I am thinking of starting a trophous tank

[junkers12]

I have a 45 gallon bow front tank that I want to change from a Malawi community tank to a Tangayika tank. Do I really have to put sand in it or can I just use the gravel that I already have? The gravel is black. I want to get about 6 trophous moori muzzles and a small school of Lupies. Is this a good pairing. I am getting some mixed opinions from some local aquarist. I have a 90 gallon Malawi setup in the basement. Also is having a power head really worth it?

[kaybee]

The tropheus' will probably need to be kept in a larger group size than just 6 and in that regard may require an aquarium larger than a 45gal. I've never kept lupies before so I'm not sure what their requirements are.

You can keep the existing substrate (I personally prefer sand and when used in conjuction with a powerhead I find that it's easier to keep clean).

The added circulation that a powerhead provides can help prevent waste from accumulating on (or in the case with gravel, under) the substrate, and enhance the waste removal efficiency of the filters (by keeping waste suspended in the water column for removal). Powerheads are optional though.

[~firefly~]

I wouldn't personally recommend that mix. The lupies may end up bullying in the trophs as they are highly aggressive in my experience.

More importantly, their dietary needs are rather different. Trophs suffer badly from bloat if they get too much protein so they need a high veg diet with hopefully some algae for them to graze on.

[FinalJenemba]

Im afraid that wont work. Mainly for food reasons. Trophs are specialty fish that need a special tank setup. They need a species only tank where you can have a large school, 75g+. Plus they need a high light setup so they can graze on the algae that grows on the rocks. They are strictly vegetarians and will die if fed "normal" food.

In your situation I would keep and handful of leluepi, maybe a couple Julidochromis, and then a couple Calvus/Comps. Much more compatible and just as cool.

Power-heads are nice but not necessary for tangs if you have a good filter. And while they can technically live on gravel in no way do I recommend it. Never have I seen fish that use sand more than my tangs. All of my tanks have sand but in most of them its just an aesthetic thing, not for them. They have rebuilt the thing from the ground up, mounds, ditches, caves, tunnels, the whole nine yards. All been redone to their specifications Allot of fun to watch