New 38gal stocking recommendations

[Mister Jerk]

I recently moved with my 38gallon tank and want to try a setup with
cichlids. Last setup was a community tank. I'm trying to decide how I
should stock the tank. I'm looking for a setup of easy to medium
difficulty but I don't want a tank where there must be subdued light or
where the fish will be hard to see.

Can someone give me a few suggestions for stocking? I had considered
trying 2 convicts and watching them breed, but I assume that I wouldn't
be able to add any other fish at that point I assume.

thx

mj.

[[email protected]]

On 2 Jun 2006 07:34:11 -0700, "Mister Jerk" >
wrote:

>Can someone give me a few suggestions for stocking? I had considered
>trying 2 convicts and watching them breed, but I assume that I wouldn't
>be able to add any other fish at that point I assume.

Forget ugly convicts. Pile lots of big pebbles all he way up the back
of the tank. Keep the water clean and alkaline. Use coral gravel to
maintain the alkalinity. Get some of the smaller Tanganika species.
Avoid the aggressive ones. They will breed in all the nooks and
crannies!

--
Steve Wolstenholme Neural Planner Software

EasyNN-plus. The easy way to build neural networks.
http://www.easynn.com

[Feather]

wrote:
> On 2 Jun 2006 07:34:11 -0700, "Mister Jerk" >
> wrote:
>
> >Can someone give me a few suggestions for stocking? I had considered
> >trying 2 convicts and watching them breed, but I assume that I wouldn't
> >be able to add any other fish at that point I assume.
>
> Forget ugly convicts. Pile lots of big pebbles all he way up the back
> of the tank. Keep the water clean and alkaline. Use coral gravel to
> maintain the alkalinity. Get some of the smaller Tanganika species.
> Avoid the aggressive ones. They will breed in all the nooks and
> crannies!
>
> --
> Steve Wolstenholme Neural Planner Software
>
> EasyNN-plus. The easy way to build neural networks.
> http://www.easynn.com

The convicts wouldn't be much fun if you want some entertaining fish,
and with a pair after a while you'll be just overloaded with them
barely able to give them to the LFS. If you want something along the
lines of a convict, you could try Sajicas they are no where near as
aggressive, a friend has a group that they actually spawn in a
community enviroment. Mine are just coming to age in regards to pairing
off, the dominant male still is no where near the blankety blank
attitude of the young convict male (which equalized the situation while
he's still growing he lives with a young male hemichromis lifalili that
just won't put up with it).

The Tang Lake fish are fun, have one tank dedicated to them with a 10
that has a group of Neolamprologus Multifaciatus. The others are Alto.
Calvus and Neo Birchardi fun combination to watch with no causualties,
no bickering basically. But with the Calvus they do grow slow compared
to other cichlids, prefer live or frozen foods these guys/ gals will
eat cichlid pellets and the occassional flake food. Like Steve said,
throw in some coral (which I have to use quite a bit of my water is
soft) some caves, shells and watch the fun. One thing I like to do is
move their shells around LOL I know not nice, but the pair of birchardi
have a favorite shell that after I'm done cleaning the tank they take
control promptly over it again.

Most of the tanks around here are community cichlid tanks other than of
course the fry tanks. But in doing this, find ones that have similiar
water needs and species that can't cross breed/hybridize (writing a
little story about it need to get it finished for the local club). Some
tanks are setup with primarily mid to top water dwellers and dwarf
types of cichlids on the bottom of the tank. If you want the wet dog
type fish with a fairly easy going personality a personal favorite of
mine are the cichlasoma coryphanoides (chocolate cichlids), they'll eat
out of your hand, don't get as big as a oscar plus and I mean a big
plus is they are no where near as messy as the oscars. Have had a pair
that lived with a pair of kribs, it actually worked really well both
pairs did their own thing actually found the kribs to hang out with the
chocolates as if they didn't realize the size difference LOL.

Feather