[BANANAHANDS]

I have a 50g show tank all set up and cycled. I'm looking into re-doing my stocking list. What I'd like to do is yellow labs (currently have seven), 2 albino zebras( i know, they cross-breed, but I'm not distributing fry), and demasoni.
I already have the Yellow Labs and the Zebras. I found a guy that's going to give me an amazing deal on 20 demasoni. The tank also as 4 of the tiny catfish (1 inch right now) I think they are Synodontis multipunctatus, or whatever the dwarf catfish is called. sorry not good with the proper names yet. and a Sailfin Pleco, but I'm most likely getting rid of the pleco, its pretty big and I've never seen so much waste from one fish in my life.
SO to sum it all up the eventually stocking list would be:
7 yellow labs
2 albino zebras
20 demasani
4 catfish

I have a brand new c-360 and a penguin 350. I'm planning in the new feature to get rid of the 350 and adding a second canister, most likely an XP-3, and some powerheads for water movement and surface agitation.
Will this all work???

Thanks,

Khris

 

[cichlidaholic]

Refresh my memory...

What are the tank dimensions?

The only fish I would be concerned about would be the two zebras...Keeping them in twos may backfire, but I'm not sure you have space for more of them. Should you have two males, they may not get along too well as they mature, should it be a pair, the male will likely harrass the female to death.

Kim

 

[BANANAHANDS]

The tank demensions are 48x12x19. same dimensions as a 55g just slightly shorter. I doubt I have enough room to get more. What if I only kept one of them? I'm really only partial to this one:

I really like the way the white sets off the other colors of the tank. The other one looks the same but with a lot less orange on the fins.

SO I have to watch out for the zebras, but what about the amount of fish? Thats 33 fish, is that too much for a 50g?

 

[cichlidaholic]

Removing one would be a good option, as long as you don't plan to distribute any fry.

I would probably increase the filtration and be careful re: tank maintenance and feeding with that fish load, but it can be done.

Kim

 

[BANANAHANDS]

would it possible, if say I only keep 15 of the Demasoni, to get a couple more albino zebras? If so is there an easy way to tell their sex?
Thanks Kim :thumb:

Khris

 

[cichlidaholic]

It's not easy to sex the albino greshakei without venting them. I've seen females with just as much yellow on the dorsal as males.

Kim

 

[BANANAHANDS]

So does that mean you think its a bad idea to get less demasoni and increase my greshakei?
Thanks again,

Khris

 

[cichlidaholic]

You'd be fine with 15 demasoni, it's the zebras I'd be concerned about. If you can sex them, that would make your chances of success better. Should you wind up with more than one male, as they mature, you could have some real problems. Greshakei males can be nasty...

Kim

 

[BANANAHANDS]

Ok, I think I'll just keep the one zebra then. Thanks again Kim :thumb:

Khris

 

[BANANAHANDS]

So Kim, if I only get 15 of the Demasoni, can I maybe throw in 3-4 Acei as well??? It would really add some color variety into the tank. While I'm asking, I'm also wondering about the colors of the yellow tail Acei. I've seen a few pictures of them here in other peoples setups where they appeared to be a really nice DEEP purple color as opposed to all of the pale ones I've seen in any of the fish stores. Are there different strands of Acei??? Here are some pictures of what I'm talking about. The first picture is the type of Acei I'd like to get(thanks cichlidWhisperer) :thumb: . The second, seems to be the only ones I've ever seen in stores. any thoughts?
thanks,

Khris

 

[cichlidaholic]

I think the colour differences you are seeing are really due to the photography more than anything. I've rarely seen them as dark as they appear in the first pic. There is also a black variant that looks really nice.

The only way I would add the acei is if you remove the zebra altogether, and even then, I really think you'll do best with only two species in this size tank.

Kim