Lake Victoria Basin, West African, Madagascar & Asian Species • Zebra Obliquidens species only tank

[Winston Smith]

A have a 55 gallon tank that I would like to make a species only Zebra Obliquidens tank. The reason I picked this fish is for the ease of care and both the male and female look great. My question is would a 55 gallon tank be big enough for two males and four females? Would crushed coral be OK as a substrate?

[brinkles]

Crushed coral is fine!
I've never had more than one male color up, regardless of the size of tank or number of females. I have an older male and female in my display tank now, plus another male and 10 females that are younger and about 3". I can't even spot the younger male right now, he has so little color! When I was raising the fry, one male would color in the whole tank, and when I took him out, another would take his place.

I'd keep some low aggression mbuna or high aggression haps in with them, no reason not to.

[brinkles]

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[ILCichlid]

I have a 30g Long tank with 4 colored up males, 2 females, and 2 OB peacocks atm. Working on getting it down to 1 male and minus the ob peacocks soon but your 55 is more than enough for 6 of them.

[lesk]

Hi everybody.

The so-called "zebra obliquidens" should not be called that- it is very confusing. The correct name is Astatotilapia latifasciata. The species hails from the Lake Kyoga system, and currently appears to be limited to a few of the satellite lakes to Kyoga, in an area in the eastern swamp valleys of the Lake that we call the Kyoga Refugium. It has been most easily found in Lake Nawampassa, though I don't have recent information on its abundance there right now.

In any event, four in a 55 gallon tank should be fine, but watch out because males are prone to fight.

[samaki]

Hi everybody.

The so-called "zebra obliquidens" should not be called that- it is very confusing. The correct name is Astatotilapia latifasciata. The species hails from the Lake Kyoga system, and currently appears to be limited to a few of the satellite lakes to Kyoga, in an area in the eastern swamp valleys of the Lake that we call the Kyoga Refugium. It has been most easily found in Lake Nawampassa, though I don't have recent information on its abundance there right now.

In any event, four in a 55 gallon tank should be fine, but watch out because males are prone to fight.

Hi the valid name is Haplochromis latifasciatus, the genus Astatotilapia is not so precise and many different species belonging to many differents trophic groups are in this genus.the Leiden scientists use the generic genus Haplochromis for this purpose.
xris

[alanastar]

here are 3 of 4 males i have in a 180 gallon