find a perfect balance - I know I find high aggression mbuna tanks too anxiety provoking because they can be so aggressive. Another aspect of agression is that the more aggressive you go, the harder it is to introduce new fish because the pre-existing are more likely to attack new fish.


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## Joey96 (Nov 29, 2010)

what are some good shell dwellers and stuff to make all the open water, rock dweller, sand dweller, 
what are some good examples on how to do my tank with some of the fish i have listed ??

and is that choice good if i only get 1 Leleupi but everything else is ok ?


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## ncutler (Apr 26, 2010)

Be careful of sand dwellers - they need a *lot* of open sand. When they sift sand, they cause the sand to go across a lot of area that can really annoy other fish. This is third hand knowledge to me, but was what I was told when I was looking at them.

Shell Dwellers come in two groups: colony developers (lamprologus multifasciatus or l. similis) or the non-colony developpers (lots, but most notable: l. oscellatus, l. meleagris/stappersi [have two names for same fish], l. ornatipinnis, l. brevis, l. spesiosus etc). shelldwellers dot com is the forum specializing in shellies, well worth taking a look since they have forums for every species.

Colony developers will multiply like crazy and are absolutely fine leaving them to breed. In one year, I've had 7 batches of fry from my multies and now have 70+ in my 56G. But it's great because the colony all responds together, feeding they all come out to feed as a massive group, if they get scared they all dash into their shells. The older fry will take care of the younger fry.

Non-Colony developers for the most part are extremely active, and the oscellatus, meleagrise, spesiosus all have a tough guy attitude, constantly trying to steal each other's shells, burying then unburying their shells, constantly changing the landscape.

Both dig like crazy, but I find the oscellatus/meleagris have a bulldozer like digging behaviour that's awesome to watch - open mouth, then shovel sand, with fins sending sand everywhere! My two favs are definately either multies or oscellatus/meleagris.

For your tank space: your paracyps and julies are going to both be rock dwellers, so you may need to create two areas for them. They may work out their own sections with paracyps in the rocks closer to the surface and julies on the bottom area, but it may not workout that way. You may question the birchardi all together. It might only be when their breeding, but I know that they're not recommended with shell dwellers - if you go that route. Perhaps having only 1 it might be fine - probably worth trying though. I looked into getting calvus, but a lot of people noted how much they hunt and prey on fry. The julies are also known to eat fry sometimes, but calvus' bodies are designed to take punishment, their scales are extremely tough, so even if mom's and dad's are attacking it, calvus can ignore it. Mferko can probably comment on it better though, because he has some in with his multies and so far sounds like it's ok.


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## charles (Apr 21, 2010)

sand dweller like melanogeny or xeno. doesn't need a lot of space. You are not going to get multiple males in a 55g anyway. And you need clear open space to separate each pile of rock structure to give a well define area for each of the rock dwellers. Don't forget, only the male will need most of the sand. And the females just roam around.

Now for the paracyps., only the alpha male will guard structure, the females are usually in open water along with the regular cyps.. The juli. will need a small space for themselves.

Best way to setup a 55g with multiple breeding types of tang I found is this:
The order is from left side of the tank to the right:
1. Shell bed against the side of the glass. reason is that the shellies will only have to guard against one side of the shell bed.
2. rock structure
3. 12" or so clear open sand. Possible more if space is allowed
4. a stand alone blouder or another structure if space is allowed
5. another 12" or so clear open sand.
6. structure against the glass
7. if space is allow, then another shell bed against the glass for another type of shellies (recommanded only if you have a 48" long tank or bigger).


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## ncutler (Apr 26, 2010)

Wow, Charles, you always impress me with the variety of your knowledge. Tangs too!

Paracyps are amongst the least aggressive fish I've seen, even with 3 males and 3 females they don't have any issues, just the occassional shoeing away. They may end up being the ones cast away from any rock work they are sharing though. Another important aspect is that they look best in low light. Cyprichromis Leptosoma look best in high light, but are more aggressive to one another (and they are open water fish)


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