Cichlid tanks anyone ????

Looks good Dreamz! Keep in mind your cichlids will dig the gravel out from under those big rocks, keep an eye on them so they don't get squished
P.S. I use Omega One also. Good stuff!

Some friendly pointers, although if everything is working out, you won't need to change a thing. I worked at a pet shop in my area for about 10 years and learned a thing or two.

First off, I've never used plants in my cichlid tanks only because I usually used crushed coral so that the ph stays high. I can't tell what kind of gravel you have, or know your location, so your ph might be fine right out of the tap. The plants don't really like the high ph, they prefer it a little bit lower. But they may survive.

Second, cichlids also prefer a whole lot of caves to hide in. I've always used what they call lace rock around here, just google it if you've never heard of it. It's just a greyish rock that is full of holes and shaped kinda randomly. It makes real nice caves and stacks really easy. If you want to avoid fish being smashed when they dig the holes to breed, you can stack the rocks using a "three point system" (that's what they call it here, it just means each rock is supported in three separate spots to make it more stable) right against the bottom glass, then place the crushed coral or whatever substrate around them. that way the fish can't destabilize the rocks no matter what they do. The large number of caves gives all of the males a chance to claim a territory, and the young and the females are more likely to have a place to hide from the larger males.

Don't inject CO2 at night. It won't do anything except waste gas.

Make sure to use potassium and iron in the tank, as long as your tank is cycled, and you do proper water changes(which I think you do according to one of the previous posts) the nitrogen cycle should give the plants nitrogen. though I'm sure your familiar with plants given the website we're on.

Don't mix African and south American cichlids either. Some people do it and get away with it, but generally, it ends in an expensive meal. South American cichlids tend to get much larger than Africans, and can eventually eat them in a single gulp.

Petco and Petsmart or any of the large corporate pet stores are near useless for the most part. Locally owned stores usually are the way to go, assuming that they are experienced.

I saw the Omega one container in the last pic, stick with that. It's awesome stuff.

I don't know how much of this you already know, or how experienced you are, so if you know all this, maybe it will help another reader some.

Another random tid-bit, if you like the full planted tanks, google "Amano Planted tanks". They were the first real dedicated plant tanks I saw, and I had to have one after that.

Good luck with the tank, and again, I'm sorry if you already knew all this. I have so much more information but I don't want to ramble on for several pages. Have fun.

-EDIT- If your looking for more fish to keep you should find out which of the lakes your fish are from and get more from the same lake. Again, you might know this, but I like to be thorough.

great indepth post appreciate it .

tap ph is 8.2

i cycle 33% of the water every week on sunday

substrate its a mix of sand gravel and a thin layer of dirt on bottom

i run floraliscious aquatic plant iron potassium

i dont run co2 at night but a oxygen stone i do and viseversa when lights are on

all my fish are mbuna lake malawi fish

i run alot of driftwood for cover not seen in this pic above

Thanks to everyone all advice welcome

in 5 weeks ill be proud owner of a 250 Gal

im not a fan of south american , i like jacks, or green terrors from south american bout it

south and central americans and a few oddballs lol

my favs being chicla, festae, dovii, umbifruem, list goes on! I grab some pics...u guys in the states are spoilt for chiclids...try mojo and don conkel for rare bits and probably the bisggest in the states nice tanks all

i have a 125 longtank with a d. compressiceps, freyi ice blue, 3 yellow labs, and a hybrid yellow lab/ blue zebra (yellow lab with stripes).....they are all juvies i could easily add more just havent found the species i want yet..

this is the current rotation...i had a nice one a few years ago but a strange sickness killed almost all my fish overnight once...i had a nice venustus, blue zebra, acei, albino socolofi, a couple peacocks..

on my shopping list is one of those blue dolphin cichlids, cant remember the name. and i want to find more compressicepps i want a big male with the red fin...

heres an old pic of my 46 gal bowfront...had yellow labs and tetras



and i got this little 10 gal with some micro cichlids used to have apistograms now i got a baby compressiceps

I had a 150 for quite some time, it had roughly 25 different African Cichlids, mostly Mbuna and peacocks, even some venestus and a few other haps. Any time I would put any yellow labs in, they would be dead within a few days.

Focus on an all male tank, but you have to make sure they are all dominant and not sub-dom males. For this, you will need a second tank to house the ones that do not color up well, or just hide. The biggest thing you need to allow, is a lot of separate coves and hiding spots. The male will seek out his own little cove, make it his home. Having a hundred perfect coves will prevent a bunch of fighting.

Get used to having quick hands, catching some of those little bastards can be tricky!

By the way, a mixed male tank is easiest. If you can, jump over to cichlid-forum.com for some real quality info.

Next on my list is Tropheus Moorii. Have to save some money first though

darkstar270 said:

Next on my list is Tropheus Moorii. Have to save some money first though

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T. moori are best kept in colonies... usually best purchased in 'clutches'... Very rocky setup with maybe a couple Synodontis multipunctatus cats to keep things tidy... look for some of the yellow varieties as they seem more peacefol than some of the others... kaiser yellows or chimpimbi bays... they;re quite beautiful, but not real good for mixing in a 'comunity cichlid' tank....

mgk

I try to keep species only tanks. I have a 125gal. breeder tank that I'm planning to put a dozen or so in. I'm going to keep them on a veggy diet also. Thanks for the input MGK!
P.S. I use bushy nosed pleco's to keep things clean. I like them cause they stay small.

I used to have a pair of Jack dempseys. Female went blind and lived 9 more yrs. had them 11 yrs total. If I had a bigger tank I would have a cichlid tank with live plants. I have photos on here somewhere, I'll edit them in later.

@Dreams, or anyone else with driftwood in the tank.

Be carefull not to use to much driftwood in cichlid tanks as it drops the ph. Be sure to monitor it on a weekly basis. Things like fish waste and dead fish add ammonia to the tank, which is converted to nitrite, both of which lower the ph over time also. Just a heads up.

Some types of Pleco's will also eat driftwood. It's not bad for them thoiugh.

Here are some ph ranges for the three main lakes.
Lake Malawi..................7.4 - 8.6
Lake Tanganyika...........7.8 - 9.0
Lake Victoria..................7.2 - 8.6

A 250 is a nice sized tank. What kind of filtration do you plan on running? I'm personally a fan of the Emperor 400's. Easy to clean and have a great gph rating.(400 gph) two of them would flip the water in 250 about 3 times an hour.
Canister filters are ok too, but they are kind of a hassle to clean in my opinion, though they can get higher gph ratings,
I don't recommend undergravel filters much of the time, unless you use a reverse flow power head, then it keeps a large majority of the debris floating so the the hang on filters can catch it. Just a normal undergravel sucks all the crap to the bottom and you have to clean it out just as you would without one.
I try to avoid the aquaclear filters to do a design flaw. Instead of having filters aligned parallel to the tank, they have a large rectangular sponge that sits in the bottom of the filter with a media bag on top. They work fine unless they get neglected, then the dirty sponge gets pushed upwards and blocks the flow, making the filter dump water all over the floor.That wasn't a fun learning experience.
Also probably don't need air pumps depending on the filters you run. If you have hang on the back filters that have the water pour back into the tank, or a canister filter with the spray bar above the water and pouring it in, they oxygenate it plenty.
Unless of course you like the bubbles, they don't hurt.

@Darkstar

Tropheus are strict vegetarians, I saw that you said you planned on feeding them veggies, I just wanted to make sure you know that they can't really process meat. I always fed mine spirulina. They are definitely a Species tank kind of fish considering most cichlids aren't vegetarians. I agree with MaynardG. They do best in groups, and his Synodontis recommendation is perfect.

Endonoid said:

@Dreams, or anyone else with driftwood in the tank.
@Darkstar

Tropheus are strict vegetarians, I saw that you said you planned on feeding them veggies, I just wanted to make sure you know that they can't really process meat. I always fed mine spirulina. They are definitely a Species tank kind of fish considering most cichlids aren't vegetarians. I agree with MaynardG. They do best in groups, and his Synodontis recommendation is perfect.

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Thanks Endonoid, I do know they are strict vegetarians, I should have mentioned before.. We have a pretty good cichlid club in my area and I was active in their breeding program years ago (hence the species only tanks). I still have some good connections in the club but Tropheus in my area go for about $16- $20 per 1 - 1.5in each, so I want to make sure everything is perfect before I get them as I know how touchy they can be. A few years back I had 20+ tanks of Africans going but it was a lot of work so I cut it down to 2. But now I have tropheus fever so whats one more tank. While I'm at it I have my eye on some Neolamprologus multifasciatus (love shell dwellers). I swore I wouldn't get crazy with this hobby again but, damn it's addicting!

Sorry Dreamz, not trying to hijack your thread

chalosis and labs here.
Hey dreamz of green, good idea on the tank size increase with the yellow labs and kenyi in there, we should see some interesting showdowns between the twos biggest alfas but still have enough space. Keep it mbuna, all lake malawi

Before I knew better i started with a kenyi... I wont keep kenyi ever again unless I have a pond or something as there are just too many other even more aggressive varieties I'd rather keep in my setup over time, don't need a less colorful but over aggressive variety taking up space.
I wanted kenyi for the blue and black stripes of the females but they always turn into insane males. Then I found out about demasoni.
fuck petsmart, they only sell kenyi, labs... imagine how many people go buy a 20 (or 40 gal) and plop a few of those fish in there. not gonna work.
Great points so far- stay away from petsmart/corporate, keep your tanks either all lake malawi, all tanganyika, or all south american. The cichlid compatible catifish keep things clean. minimal or zero driftwood eliminate ph drift. lots of caves. watch out for the excavation and rocks collapsing

would be awesome to dive lake malawi

demasoni are cool fish too!

I would HIGHLY recommend a reef-ready tank to anyone thinking about setting up a new system. The ability to hide everything in a sump/undertank is priceless. every piece of support equipment is hidden in my stand except a pair of Koralia 2's. Not seeing BS is so worth the extra few $.
I have a 29G sump, with a eheim 2213 canister, a fluval 303 canister, mag9, 2x 250w stealth heaters, Maxijet1200, etc.. all hidden in the stand.

darkstar270 said:

demasoni are cool fish too!

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The males can be real pricks tho.. (like lots of mbunas)

mgk

Shitty pic from tonite..

Rysam said:

Shitty pic from tonite..

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Looks like you're from Wisconsin..

mgk

Minnesota born, Cali raised, and Cheese in the blood.