Lake Malawi Species • stocking 60 gallon tank

[mojobrewing]

I have been getting my tank ready for a couple of weeks now and am nearly to the point of adding fish (probably another couple of weeks. This is a 60 gallon tank with plenty of hiding spaces (still waiting on my cichlid caves. I am looking for advise. I was thinking of adding the following. All species would be ideally one male and three females.
4ea zebroides cobue
4ea hongi kimpuma
4ea caeruleus
4ea estherae
4ea demasoni
All fish would be 1.25 to 2 inches initially
help is much appreciated
Thanks

[Deeda]

What are the dimensions of your aquarium and is it a rectangular or bowfront tank?

[mojobrewing]

it is 48"Long X 12" wide X 24" Deep

[DJRansome]

Welcome to Cichlid-forum!

Stock that like a 55G. Stocking goes by dimensions, not gallons. For a 55G think in terms of 3 species with 1m:4f of each. Choose peaceful, smaller species. I would skip the hongi and the demasoni.

The yellow labs and red zebras are known to crossbreed so I would not save fry from this tank.

[mojobrewing]

Thank you I will heed your advise.
Also do you have a suggestion on a different option in stead of the Red Zebra?

[mojobrewing]

Thank you I will heed your advise.
Also do you have a suggestion on a different option in stead of the Red Zebra?

Would the Rusty Cichlid be a good choice over the Red Zebra?

[james1983]

Labs, rusties and the cobue would be a good, not really aggressive stocking plan.

[mojobrewing]

Tell me what you think
Cynotilapia zebroides cobue - Dogtooth/afra 1 male 4 females

Labidochromis caeruleus - Lemon Yellow lab 1 male 4 females

labidochromis joanjohnsonae - 1 male 4 females

does anyone see an issue with this grouping? Please advise I will be ordering something withing the next week maybe two.

Thank you

[SenorStrum]

I don't think I would put those two Labidochromis species together. They are actually really similar fish even though they are different colors, and the Joanjohnsonae are probably not as gentle as the yellow labs. I keep Joanjohnsonae, but not yellow labs, so I can't speak to that.

I am NOT the fish expert around here, and don't hold myself out as such, but that's my two cents on those fish. My male Joanjohnsonae (we call him Tex) is very libidinous and runs his girls pretty hard. He also looks pretty much exactly like a powder blue Yellow lab down to the black on the dorsal and fins. I would imagine he'd attack a yellow lab pretty quick.

Maybe folks will say I'm wrong, but you could look into Metriaclima Sp. Msobo Deep instead of yellow labs. I have my joanjohnsonae with Msobo Magungas, so I get the yellow AND lovely blue and black males. I would listen to the other members of the forum here though. My experience has been in a much larger tank, and I think it skews my perception of how aggressive the fish are or could be in a smaller space. However, in my tank, I have all three species - Cobue, Msobo, and Joanjohnsonae, and they all basically ignore each other. No aggression between them.

[SenorStrum]

Rusties would be cool too. I just reread your initial post - for SURE I would skip the hongi Kimpuma. I have the Hongi Super Red Top (Sweden) fish. They are by far the most aggressive fish in my tank. Was surprising actually. Conspecific aggression. When we added the last three to the tank, the male that was originally in there lost his mind and chased them for hours. I rarely see chases like that in the tank anymore, but when I do, one of the hongis is involved.