Lake Tanganyika Species • Suggestions for 185 gallon

[xWingman48]

Hey y’all,

I’m switching a 185 gallon tank from saltwater to fresh and looking for suggestions in the stocking. I love the personality and breeding behavior of tangs, but I don’t see a lot of recipe suggestions for larger tanks (if I’m not doing much larger fish like frontosa)

Some of the tangs I really like (most of which I’ve had in smaller tanks before)
* Shell dwellers (brevis, occies)
* neolamprologus buescheri
* gobies (eretmodus)
* leleupi (had a breeding pair of these in a peacock tank I had and they were awesome)
* cyprichromis (haven’t had these yet)

I also like fish from the other lakes like:
* peacocks
* protomelas steveni
* cynotilapia
* kyoga flameback
* hap ruby green

I know there are some species here that are definitely not going to work together, but I’m curious what you all think of a mix that will work well?

Will cyps provide enough color and activity in the top / mid tank that I won’t need the color of peacocks or other haps? Is there a more robust shell dweller that can mix with some of the more aggressive fish?

Are there other breeds of fish I’m not thinking of that would be great for a big tank or go with a few other species well?

Side note, I’d love to see a “125 gallon plus” section in the tank stocking recipes.

Thanks y’all!

[DJRansome]

Is it a 72" tank?

[xWingman48]

Yessir. Base is 72 x 24

[DJRansome]

Cyps are better with Tangs than haps and peacocks in general, yes.

I would not mix leleupi and shellies...which is your must have. Buescheri could have the same problem with shellies that leleupi do...maybe someone will chime in.

You could do calvus and julidochromis with your shellies and cyps.

[xWingman48]

No “must haves” on my part honestly. I know some of those don’t mix together. Just a list of things I like.

I probably need to read up on calvus

[sir_keith]

You could have an awesome Tropheus colony in a tank that size. Active, colorful, never a dull moment...

[xWingman48]

Do tropheus mix well with any of the above fish or would that be a single species tank? I admittedly don’t know a lot about tropheus and roughly equate them with mbuna.

[Fogelhund]

Do tropheus mix well with any of the above fish or would that be a single species tank? I admittedly don’t know a lot about tropheus and roughly equate them with mbuna.

Tropheus don't mix well with the other Tangs in an aquarium... except for the Gobies... they are a good mix.

N. buescheri are fine with shell dwellers.

[sir_keith]

Do tropheus mix well with any of the above fish or would that be a single species tank? I admittedly don’t know a lot about tropheus and roughly equate them with mbuna.

No, Tropheus don't mix well with much of anything other than Petrochromis (a whole other story) or Tanganyikan gobies, so yes, it would be pretty much a species tank. Tropheus do occupy the same ecological niche in Tanganyika as Mbuna do in Malawi, but they are considerably more demanding in captivity, and their husbandry is substantially different. Perhaps not a great choice here unless you're prepared for an adventure, but if you've been doing salts, you are obviously accustomed to high-maintenance aquaria. Good luck!