First African Aquarium

I have been studying sA cichlids as long as I have been able to read. And of course my boyfriend wants an African tank. He is currently building a stand in the next few days or so, we have an extra 40 breeder that we are going to use for this. I am completely lost in Africans. I don't know where to begin. I think he Is wanting to do Malawi but I'm thinking more on Victoria. Basically I am just wondering if I can have any advice or help! Please and thank you!

If you go the Malawi direction, check out Saulosi. Great color, they stay pretty small and have a very entertaining personality. I have some with my peacocks and haps and they all get along great.

That sounds good. This is mainly his tank so it all depends what direction he is wanting. I do know color and most likely variety. I know it's a small tank but I am hoping to get some variety for him. I'll look into what you said and see how aggressive they are and figure out if I can pull it off.

I've had both malawi and victorian in the same tank before, they get along fine.

Better start with african fishes from fellow hobbyists, so that someday if you grow tired of them and want to sell, you'll have a better chance of getting your money back on what you paid. Try staying away from the common bread and butter malawi cichlids found in most pet stores, they were hard to sell, based on my experience. People do look for ones they can't find locally.

GSAS is having an auction in mid-april. This is a good opportunity without breaking the bank.

If you are unsure what are common bread and butter africans, PM me.

I love love love love victoria cichlids. Just tossing that in there.

Yes! plans did change as the mother in law said no more aquariums so it is being put off till we get our own place. But i want victorians yet he wants malawi... lol i will win this one

Tanganyika Shellie's are a good choice if you want to keep it small. cute little buggers that are very active. You can breed them in 5 gallon tank. Not a ton of color for the most part though.

Cichlidsofvictoria.com is the place to learn about Victorians btw. We brought many new species into the states last spring !

I did forget about the shellies. Always thought they were so intruiging.
And thanks for the link! Maybe we will stop breeding our angelfish and just turn that tank into something very small... hmm...

One thing to keep in mind with Victorians is that you either need to do an all male tank, or just keep one species usually ast Victorian hybridization is a real threat to these lovely fish. If very carefully chosen you could keep 2 or three species together, but in a 40 gallon tank I probably wouldn't recommend more than 2. Main thing is to choose fish with very different colours and body shape if possible.