45 Gal African Project (Suggestions please!)

[Wild Turkey]

Ive never set up an african tank before so I need a little help here. I'll keep the topic pretty general.

What stocking would you choose, why?




Anything else you want to suggest feel free all info is greatly appreciated heres some background info on the project

The tank is 45 gals the dimensions are 36 1/4 X 12 5/8 X 23 3/4

I plan to go heavy on the hardscape and try to get some plants secure/mature the tank long before I stock it. Plant suggestions are great too

If i decide I can get enough plants in there I will probably go with a caribsea plant substrate for africans, other wise some large grade sand.

For filtration Im using HOBs combined rating is 120g and I'll be using a separate air pump since it will be on 24/7. (No plants that are going to need co2 inject) I'll also be on the look out for a used canister filter that will eventually be added to this tank, or I may build one im not sure about it yet.

For lighting I have a few options laying around so I'll use the one that seems most appropriate

For the stand, I have a hand crafted coffee table thats perfect. I weight tested it, and the original owner said it had survived being inside two different sheds while they and everything else inside was destroyed by falling trees, and it looks untouched so Im faithful it could 200 gallons. Its also pretty beautiful despite some scratches in the top.

Today Im making space for it so pictures soon hopefully. Im officially out of room in my livingroom:hmm3grin2orange:

[Lab_Rat]

I would do a riverine tank with some kribs as a centerpiece and congo tetras, and a riverine syno. The tank is really a bit short for many of the rift lake africans, plus many are notorious plant diggers/shredders. I am attempting a planted vic tank with my zebra obliquidens in the 55g (literally just planted it a half hour ago). I THINK they might be ok with the plants but I am not going to be surprised if they are dug up/shredded.

Mbuna will definitely be hard on plants, not to mention they really could use the 4' length. Their actions towards plants actually stopped me from picking up some nice yellow labs today, so I wouldn't recommend them. Not sure how tanganyikans would be. You might be able to do smaller peacock species.

[sailor]

As far as stocking goes I would go with a 3 or 4 pairs of shellies such as
'Lamprologus' brevis of which there are quite a few different types.
Another nice shellie is 'Lamprologus' ocellatus, there are 4 or 5 types of them too...( the 'Lamprologus' ocellatus gold are my faves.) The nice thing about shellies is that there are quite a few that max out at 2.5 inches. Throw in a bunch of appropriate sized shells and you are good to go. They are also pretty easy when it comes to live plants as they don't seem to dig around or move sand as much as other africans.

Here is a link for you
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/results.php?genus=108

Plants ....Anubias plenty to choose from they are usually a quite hardy easy to grow plant.
Java fern too goes well in an african tank.

There are a couple of dwarf species of comps........Altolamprologus sp. "Compressiceps Shell" and Altolamprologus sp. "Compressiceps Shell" (Mbita) they both max out at 3 inches.

[Wild Turkey]

Thanks for the suggestions guys much appreciated. Everything is all squared away for the tank so Im kicking research into full gear. The tanks final destination will actually be a clients home so the final say on stocking is out of my hands somewhat but I the recommendations are up to me and I wont setup a tank with stock that I dont think is appropriate so no worries there.

Im getting it all cleaned out but getting sleepy so I may wait til tomorrow for some pics, empty tanks arent very exciting anyway