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Looking for some colorful small fish

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C

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Discussion Starter · #1 ·
So here's my tanks so far...

1- Mbuna
1- SA Community

And I have a 38 Gallon that I'm setting up, my tap water is hard so it's perfect for another African setup. Looking for some nice colorful Tangs to go in it, would prefer a 2 species tank and non-shellies.

Was looking at the possibility of some gobys...can anyone recommend a species or two?
 
C

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Discussion Starter · #4 ·
Ok, question regarding these guys...

On their profile it lists them as aggressive which made me think of a species only tank. However looking online for retailers I notice this saying a lot "a must for a community tank!"

So which is it? Species only tank or community safe?
 
R

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#5 ·
Cook.MN said:
Ok, question regarding these guys...

On their profile it lists them as aggressive which made me think of a species only tank. However looking online for retailers I notice this saying a lot "a must for a community tank!"

So which is it? Species only tank or community safe?
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Most of the goby profiles seem to suggest an "agressive" or "highly aggressive" conspecific aggression level, with only a "mildly aggressive" aggression level towards other fish. I suspect you'll find they like to beat up on other gobies, but will leave most other fish alone. Rare is the african cichlid that's not at least mildly aggressive ;).

-Rick (the armchair aquarist)
 
Longstocking

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#10 ·
Tangs are not like Malawi fish. "More" isn't always better.

Gobies are bi-parental mouth brooders. Meaning, the male and the female holds. Once a bond has been established, typically, only a pair will be tolerated in any tank. The pairing off process can be brutal... 4 to 6 foot tanks are usually considered good tanks for the process.

Now... there are exceptions... sometimes no "real" pair forms and a group ( meaning 6+) can live and breed together. Long term ( meaning more than a couple of years ), I have only seen this work a handfull of times.
 
C

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Discussion Starter · #11 ·
I was thinking of buying a pair of gobies that have already paired off. This will take a bit more work but I feel a pair of gobies will be something you don't see in every aquarium and will bring some personality.

And this is what I love about Cichlids, they vary so much from lake to lake...love it.

Thanks for all the tips, keep them coming as I am now intent on setting up a Tang community tank!
 
N

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#14 ·
I agree that your tank is to small for gobie's, when my male feels like taking out some agression on his wife, she needs all 200 gallons and the very extensive rockwork to get away from him. I would go with paracyps, no question about it and then, decide on a suitable tankmate for them, maybe a pair of gold head comps.
 
24Tropheus

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#16 ·
Depends on how well your pair gets on. Some need loads of space others very small amount will do.

If you go Paracyps go Paracyprichromis brieni its about an inch smaller than nigripinnis less active, requires less space and less nasty to each other does better in small groups than Paracyprichromis nigripinnis . Not saying nigripinnis won't work just brieni prob do better for you.
 
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Longstocking

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#17 ·
I would say the reverse is true and the brieni are more aggressive and get larger. I have a brieni male that is 6 inches :idea: Never seen a nigripinnis larger than my brieni male.

My group of brieni are A LOT more aggressive than my blue neon group. Both of my groups have wild and F1 ( unrelated ) in them so I would say that's a pretty good judge.

My recommendation is to stick with the nigripinnis.... but everyones experience is different.

The gobies.... I'm not going to say it won't work, because I have seen a pair produce fry in a 20 gallon. But, I wouldn't recommend it. Why not get just one, if you are really set on gobies? You might be waiting years for a proven pair to pop up on aqua-bid.

On another note... gobies do well in some mbuna tanks... what size is your malawi tank and what is it stocked with? You might be better off buying 5-6 gobies and pairing them off in the malawi tank. Then once a pair is formed, move the pair to the tang tank. That is... if the tank is 4 foot or larger and doesn't have any C. afras in it.
 
C

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Discussion Starter · #18 ·
My Malawi tank is 4 foot and there are C. Afras in it...figures right?

I'll just get one goby :D

Just curious as to why you mentioned the C. Afras...they have a bad history of not playing nice?

Also (sorry for so many questions) with the Nigripinnis, how many is a solid group for my tank? 5?
 
C

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Discussion Starter · #20 ·
This now has me thinking of swapping my SA community/planted (which is a 55) tank to the 38 and doing a Tang community in my 55...just would be extremely hard because my SA is a fully planted tank...hrmmm..

If I stick with the 38 for the Tangs stock list would be then...

1- Goby
6- Nigripinnis
1-3 Something else, maybe a single Calvus (If I don't find a 3rd species will then bump up the Nigripinnis numbers to 8 )
 
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