Rate My Fish Tank

Mon Nov 19, 2007 2:46 pm GMT   Reply      

I am not looking for a 3 page discusion about these fish but I ma thinking about getting these kind of fish. Just tell me : what size of tank you recomend, what materials and accesories you need, what kind of these fish you recomend, and just any advice/commets about African Cichlids!

Thanks ~ Michael

Tue Nov 20, 2007 12:45 am GMT   Reply      

mike,
i know i am one of the few that responds to your questions and posts, if i were you i would start with malawan or one of the other african lakes, the general thing with these fish are they are Africans and they are mostly smaller and less aggressive than the new world cichlids meaning you can have more variety of them with out having too many disputes, i would suggest a 55 gal or bigger tank, the bigger the better, you will need start right, and water conditioner to start with, no live plants, cichlids will eat them. rocks to make caves with, under gravel filter, and a fluval canister filter, a heater, one or two power heads, depending on how big of a tank you are planning on setting up, yellow labs, blue johanis, peacocks, are good starter fish for the beginning fish keeper. temp in the tank needs to be between 76 and 80 depending again on the types of fish you get. i keep my tanks around 77 degrees, you will want to keep the ph a little on the higher side, cichlids like a higher ph and their color will be best at the higher levels due to them being healthier. you will need a net, also a glass scrubber and a dual output bubbler, to aerate the watter, with several feet of air line and air stones. i have a magnetic scrubber, one side outside of the tank and the other in the tank i use this two too three times a week just to keep the glass clean and free of algae. you need to let your tank sit with the filters running and the water in it for at least two weeks before adding fish, take the water after the two weeks and have it tested at the pet store they will let you know whether or not you should add fish at that time or not. get a bottle of stress coat, and stress zyme when you add fish to the tank add the required amounts this will keep the fish you already have from stressing out and the new fish from continuing to be stressed out. there is no fool proof method however, if you get a few books and read up before you start purchasing it will make things go much smoother, you have the basic idea from here however there is a lot to know about cichlids, and the more you read the better off you are going to be.
Brandon

Thu Nov 22, 2007 6:16 pm GMT   Reply      

I don't know how I can thank you! The advice took a while to read but helped me a lot. I am not so sure about buying the fluval filter (expensive) but I will buy everything else. You really have to let it run for a 2 weeks? Do you have to to or do they recomend it?

Thanks for the advice, ~Michael

Fri Nov 23, 2007 1:22 am GMT   Reply      

Micheal,
you are very welcome for the advice!! and as far as letting the tank run for two weeks, this is to give the tank time to settle and let the biological filtration process build up so that when you add fish the bio filter doesn't become unstable and go way out of whack, if it does you will end up losing fish in a rapid way. you want the tank to be as stable as possible before you add fish, lol if you think this process is long, it takes over a month before a salt water tank becomes stable enough to add live rock and is recommended that you let the tank stabilize another month after you add the live rock before you can start adding fish. if something happens with the saltwater tank by even a couple of degrees in temp or a few points in gravity it can be a very costly situation as in losing fish that cost $60.00 and up.

hope this helps
Brandon

Fri Nov 23, 2007 4:05 pm GMT   Reply      

lol now im not so woried about waiting 2 weeks ... I could never wait 2 months! Um about that canister filter, do I have to have it? I looked it up on the internet and it's kind of expensive. Your the only one that helps us on the forums! :p Thanks!

Fri Nov 23, 2007 5:33 pm GMT   Reply      

there are several reasons that i suggest the canister filters for almost every tank that's 55 gal and up, one: you can put your tank closer to the wall, two: they are easy to clean and take less maintenance than most over the side varieties of filters, three: they are very very very quiet, four: they cycle more water and have less of an opportunity to get plugged up and over flow... i've seen this happen several times with friends tanks who have the over the side types of filters. if you buy a tank with a cabinet stand you can put the filter right inside and run your lines up the back so that they aren't exposed it looks a lot cleaner and more showy if you have everything hidden and not hanging around the tank...

Brandon

Sat Nov 24, 2007 12:31 pm GMT   Reply      

O really? Do you have one because if its going to cause lots of problem I might reconsider, Just the price is kind of pricey, we will see.

Sat Nov 24, 2007 1:24 pm GMT   Reply      

haha yeppers i have canister filters for both of my tanks, fluval makes the best that i have found so far, that have a tray system that's very easy to clean and super quiet and dependable, the upfront cost is a bit however the results you will get from it are something that can't be beat.

Brandon

Tue Jan 22, 2008 3:50 pm GMT   Reply      

make sure u take a look at the temperments of the cichlids as even though you can put any african cichlids together they may act very teritorrial. if you mix johanni fish with peacocks the johanni will harass the peacocks. look at mbuna african cichlids and different types of haps and peacocks that you can mix together to have a happy tank enviorment. my best advice to u is to go look at some books at a local libraru and see which are relativiely peaceful or territorial and aggressive etc before u pick which ones you will mix in the tank. i for example had peacocks in with johannis and demasonis and they were getting their butts kicked so i hadda get rid of them to keep my peacocks. just some food for thought

-manny

Thu Jan 24, 2008 11:54 pm GMT   Reply      

poetic that was a nice summary of wat is needed however i do not suggest an undergravel filtration system unless ur gonna use undergravel jets because alotta of ciclids dig and theyll probably dig to ur undergravel filter. which would make all the water go through the exposed area and make the filter void

Fri Jan 25, 2008 12:45 am GMT   Reply      

That's a lot better than using the undergravel filter backwards as I tried to do. What a pain in the a**!!! I don't think exposed areas of the UGF will be a problem. Add a little more substraight and/or fill the holes with your hand or something. I have 2 pairs of talapia which dig holes that are about 4 inches deep and big as a frisbe and part of the filter does get exposed, but I don't think it's a big deal. Concerning canister filters: I have a couple large Rena Filstar 3 filters which I bought for $120.00 each and they're rated for 170 gallons. This is the biggest avaliable from that maker and it's a lot cheaper than the Fluval 405, fluval's biggest I believe which has a max capacity of 100 gallons and runs about $200.00. The ones I got are very quiet and have stacking trays which are better than the Magnum which has a filter column and isn't as good a design IMO. Rena Filstar was the best deal for the size and price from what I had to choose from.