Rate My Fish Tank

Sun Oct 04, 2009 6:30 am GMT   Reply      

hi, Im done with the crap you have too deal with in a small aqurium so we decided to get a 55 african chilid tank. We do have a experience with them we had them and breeded them too. But its been awile (4 years) so I came hear to get some adive. I have a couple of questions.
Are they safe with plants?
If not how about When there young are they safe with plants?
If so are they safe with peaceful yet can be asertive fish in a communtey?
Is it really worth it to ''crowed your fish"?
Thanks Ill take any advise I get.

Sun Oct 04, 2009 1:55 pm GMT   Reply      

I hear they eat most plants, so that means no as far as I've heard.

The toughest plant I know is the anubias variety, and I wouldn't be surprised (if it was tied to wood, so they can't pull it up) if you might be OK with that.

The leaves are thick and, I don't think, taste very good, so if you want plants with cichlids I'd try anubias.

Sun Oct 04, 2009 4:51 pm GMT   Reply      

No, I was wondering about my plants in my 2o. I was planning to put fry in there.


Anyone else pleace answer my other questions

Sun Oct 04, 2009 9:20 pm GMT   Reply      

Plants won't hurt fry.

I'm not a cichlid expert, but some people say that in a cichlid only tank, it's actually good to crowd them a little, as this disrupts the more teritorial ones from getting too atatched to a certian territory.......Or I guess it makes them less likely to beat each other up or something.

With mixing cichlids and other community fish, that's something someone else will have to comment on, though I think that territorial fish in general are really mostly aggressive toward those of the same species, so except for a few types, most other community fish of similar size would be OK.

I just thought of one thing though. Cichlids are supposed to have more hard, alkaline water, and many other tropical fish require the opposite, soft, semi acidic water, so that might be something to think about.

There are a few cichlid experts here, so hopefully one of them can help you.

Mon Oct 05, 2009 6:49 am GMT   Reply      

But will the fry hury the plants. good point about the type of water good catch. If you know any pleace tell em to come here. ;)

Mon Oct 05, 2009 7:05 am GMT   Reply      

Anyone!!!!

Mon Oct 05, 2009 4:32 pm GMT   Reply      

I really would Like help with anyone that has them!!

Mon Oct 05, 2009 8:04 pm GMT   Reply      

It depends on what type of setup you want. Crowding is really only good it you have either A.) More females then males or B.) All males of different species. Don't get more than 1 male of each species and each male should have at least 3 females, unless going with rule B. Plants are basically a huge waste of time. Any plants you get, whether or not they want to eat them, they will surely uproot them everyday and you will find yourself replanting them every morning. Plus the plants will get stuck in your filter intake, so it's pointless. What they really love are rocks with holes.

Mon Oct 05, 2009 9:33 pm GMT   Reply      

"Are they safe with plants?
If not how about When there young are they safe with plants?"

Nope, not the adults. If they don't eat them they will dig them up like Jweb said. Mbuna are vegetarians, so will nibble your plants. They are fanatic diggers too and will uproot all the plants. I have live plants in one of my fry grow out tanks and they are fine with the small fish. Once they hit 2" tho, all bets are off.

"If so are they safe with peaceful yet can be assertive fish in a community?"

Again, no. African cichlids are too aggressive to keep with any kind of community fish. Even a young 1" juvenile will beat the crap out of a community fish. Their profile may say mildly aggressive, but this is compared to other African cichlids, NOT other community fish. If you go with African cichlids like Mbuna (which is the the only ones you can really do in a 55, because the peacocks and Haps get too big) get only Mbuna. There are certain catfish that can handle them, but no common community fish.

"so except for a few types, most other community fish of similar size would be OK."

Not even a community fish their size will be safe with these aggressive fish. Only other Africans can keep up with the aggression they dish out to each other. I made a mistake one time. I put a few Guppies in with my 1/2" fry and the African fry beat them to death within a day. These fry were a forth the size of the guppies.

"Is it really worth it to ''crowed your fish"?"

Yes! The less fish you have in the tank the more aggression you will have. I have 16 full grown Mbuna (4-7") in my 55 gallon tank and because of that I have no aggression issues. With fewer fish, the most dominant fish will pick on the others too much. With more fish, the dominant ones have too many to pick on and too many to keep out of their territory.

An African cichlid setup is rocks, lot and lots of rocks. Make sure each fish has at least one cave. Better is 2 or more caves per fish. They require a higher pH than regular fish at 7.8-8.6. Do NOT mix African Cichlids with South American Cichlids. They have totally different water and setup requirements, dietary needs and aggression levels.

As Jweb pointed out, the best setup is 1 male to 2-4 females. Do not have more than one male per species or the most dominant one will kill the other. Even with the so called "non-aggressive" Electric Yellow Labs. African cichlids do not pair up the way SA cichlids do, so if you try one male and one female, the male will harass the lone female literally to death trying to get her to spawn. His attentions are spread out with more females.

I have 3 main groups, Red Zebras, Yellow Labs and Acei in my tank. 1 male each with 3-4 females for them. I then have some lone males and a rainbow Shark. I also have a good number of fry hiding out in the rocks all the time.

Mbuna might be aggressive, but they are the most fun fish to own! They offer never ending entertainment with their antics and I promise you, you will not regret it! Compared to them, a regular community tank is boring as heck!

The best thing you can do is Google African Mbuna and learn all you can so you know what their needs are. Once they are set up they are just as easy to take care of.

Good luck!

Mon Oct 05, 2009 10:32 pm GMT   Reply      

lol @ you can keep all males...


you can have plants with some african cichlids... you have to make sure that they aren't herbivore's or omnivore's... you can have like haps, auls, shellies, machromi and oter species with plants... you just have to be carefull...

also... there are some plants that will tollerate the beatings of the cichlids... i used to have jungle and corkscrew val. in my tropheus tank... along with p. demasoni...


another thing... to have a better survival rate of the fry it is best to have a species tank... if you have all of them the same species they will leave all fry alone... only fry will pick on fry... they want the colony to thrive and survive...

i have learned the the male to female ratio doesn't matter when you do a species specific tank... i had 9 males and 4 females of p. demasoni and they never killed eachother...

also when mixing groups i would only have two groups per tank max... unless you have like a 180 or something... and groups should be more than 15 fish per colony...

Tue Oct 06, 2009 6:45 am GMT   Reply      

Thanks, I was just wandering because I have a comunntiy with plants ANd I dont wont to go out and bye a 10 gallon. One more ....... How do you sex them.

Tue Oct 06, 2009 1:19 pm GMT   Reply      

Dizz gave great info to follow. As for the plants........good luck.....lol, most plants are in fact very safe and beneficial in the tank however it's really hard to keep cichlids from destroying them. If your just getting started with the tank then I would put the plants in before the fish. That way when you put the fish in the tank the will come accustomed to the plants already being in the tank. You will have a better chance that way!

As far as sexing them, you have to vent them. This can be done after they reach about 3 in. You can find various articles about "venting" african cichlids. Usually if you look at thier belly you will either see two holes that are the same size ( o o =male) or two holes that are different in size ( o O = female) hopefully that will help! Good luck!

Tue Oct 06, 2009 4:06 pm GMT   Reply      

sow you turn them upside down than you look at there holes in there stomich ( you people are wierd ;) ) Thanks

Tue Oct 06, 2009 4:09 pm GMT   Reply      

IS it really worth it too buy fish at Petsmart/Petco Not for adive just out of convence and Cheap Live stock. Mine has alot expericeaned workers tho

Wed Oct 07, 2009 3:27 am GMT   Reply      

no... well... i wouldn't trust petsmart's or petco's fish's health... mainly because they are all in one giant tank and share the same water... that's horrible...

go to www.cichlid-forum.com and check out the local for sale section... alot of mini breeders on there... i used to get my stock from hotchkis from hotcichlids.com or something... straight from the lakes of africa they were... lol...




as far as being wierd... we're extreme hobbyist... i have had to sex a tank full of cichlids... i used to breed extinct to the wild cichlids... now i'm only sticking with reef... i'm retired when it comes to freshwater... except for my pond fish...