[Peepintom]

I have had several tanks through the years with numorous fish. Always Cichlids. Last night I had to move my tank and was in a huge rush to move it. I had 1 fish, an Electric Blue Hap. He has been my only fish for the past 5 years. I bought a few through that time and he was so mean to them I ended up taking them back to the pet store. Well my fish died last night. I guess the stress was just too much. This means I need some new fish.

I loved the hap and would like a new one of those. What are some other types that will get along well with it. I have plenty of rocks and a 29 gallon tank. Whats the ideal number of fish? Which ones should I stay away from? ect... I just need some advice.

 

[Boomr99]

If the electric blue hap your talking about is this one:
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/s ... hp?id=1257
That is a 7" fish. As I'm sure you know, too big for that tank. By himself it's not surprising he lasted, but also not surprising that he beat the **** out of anything you tried to add.

Your gonna need to stick to smaller fish for a 29 gallon. Check out the coockie cutter section in the Library. Or you could do a single fish again, but that's not really fair to the fish.
Why not take this opportunity to upgrade to a bigger tank? With a bigger tank, you can mix other haps with an electric blue, or peacocks, or certain peaceful mbuna, like an electric yellow. My electric blue gets along quite well in my setup. (see below)
But expecting any fish as large as 7" to get along with more fish in a 29 gallon is probably pretty unrealistic.

 

[Peepintom]

Thats the fish. He always seemed happy. He was a digger. He spent most of his day making dens. He was always fun to watch and happy to see me when I came home. Is it bad on the fish to only have one? I might consider just getting a young one and then upgrading my tank in a year or so. I am not ready to spend the money on a bigger tank. I want to upgrade sometime but I would much rather have that new 46' LCD TV I have been dreaming of...lol.

Maybe its best to just stay away from that breed. I have always heard peacocks are less agressive. Should I go that route? If so how many is the right amount? Or am I just dreaming with the 29 gallon tank?

 

[Boomr99]

I love my 'lectric blue too. He doesn't dig much in my tank and no more aggresive than a peacock. Maybe he got bored in you tank and was digging to entertain himself.
I can't blame you on getting a new t.v. first. I bought a 42" Sharp Aquos LCD a while ago and love it. I think I still watch my tank more often thouh!!

Maybe if you have one of those really big old CRT t.v's you could gut it and put a big tank in it! Ha ha.
Anyway, I don't see any big problem with keeping a single fish. But maybe add some tetras or danios or something (small cafish even?) at the same time as the new one to keep him company.
Or else maybe you could do a group of ps. demasoni's or a few elecrtic yellows.

 

[Rick_Lindsey]

Maybe its best to just stay away from that breed. I have always heard peacocks are less agressive. Should I go that route? If so how many is the right amount? Or am I just dreaming with the 29 gallon tank?

If you really want a malawi cichlid in that 29 gallon, a yellow lab or two may work. I'm no expert, so hopefully someone will chime in but I don't believe the yellow labs get quite as big as electric blues. You've got a plethora of choices in south america or Tanganyika at that size tank though.

-Rick (the armchair aquarist, who leans towards "dwarf cichlids" in a 29gallon)

 

[mittzgame]

http://www.cichlidforum.com/articles/co ... er_29g.php

:thumb:

 

[Peepintom]

It was really funny. I took all my rocks out and let them dry out because I was having some algea issues. He would clear a huge spot on the bottom of the tank. Atleast 50% of the middle of the tank would be completely rock free and the rocks would run up each side of the tank.

When the rocks were in the tank I had to be carefull how I stacked them because he would dig all the rocks out from his little hidding spot to the point where some rocks would fall. I was always scared he would get crushed. Too bad they don't make fish hard hats.

Its day 2 after the tank move and my water is still a tad cloudy. I wonder if I screwed something up and thats why he died. I am still bummed.