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African Biotope

Richard40

Member
Joined
14 Jan 2020
Messages
321
Location
Manchester
In a couple of months I’m building a new African themed tank. It will be in an Oase Highline 200. Idea is heavily planted, river rocks and bog wood. Congo tetras, African catfish, etc but not keen on a Kribensis. Wondering what dwarf cichlid to keep. Any ideas?
 
Hemichromis bimaculatus
Nanochromis transvestitus
Nanochromis splendens

A few jewels, if you can find them.
 
Anomalochromis thomasi
Pelvicachromis rubrolabiatus
Pseudocrenilabrus multicolor

What is it about kribs you don't like?

Lots of good inspiration on Russel Tate's YouTube channel.

Pelvicachromis taeniatus are my favourite.
Polish_20210408_171254283.jpg
 
Just heard they are breeding machines! Can be aggressive?
Yeah that is true. The pair in the pic produced 75 young in one spawn and apparently that's quite a small spawn. I just have a female from that spawn.
Most if not all the cichlids above will get aggressive when breeding.
I think Anomalochromis thomasi are probably the most peaceful.
Hemichromis bimaculatus are very aggressive and spawn very readily.
 
I have them as a pair and they do well, I'd imagine having a small group of them would probably work but I don't think its essential.

If you did go for a group I'd try and get an even mix of males to females, they pair up fairly easily and having a lone unpaired male/female in the tank might lead to issues.
 
My list of fish at the moment is

African butterfly cichlid
African glass catfish
Congo tetra
Yellow tail Congo tetra
Blue diamond Congo tetra
Lamb eye Congo tetra
African red eye tetra
Alestes tetra
Upside down catfish
Whether I can have all of these in a 202 litre tank is what I’ll have to work out.
 
Realistically I could only probably have

Anomalchromis Thomasi x 2
African glass catfish x 6
Conga tetras x 6
Lamb eye Congo tetra (Phenacogrammus aurantiacus) x 6
Upside down catfish x 5
 
So get say 6 juveniles, wait till they pair off and keep one pair is probably best?
That would be one option. I got mine at an early age and the fish store had no problems in sexing them and gave me a male/female pair, either that or I got lucky.

Anomalchromis Thomasi x 2

Yes with the proposed stocking levels above I'd stick with a single pair.
 
Will do or try 6 juveniles at first unless I can get a pair together.
Thinking of one Bristlenose Plec for clean up despite not being from Africa, they can do ok in a different biotope.
 
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