African tank

[TXCichlid]

what are the most meanest african cichlids? and how big do they get? i plan on putting them in a 50-55 gallon aquarium tank.

[cocoa_pleco]

Mbuna are very bitc*y. my auratus will pick fights with anything that even looks at him wrong. i tried him with my peacocks, and put him in peacock turf to even it out and he almost killed a peacock in the 2 seconds he was in the tank.

[Dave66]

what are the most meanest african cichlids? and how big do they get? i plan on putting them in a 50-55 gallon aquarium tank.

The meanest I know of is Boulengerochromis microlepsis, which is one big, nasty Cichlid. Here's a breeding report: http://www.cichlidae.com/article.php?id=89

Dave

[cocoa_pleco]

The meanest I know of is Boulengerochromis microlepsis, which is one big, nasty Cichlid.

Dave

and dave is right too, those are grumpy fish.

[TXCichlid]

could that be kept in a 50-55 gallon? And could that fish be found in most fish stores?

[Dave66]

could that be kept in a 50-55 gallon? And could that fish be found in most fish stores?

Nope, it's perhaps the largest Cichlid in the world, well over 2 feet in length. You'd need at the very least a 200 gallon tank to keep one by itself. If you read that link I posted, they are bred in large concrete pools. They are just too big to breed in tanks under 500 gallons.
Yes, you can get them in pet stores, but you'll probably have to special order them.

Dave

[cocoa_pleco]

all i could find on them is they get 80cm max. length, so thats around 30"? thats HUGE! too big for a 55g

EDIT- DAM dave, another ninja post! lol

auratus arent too big though, 3" and sometimes get along with snow white socolofis.

[TXCichlid]

What would be another highly aggressive african cichlid? and how big??

[cocoa_pleco]

sorry, all that comes to mind is auratus, 3". fishguy might have more suggestions

[TXCichlid]

Well im really just trying to find a highly aggressive fish that gets to be a good size 10-11''.

[cocoa_pleco]

hmmm, the only large cichlids suitable for a 55g are a pair of jack dempseys, a couple of blood parrots or a 55g is the bare minimum for a single oscar. if you want a highly vicious fish like a arowana you need a 150g+

[TXCichlid]

arowanas get too big lol and oscars arent really that aggressive are they?

[cocoa_pleco]

theyve got attitude and eat feeders and live bugs, but they like to interact with their owners alot. mine follows me allover.

[TXCichlid]

i might go to another section and type this question, because it sounds like african cichlids dont get too big and i dont want to post this type of question in here.

[Fishguy2727]

For Africans you can get the open water haps. Some get big enough to where many will say a 55 is too small, but others are perfect. Electric blue ahli hit about 6", venustus hit about 8", Compressiceps hit about 10".

For outside of Africa you are looking at stuff that is 6-12" max (this excludes oscars since they can hit 15-18").

Are you wanting aggressive to feed live things to? Or are you just wanting that aggressive personality?