[isildur]

Hi everyone, I'm very excited about my new tank but I'm having a hard time trying to determine which type of cichlids to put in it.

At first I was thinking Mbuna but that won´t work very good cause of the aquarium size. Then I thought maybe Tropheus, but that won´t work either because of the aquarium size and the water ph+Hardness.

So now I don´t know in what direction to go, I would like something similar in behaviour and appearance to the species I mentioned above.

Here's a description of my Setup:

Length 100
Width 35
Height 40

Substrate is dark natural gravel 6-10mm, rounded pebbles.

Water pH is 7.95 and hardness is 8-10 dH (straight from the faucet)

I would like to keep one or two species only, at the most.

Thank's for hepling.

 

[zimmy]

In imperial measurements your tank is approximately as follows (I'm indicating this for the benefit of those who can't decipher metric measurements not the OP ):

39 x 13 x 16 (l x w x h) in inches
36 gallons

A dwarf cichlid like pseudotropheus saulosi would look very nice. They're mbuna, one of the options you've been considering. The females are orange and the males are blue with black stripes.

The tank at the link below is stocked with them and is a little smaller than yours. I imagine it has inspired many to go this route.

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/tanks/disp ... ?tank=2205

Good luck.

 

[prov356]

Consider some of the smaller tanganyikans like altolamprologus, julidichromis ornatus or transcriptus, n. caudopunctatus, paracyprichromis, or the smaller shell dwellers. The African Cichlid Gallery may be helpful.

 

[isildur]

Thank you zimmy and thank you Tim.

those are great tips, I will definitely try to get a group of Saulosis, I was not aware of the existence of smaller Mbuna.

I hope not to get the wrong species though, since there's many similarities between them and some of the other Mbuna.

what's the best way to discern between Ps.Saulosis, Ps. Demasonis and Maylandia Estherae or Pseudotropheus Esthaerae by all means? They all seem so similar and especially the Female Saulosis, don´t they look just like Red Zebra?

I was at a local store yesterday and was completely confused by the labeling on their Tanks, they seemed to have all of the above mentioned species in Stock but I couldn't really be sure about the fish, since they had the label Demasonis on some of the larger tanks with mostly larger Cichlids, and the smaller Tank with smaller species was labeled Red Zebras or something... The people there had obviously no idea either.

and one last Question... how much should I be paying for each Juvenile Demasoni in a group if I ever do find one? this one store had them marked at 17.50 CHF which seems like a lot to me, but what's your experience?

Thanks!

 

[dielikemoviestars]

Female saulosi are yellow/gold. They're closer to Labidochromis Caeruleus in coloration, but it's easy to tell the difference by body shape.

Males won't color up until they're 2-3", and it's a gradual process even then. Look for a tank of yellow fish (with the right body shape) with some showing black bars and maybe some blue.

Demasoni are generally very expensive.

 

[fmueller]

This site's membership is predominantly in North America. As a German now living in Ohio, I always like to see another European join and contribute on CF, but if 17.50 CHF is a fair price for demasoni is Zuerich is hard to gauge from here, even though I know that currently 1 CHF is worth about 1 US$. I just got the price list of a local breeder this morning, and he sells 2" (about 5cm) demasoni for $5, and I know they are excellent stock. They'd probably be at least twice that in a store, but all that is no good to you, and they might well be more expensive in Switzerland - a lot of things are :wink:

If people look for local information, I always recommend hooking up with a local fish club. I happen to know that the German Cichlid Society (DCG) is partly as large as it is (more than 3,000 members compared to about 750 in the American Cichlid Association), because it incorporates the Austrian and Swiss Cichlid Societies as regional groups. It might well be worth your while joining the DCG, or attending one of their meetings as a guest, just to find out where are the good places to buy fish in your area. It looks like the DCG Region Schweiz has their Spring Convention in Winterthur:

http://www.dcg-online.de/rg-schweiz/

If I was as close as you, I wouldn't miss it :thumb:

 

[isildur]

thanks! thats great information, I found someone not too far who´s supposedly got Saulosis, I´m pretty sure he's experienced so I will be trusting on that call.

Female saulosi are yellow/gold. They're closer to Labidochromis Caeruleus in coloration, but it's easy to tell the difference by body shape.

Males won't color up until they're 2-3", and it's a gradual process even then. Look for a tank of yellow fish (with the right body shape) with some showing black bars and maybe some blue.

Demasoni are generally very expensive.

 

[isildur]

Hi fmueller

that´s true many things are more expensive here, and thank you for all the information and yes I will look into the groups you mentioned here. It´s a bit funny cause I do live in Europe but i´m not European, I guess that´s the reason I keep posting here, I am Mexican and I´m living in Switzerland with my wife and we have a daughter but we do ultimately want to go back to Mexico, but that´s another story anyways, I think in centimeters and about the pricing I just figured that I could somehow make a comparison.

I think I found someone who is breeding Saulosi not to far from here, and he´s offering them at 5 CHF the smaller ones. which is much more reasonable, I just hope he still has some when my tank is finished cycling in a few weeks. I wrote him to ask if he could reserve a small group of 12... will keep you all informed.

 

[fmueller]

That sounds like a good deal for the saulosi. I always like to buy from fellow hobbyists. For starters you can often have a look at the parents and get a good idea what the fish you buy will look like eventually. Assuming you are comfortable reading German, the DCG is worth joining for their magazine alone. I am still a member mostly for that reason, and they send me their rag to Ohio every month. I just got the latest edition yesterday, which had a great article on the breeding behavior of Julidochromis in larger groups. Another one dealt with Aristochromis christyi from Lake Malawi, and made me think a bit about selling my Frontosa and trying those :wink:

I hope you are enjoying Switzerland! Attending that meeting might be a good way to get in touch with some locals, and the speaker (Andreas Spreinat) is very well renowned. I'd love to meet him in such a setting!

Anyhow, best of luck getting those saulosi!