Nicholaa

I believe I have 1 male, 1 female since I have 1 that is sorta yellowish and 1 that is definitely bluer - both with the black vertical stripes probably 1.5 inches long right now.

I am brand new to the Cichlid tank world and I thought I had done a lot of research, but I think I chose two fish that are not the easiest to start with?

Everything I am now reading says they are very aggressive and territorial.

I have a 55-gallon tank - and do not have rocks/cave environments for them yet, but do have a sand/pebble bottom. I plan on going out ASAP to get some "hiding spots" for them. We are stocking the tank very slowly while it finishes its cycling process.

Everywhere I go on the Web has "different information" on the best temperature, pH, food, breeding, so I thought I'd come here for everyone's opinions.

1) How many other fish can I put in the tank? I was thinking a total of 6 at full grown length would be the most a 55-gallon can handle.

2) Should I get 1 more female lombardoi so the male has 2? I read that is more ideal.

3) If I get 1 more female of this species, what 2 or 3 others would go best? I thought I should stick with the Pseudotropheus group - and then I'd have the crabro (yay bumblebees! they are sooo cute), zebra, socolofi to choose from if I go to my local pet/store/breeder - or if I can, I can go into another group.

I really wanted the cute little bumblebees, but they are smaller/younger at the store than the lombardoi. I have also read that due to the lombardoi's aggressiveness, I should get *bigger* fish than them.

So, suggestions, any helpful hints - would be much appreciated! I hope I am not repeating any previous posters - I am going to read through old posts now to see if I'm not the only new lombardoi owner.

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Edit Addition!
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I added two more females (I hope that is okay -- so, 3 females, 1 male) - wasn't sure, but figured as long as there were more females, it would be okay.

I also got two "cave type environments" and the four of them seem to be getting along (so far *fingers crossed*)

I will probably wait another 2 weeks until I can really figure out what other species to go with. Definitely will stay away from other Pseudos since I don't want the cross-breeding and some say that if I go with a fish that gets bigger than the Kenyi and look totally different, that might help.

PPK9110

i had one pseudotropheus lombardoi that was in my 20g tank i had to remove her because she was gettnig extreamly terriotory and wouldn't let any other cichilid get close to his "rocks" that he likes to swim around, and he would dug up my gravel rocks and stack them, and build a little tunnel under neath my rocks.

Allie

Kenyi are pretty aggressive so you may want to stick with species which have the same temperment.
In a 50g you can and should keep around 20 cichlids (up to 6"). Why? Malawi africans do better with more fish. 1m/3f of each species you like. They won't pick on one fish the aggresson is spread out on all the fish. The inches and gallons rules don't apply with africans. Just make sure you keep your tank clean and well filtered. Extra filtration is usally a good thing when it comes to dirty fish. Feed them a few small feeding 4-6 for growing fish and 3-4 times for adults throughout the day...food makes them less cranky. Go figure,lol.
This formula seem to work withour fish...also when they start getting too territorial...change up the rocks. We do it once a month to keep the dominant fish in line.

steveangela1

I def agree w/ allie the more stocked your tank is the less the agression. for me I have on my 55g tank a canister filter and a biowheel both over-rated for that tank. I also do 2 waterchanges a week one for just a water change the other for vaccuming. This goes w/ all my other cichlid tanks. I have the same 2 filters on my 36g tank.
I only have 1 filter on my holding and q-tank however I do the same maintence. I do feed small frequent meals it seems to cut the aggression down.

I do keep the far more aggresive guys, kenyi, zebras, crabros, etc.... then I have a tank w/ just peacocks and they are laid back.