Little crimson tide and calvus with mbunas?

[jesp]

I really want to get some lake victorian crimson tides as well as some calvus to put in my tank. I know they are not from the same like but want to give it a go and found out how they do. I found some beautiful ones that are a good price but too small. I am considering a grow-out tank until they get big enough, something really simple.

Any suggestions on how to set up a really basic grow out tank for 4 or 5 of the fish, how big it should be etc? Is there any way that I can help them to grow quickly?

Also, how big should these guys be to handle some big fish, I have 1.5 - 5 inch mbunas, (which are pretty peaceful), etc. I am not sure on the temperaments of the crimson tide, or the calvus so I am really in the dark on this.

Thanks.

[firestorm]

I am not very familiar with vic cichlids, but from the 2 I used to own they were too aggressive to be kept with my tanganyikans. Calvus are a very peaceful fish, and I would not recommend putting them in with any mbuna or lake victorian cichlids. They only become aggressive when spawning from my experiences with them.

For a grow out tank, I prefer to use anywhere from 20-40 gallon tanks. I find anything smaller and they grow slower. Do a 25% water change daily or every 2 days, and feed them 3-4 times a day if you can. These things will help them grow much faster than if you were treating them like adult fish.

As for size, the vics can probably go in the tank when around 2" in size, the calvus would absolutely need to be larger than that at probably around 4". Calvus are really slow growers so unless you bought them larger already, it will take juveniles a very long time to reach a size that would be safe enough for them. Like I said I would be worried to keep calvus with mbuna.