Cichlid tank setup

[neatfreak]

I agree!

world experience a most!

and Common sense!

I fully Agree with you.

the newbies can learn from this as well

[oscarfan]

First, I disagree with you (degrassi) suggesting 46G is a small tank for africans. 46G bow is more than enough for a community of them. True, africans and south americans shouldn't normally be kept together, however, considering Golds have been raising cichlids and specializes in them for a number of years.. I am hard pressed to quickly dismiss their opinion. Currently the severum and the red empress pair (2") are doing fine.. if issues develop I will move one or the other. We also need to focus on the fact that these fish are most certainly not full grown at the moment ergo there is plenty of tank space.

What I find very frustrating is how often someone's simple question turns into an arguement on these boards. This particular post was handled quite well.. with everyone stating their opinions and leaving it at that. I really find it exhausting to continually see people told their tanks are too small for the fish, etc.. when they didn't solicite the information in the first place. If I was overstocking the heck out of my tank and had an insane amount of fish and it was inhumane.. then for sure tell me. Considering, however, that I actually asked for ideas on how to decorate the tank and what fish to add.. and i have 3 fish in a 46 gallon tank.. i think i'm doing ok at the moment. I am a responsible fish owner, if I see issues, I jump on it.

I have no plans on upgrading my tank, i simply wanted to create a show tank. I need advice on what fish you would normally stock. Let's put aside for a moment the fact that there is a severum in there as well and assume that i'm looking at creating an african tank setup of about 10-12 or so fish (perhaps a little less).

What species would you recommend? I'm still trying to get suggestions on the tank setup as well (overall point of this post initially).

Thank you for not starting fights on this topic.. I wasn't trying to incite rage.. just trying to find out whether to use coral or substrate or what the best options are for me. Suggestions welcome.

[Vallisneria]

First, I disagree with you (degrassi) suggesting 46G is a small tank for africans. 46G bow is more than enough for a community of them

Actually if you reread my post i said a 46g was too small for a Hap tank. There are other africans that would be fine in that size tank. I was refering to it being too small for full grow adult haps(isn't a 46g a 36" tank?). Adult haps need lots of swimming room.

But if you want to do a african community tank there are lots of options. But mbuna would be a better choice and they stay smaller and do well in crowded tanks.

As for decorations in an african tank i'd go with whatever you want. Typically african tanks have rock piles. And its not necessary to change your gravel to crushed coral.

[oscarfan]

Ahh.. my apologies for misreading.

[HOSStile]

Your question did open up some lively debate. There are days when all of us treat a question on this board as a question from a newbie when, as in your case you were simply asking for our input. I hope that you can "separate the wheat from the chaff, " so to speak and come up with a tank that makes both you and your fish happy.