[shimby]

I have a 4 month old 72 gal bow front tank, small gravel, petrified rock, lots of hiding places, a few plants, good filtration (fluval 405) and flow (two mini jets 606 powerheads). Rift lake like. I orginally put in the plants and 4 yellow labs (malawi) for cycling purposes, after 8 weeks added two Travaswe "marmalade cat" 1 M and 1 FM (malawi). Yesterday, I added 3 Tropheus Moliro Red about 2 inches each and 2 Kaiser IIs about 1.5 inches each. I also added one 2 inch young pleco sailfin gibbicepts (for algae, which i am regretting a bit now). Thinking of adding 2 cypichromis. I want to keep down the aggression with the tropheus or any other problems. are 5 tropheus enough or do i need more? none are sexed yet. If i add more, how quickly? since i have been told that once a colony is established the new tropheus may be killed. any help. tips on the tropheus and entire setup?

 

[Joea]

My first tip would be to decide on either the Malawi cichlids or the Tropheus, keeping both will be a problem. Tropheus can be very aggressive and very territorial and you're likely to have no peace in this tank with this mix.

Tropheus are best in very large groups as a 'species only' tank, and due to the high risk of hybridization, only one variant should be kept. I also wouldn't keep Cyps with the Tropheus as Cyps are also best in schooling groups of 10 to 12. A single pair of Gobies could be kept in a Tropheus species tank. The plecos are fine with either set up but may eventually outgrow the bowfront.

If you decide to stick with the Malawi cichlids, then another issue is pairing them. These aren't a pairing fish, and keeping two often ends with just a lone survivor. They're best in harems of several females for a single male.