African Cichlids Stocking for 65 gallon aquarium

Hello All,

I have 65 gallon newly cycled aquarium. I am planning to make embuna tank. This will be my first african cichlid aquarium.

I have a rocky aquascape with 35kg of holey rocks with plenty of places to hide(attached a photo to this post).

My water is of stable 8.2PH and I use tap water de-chlorinated with Prime.

I am planning to have

• 5 Yellow labs
• 5 Blue JohannI or Pseudotropheus demasoni
• 5 Sea Angels
• 2 plecos

I am planning to have another 5 to 10 cichlids(Since, overstocking reduces aggression). Please let me know if the above stocking is okay.

I am also open to new stocking suggestion which involves yellow labs and JohannI or demasoni


The local fish store has the following cichlids:

• Banana Cichlid
• Pseudotropheus demasoni
• Blue Johanni
• White marf
• Yellow Marf
• Powdered blue cichlid
• Golden Auratus Cichlid
• Yellow, Red and Blue DUBOISI
• Blue SAULOSI
• Red Zebra
• Venustus Cichlid

 

Nice tank. Not really enough room for Sea Angels aka Mono's or Venustus. My picks would be:
6 x Yellow Labs - 2 x M, 4 x F
6 x DemasonI - 2 x M, 4 x F
8 x DuboisI - 2 x M, 6 x F

DuboisI & DemasonI are very expensive in my area. If those don't fit into your budget, go with the Red Zebra & Saulosi. 2 x M, 4 x F ratio.

 

Thanks for the reply, A201

Apparently my wife bought 5 yellow labs and 5 Five-bar cichlid aka Neolamprologus tretocephalus even after me instructing her to buy only yellow labs.

Now I have:
5 x Yellow labs
5 x Neolamprologus tretocephalus

Can yellow labs and Neolamprologus tretocephalus be good tank mates? If yes, Can I still add:
5 x Demasoni
5 x Duboisi

As I live in India, The LFS guy don't have proper knowledge on sex of the fish. I am yet to find the sex of all the fish I have.

 

I've never kept any of the Neolamprologis species, but come across them often at my local fish store. The Neolamprologis & DuboisI are Lake Tanganyika Cichlids & probably can be kept together. My guess is Yellow Labs could coexist as well.
The Five Bar is a very nice looking Cichlid. I can understand why your wife surprised you with them. No telling what fish my wife would return with if shopping alone at our LFS. It would be flashy & expensive. Lol.

 

The five bars seem very aggressive towards same species. They tend to chase each other and have a stand-off with their gill spread wide once in a while. Will this aggression reduce with time after the pecking order is established?

 

The aggression problem will likely stabilize, but a lot depends on the male female ratio.
You might try adding a few small rock piles around the bottom of the primary rock formation. This will allow for more retreats & less physical damage due to aggression.