African cichlids?

[Jacob Hill-Legion Aquatics]

I know this is more of a community fish forum but I was wondering if anyone had any small African cichlids that they would recommend for a 65 gallon aquarium? I just got the tank and I plan on getting some. The dimensions are (36L, 18W, 24H)

[AnotherHumanPerson]

I personally don’t have any experience in African cichlids, but I’ve always thought shell dwellers (ex. Neolamprologus multifasciatus) would be cool to keep. 

I am subscribed to prime time aquatics on youtube(link here), and they keep African cichlids. They have a few dedicated playlists of African cichlid stuff, so I’d suggest checking them out.

[Philosopher]

Shell dwellers are indeed a great option! Given the dimensions of the tank I think that might be the best way to go. That said, if it were me, I'd probably look into also adding some fish that will occupy more of the top of the water column. Maybe some cyprichromis?

You might also consider calvus and compressiceps from Lake Tanganyika. They are some of my all-time favorite African cichlids. In my experience, they aren't crazy aggressive (at least by African cichlid standards!), but they are SUPER slow growing. 

I'd also consider some of the dwarf Mauna species. The length of the aquarium isn't ideal, but you might be able to get away with it with enough rock-work. Pseudotropheus demasoni are some of my all-time favorites, but they are incredibly pugnacious. 

Just some thoughts! 

[DeadStang]

I really like my Buffalo Heads. You could have those on the bottom, some African red eyed tetras or Congo tetras for the middle/upper, and some hatchets to swim right along the top.

I keep mine in a 40 gallon breeder and they are happy enough that I've gotten 2 "litters" of baby Buffaloes...they have cool family behavior and I currently have my adults and about half of each "litter" happily living in the tank. [I don't have the tetras -- just the Buffaloes and the hatchets as I don't want my babies eaten.] I keep a 75 gallon HOB, a sponge, a power sponge, and a wave maker to give them current, along with 3 air stones. Lots of rocks and driftwood with anubias and java ferns wired on to give them lots of places to dart around and explore.

[Jacob Hill-Legion Aquatics]

On 6/16/2023 at 9:23 PM, DeadStang said:

I really like my Buffalo Heads. You could have those on the bottom, some African red eyed tetras or Congo tetras for the middle/upper, and some hatchets to swim right along the top.

I keep mine in a 40 gallon breeder and they are happy enough that I've gotten 2 "litters" of baby Buffaloes...they have cool family behavior and I currently have my adults and about half of each "litter" happily living in the tank. [I don't have the tetras -- just the Buffaloes and the hatchets as I don't want my babies eaten.] I keep a 75 gallon HOB, a sponge, a power sponge, and a wave maker to give them current, along with 3 air stones. Lots of rocks and driftwood with anubias and java ferns wired on to give them lots of places to dart around and explore.

Wow! Those look pretty cool, are they aggressive?

[beastie]

On 6/15/2023 at 3:07 AM, Philosopher said:

That said, if it were me, I'd probably look into also adding some fish that will occupy more of the top of the water column. Maybe some cyprichromis?

I have had neolamprologus multifasciatus like 8 years and for a year or two I had a smaller group of cyprichromis leptosoma and I do not recommend. They need more than 120 cm length, 150cm would work best with them, large shoal, 10 was nothing, and they are hard to feed. 

In the end I didnt pay that close attention to water params, cause there are no compatible species, and went with danios and later on in the next generation, harlequin rasboras. Those worked really nice.

Shelldwellers are awesome, fun, fierce, will take over the whole tank and bully fish that were added later on through the WHOLE water column, despite all the literature saying they guard only close to their shells. Not true. I went shelldwellers first, other fish later, and regretted it. the tank was 60cm high and they would after adding chase every other fish.

They do get disbalanced in male-female ratios and they get super super aggressive, but can be managed. No hardscape, prepare to have algae, black algae, green snail shells. dont go garden snail shells either, look for snail caviar farms, they sell their shells and they last way longer in the water and look way nicer

[DeadStang]

They are pretty mellow for African cichlids. Different fish have distinct personalities. My original male was super friendly but he ended up dying, unfortunately (I had some tank/water issues early on). The current dominant male isn't out as much. They dart when they swim, recognize me, and are very active. The "regular" Buffaloes live with a Hillstream loach and don't notice him in the least. They also don't care about the hatchets up top. I think as long as you don't try to make them coexist with other bottom dwelling/lower-half-of-the-tank African cichlids, they are fine. And I wouldn't put them in a true community tank with sweet little fish like Corys, but a 40 breeder with Buffaloes, the African tetras, +/- some hatchets up top is pretty full in all the water levels of the tank.

I also have Slender Buffaloes in another 40 breeder and they are super cool, too. Hard to say which ones I like the best -- I've had the standard Buffaloes for longer. They swim "up" more, maybe in the lower 1/3 of the tank. I perhaps made a tactical error in pairing them with blue fin fairies, which hang much lower in the tank than I expected, but so far I've had no issues and everyone seems to have a territory and get along. I am going to see how things go in that tank and will consider adding some African tetras in time.

[OnlyGenusCaps]

On 5/24/2023 at 10:55 AM, Jacob Hill-Legion Aquatics said:

I know this is more of a community fish forum

Hey, now.  @Zenzo was brought on, so I feel like we have a good cichlid anchor!  😃  There are folks who keep Africans here, myself included.  I'd say you could do dwarf mbuna in a 65.  48"L would be better, but I think it is totally doable in 36 if rocks are put in correctly and you start with juveniles.  You could also do something like Cyprichromis leptosoma, which are super cool to watch as they dart about!  They are also vastly more peaceful than mbuna are.  Ooh!  Or you could do any of the smaller and more peaceful species of Julidochromis, like J. ornatus.  They have a lot of the personality of the shellies, but they are more colorful, and they swim in neat ways you don't often see in FW, like upside down under rock overhangs, or backwards.  They are like little submersible helicopters!  Anyhow, I think there are a lot of options out there besides the default shelly types that are so popular right now.  Not that shellies are bad.  Just throwing out that there really are lots of cool choices that can be made besides those.