safe number of malawi cichlids in 60 gal?

[jetchanic]

Like the title says what is the number of malawi cichlids that i could safely put into a 60 gallon tank without haveing to worry about them growing to large for the aquarium and causing overcrowding?  i know that is a huge run on sentence but oh well.  thanks for the help. shawn.

[tgwinn]

Re: safe number of malawi cichlids in 60 gal?

quite honestly, it would really depend on the type of malawi fish you want to keep..ie...mbuna..haps..etc.  If I were you, I would make a list of the exact fish you want to keep and then it will be much easier to decide how many.  :)

[Zulaab]

Re: safe number of malawi cichlids in 60 gal?

I agree with tgwinn...  you need to list what fish you want.  Example.. you can hold over 25 yellow labs in a species only tank, because they are not very aggressive..  I would not even think about holding that number of Hongi.. they are WAY to aggressive for that number.. You will end up with dead fish.
I have a 75 right now holding 7 Peacocks and 9 yellow labs.. and I am still thinking I need a few more yellow labs to the group (females only as I have to many males in the tank right now)

[Fire_chair]

Re: safe number of malawi cichlids in 60 gal?

What are the dimensions of the tank?

[mrairportjunke]

Re: safe number of malawi cichlids in 60 gal?

zulaabs right.  I had 10 yellow labs in a 20 gallon for a few weeks awhile back to QT thema nd they all got along fine no problems.  
when i first got a tank. it was a 55g standard tank.  I had 6 yellow labs, 2 full grown dinner plate size green severums, 2 5 inch clown loaches, and like 2 orange malawa cichilds not sure species, and a couple blue ones.  that was way to much but they made it no problem.  no one had room for territory so no fighting.

[Zulaab]

Re: safe number of malawi cichlids in 60 gal?

What are the dimensions of the tank?

This is an Oceanic 75 = 48 x 18 x 20.

In my signature you can see the 75g tank and how I had it set up originally.. its changed a little since then but not much.
Going to change it a little more down the road, but for now it will be like you see it.

[eklikewhoa]

Re: safe number of malawi cichlids in 60 gal?

100!

[rrocket2002]

Re: safe number of malawi cichlids in 60 gal?

100!

100 what?  Neon Tetras maybe.

[eklikewhoa]

Re: safe number of malawi cichlids in 60 gal?

zebras.  

[jetchanic]

Re: safe number of malawi cichlids in 60 gal?

the dimensions of the tank is 38"x27"x18".  i want to focus on mbuna cichlids.  im not sure of exactly what species but i would like a good mix of different ones not just a lot of one species.  thanks for all of the replies.

[J-WS6]

Re: safe number of malawi cichlids in 60 gal?

You could do...

lemon yellows
cherry zebras
albino zebras
blue cobalts
demasoni (smaller, add last)
electric blue johanni
etc.

What type of filtration do you have on this tank?

You should try to make your way over to Ultimate Fish in Spring off 2920. Alex has quite a variety of smaller mbuna cichlids at a decent price. This would be a good place to start.

[rrocket2002]

Re: safe number of malawi cichlids in 60 gal?

I would recommend alot of rockwork.

[eklikewhoa]

Re: safe number of malawi cichlids in 60 gal?

.....and very good filtration!

[Hanson77]

Re: safe number of malawi cichlids in 60 gal?

I had about 25 zebras and various in mine at one time when I started.  What was bad though was when they started breeding!!!  I had fry running around the tank asking, "Are you my daddy???"  Second the lots of good rock work for sure.  I had various types of slate stacked almost to the top of the tank so that everyone would have somewhere to call their own.  With that many fish in a cramped area, agression was kept to a minimum.  You will always have one or two bad actors but go with the "EK's School of Fish Behavior" and give them a good thump and they will quieten back down.

[eklikewhoa]

Re: safe number of malawi cichlids in 60 gal?

There is nothing a good thump won't solve!  :wink: