[cracks]

First off I'll start with equipment: standard 55gallon, fx5 and tetra ex70 for filtration, 2 100 watt heaters (came home Saturday night to my tank at 100 degrees, lost my whole colony of multis except 5 & 4 fry and all my julis. Only thing that survived was my cyp colony).

First question is some peoe say that a 55 won't work with trophs, but I've seen it done. Just wondering how hard it would be. I believe my filtration is more than enough.

Second question is mixing cyps with trophs. I've seen videos of the two and all seemed fine. Again how hard do you think it would be and is it advisable at all? Thanks

 

[Darkside]

If you have experience with trophs they can be kept as a small group in a 55, but at any time things can go sour, even for the pros. If you've no experience with trophs then its advisable to stick to at least a 75 or 90 gallon and start with trophs only.
They can be mixed with cyps but personally I wouldn't do it in anything less than a 6' setup. As they both occupy the same strata I'd probably opt for something else though.
If you were considering keeping both in a 55 it probably won't work out for you and you'll have increasing difficulty maintaining order as your aquarium matures.

 

[24Tropheus]

I think what folk say is they do not recommend a 55g for Trophs. Not that it can not work (Tim in New York kind of proved that it can for 3 years with Ilangi I think on this forum I think) just it is a tall order for someones first go with Tropheus and does not always work. Some groups get on better than others.
Similar with mixing Cyps with Tropheus it can work but generaly works best in tanks bigger than the min for just Tropheus. 6 footers are about right for this. Occational bull Tropheus can kill Cyps, I had one (Sp."Red" over 6" in size) that rather seemed to enjoy grabbing Cyp males (and only cloured up males) by the tail and shaking em to death in a 7 foot tank, yet other groups of Troph can get on fine with them without problems for years.
Some things work only some of the time. No rules, just the way things seem to be.

All the best James

 

[24Tropheus]

By the way your filtration and heating is major overkill for a 55g even for Tropheus. You could easily run a 125g 6 foot tank with that no problem and prob get happier Tropheus. Are you running an aquarium or a JACUZZI kind of thing? :wink:

All the best James

 

[frank1rizzo]

I have them together with no issues, both spawning and happy, but they are in a 150 gal tank. Don't think I would try in a 55.

 

[cracks]

Gotcha 8) I guess it would be easier to 'learn' troph keeping in something bigger.

Sorry meant to clarify: Saturday night the 200 watt heater I HAD stuck on and boiled my tank. Since then I've moved to 2 100 watt heaters cause my house doesn't go above 58 in the winter lol