Stocking 45G Tang Tank

Ok boys and girls, what should I do?

I have a 45G Tank (48L x 12W x 18H) which I want to make into a Tang Tank. I already have 4 A. comp Yellow Kasanga I want to put in there. They're still small (around 2" for the biggest one...1" for the smallest one). I like the Julidochromis species as well as the Paracyprichromis nigripinnis. Would either of those be a good match for the comps? I don't really want shellies too much, so I'm hoping I can find something else for the tank. Any other suggestions?

firecracker leulupi, 8 or so

Paracyps for sure, I'm successfully keeping Juli's with my comp's even tho they like the same type of territory but I can't promise you'll have the same experience. In my experience the comp's will stick to certain areas in the tank leaving plenty of room for other fish, but that little area that they claim will be there's without exception especially when spawning. The paracyps will sleep on the vertical sides of the rocks and on the tank walls, they like to hang out in open water cruising around when they're awake so that combined with the comp's claiming usually a smaller area of rocks/caves should leave room for something else.

So possibly comps, nigripinnis and some leleupis? That sounds pretty good to me. Man, I remember seeing a nice bag of about 6 leleupis go for about $10 at the last auction I went to...

Plan has changed. I am looking for a 6 ft. tank now and am thinking about possibly starting a Frontosa trio in it (realizing I'll probably need a bigger tank later on). What do you guys think? What other tankmates would go good with fronts?

I´ve seen fully grown Neo. leleupi together with fronts, and that looks amazing. I´m gonna look in a Swedish forum and see if I can find some pics of that, and give you a link.

The Comps if big enough will go with the Fronts..

Don't try Cyps that is what they eat in the wild.. lol
Brichardi can go with the Fronts as well. They might not do well with the
Comps. I put some Austrailian Rainbows in my frontosa tank for dither fish.

What size are you frontasa's going to be.
I would try to do at least 5. A dominate and subdominate male if they sex them. Then 3 females.

If they are small it takes them so long to grow. I started my colony in a 55.
I got a 6 ft tank and moved them they are about 9 inches now. The dominante male.

theswede wrote:I´ve seen fully grown Neo. leleupi together with fronts, and that looks amazing. I´m gonna look in a Swedish forum and see if I can find some pics of that, and give you a link.

Did not find the pics I was after but on this link you have some pics with fronts and leleupi together.

http://www.ciklid.org/forum/showthread.php?t=60421&page=2

Lovely fish and an great looking tank!

That tank looks great and it's exactly what I want. I think the Leleupis and the comps with some fronts will work for me. Thanks for the info guys. The hunt is seriously on!!!

BTW, I'm hoping to get mine in the 2" range and grow them out. So starting with a big colony and selling them as they grow and I id which ones I want sounds like a good option to me.

Update: I pick up my fronts next weekend. I'm getting 8 F1 Kapampa Frontosa (Zaire Blue). They are about an inch in size. I will start growing them out in this 50G along with the Yellow Kasanga Comps. I will be taking plenty of pics and vids, so get ready. I'm MEGA-excited!!!

I'm excited for you!!

That sounds great Emil! Looking forward to see that.

That's awesome Emil, it's really cool to watch them develop from little fry. You'll love em

Lookin forward to the pics!!!

Super Turtleman wrote:I'm MEGA-excited!!!

It is great to see somebody so excited to get new fish. Best of luck to you Emil and I look forward to the photos.

Got the fish. I'll start a new thread appropriately titled. We can lock or delete this one if mods want to...