Cichlid help

[MikeDeL]

Im going to be using the sand I get to convert my 55g to a cichlid tank, but I want to keep my plants, cories and Florida Flag Fish. Any suggestions for cichlids? Im thinking hard water and higher Ph range.


Thanks,
Mike

[wkopplin]

Cichlids are notorious for uprooting plants. Depends on what kind of cichlids you will be keeping. I have kept cichlids for my whole life and they will not eat annubias or java fern, but that is about it. The stuff they do not eat, they will dig out and send floating into the filter. They are little pigs.

Let me know what kind of cichlids you plan to keep. Most cichlids do not need the pH to be in the extremely high range. Usually a good amount of holey rock will keep the pH sufficiently high.

If you need help picking out some good cichlids, I can help out.

[MikeDeL]

Im thinking maybe rift lake cichlids. What I've looked at so far Im liking the Malawian Cichlids. I guess I should have specified about the plants, they're fake. I was meaning I was wanting cichlids that like fairly dense plants. I like the look of the of a planted tank, I just not interested in growing them. So I guess Im wanting to know some cichlids that come from an area with more plants. Im probably going to add a canister filter, any suggestions? I was thinking a fluval.


Thanks,
Mike

[ansonluna]

I have lake tanganyka cichlids in a 55 with two emperor 400 running. Home Depot play sand on the bottom and Texas Holey rock decor. My water is always crystal clear. I do 50% water change every month and clean out the filters. Besides topping off the tank every two weeks or so, it requires no maintanence. Well I add bacteria every week...but thats it. Don't know about the fluvials...but have heard that they work great. I just don't have the room underneith.

check out this forum...
http://www.african.uklinux.net/phpBB/index.php

and this one...
http://www.cichlidtrader.com/

[wkopplin]

Fluvals are fine. I always used a couple of Emperor 400's and they worked great. If you are looking into Malawi's, stay away from the Mbuna unless you plan to really pack them in tight. They are very aggressive, especially towards each other. If you pack them in tight, they seem to do a little better.

I prefer the peacocks, they are very colorful and not too aggressive. Check out www.armkes.com. He has some cool stuff and is just up in New Braunfels. Keegan knows his stuff and he gets in some rare fish. Yellow labs go with just about everything.

As far as plastic plants go, they are fine, you will just need to replant them every now and then.

[sharkie]

Hey Mike...

Let me know if you need any help with setting up a cichlid tank. I can give you some advice. I have 2 tanks (a 180 gallon and a 45 gallon)devoted to tanganykans and I have a growout tank of malawis (mostly mbuna fry).

I am part of the Hill Country Cichlid Club, and we are having an auction in San Antonio in a couple of weeks (23rd of October). It might be a good chance for you to get some livestock for pretty cheap. Keegan, from Armkes, will be bringing a ton of fish to the auction.

As far as canister filters, I have the eheim classics, and they work great. You can probably get an eheim 2217 from BigAls for less than $100, which would be more than enough filtration for your 55.

As Blake said, most rift lake cichlids are diggers, and may uproot some of your fake plants. However, again, this depends on what kind you get.

I've spent about 2 years dealing mostly with mbunas, and had just recently switch to fish from tanganyka. As far as color goes, mbunas are awesome.

Let me know if you have any questions...


chiu

[cailan]

i've got a 75 gal malawi tank with 20+ fish and they all do good. just like everyone else said, they dig so watch out. I have sand and there are "craters" all over the bottom of my tank. i run both an emporer 400 and a eheim classic canister which is plenty of filteration. i am probably going to be breaking down my tank soon and will give just about everything but my plecotemus though i'm not sure how long i'll have them. if you decide on malawis you can have some of mine if you don't mind driving.

[MikeDeL]

Im kind of confused about the purpose of a using a background in a tank. What I can figure out is how is haveing a back ground differant then having a bunch of rocks and cave for the fish to hide in? Are they really all that necessary, or will abunch of hiding places and a paper back ground be fine?


Thanks,
Mike

[sharkie]

Hi Mike...

You can do a background or do rocks and caves. Backgrounds are neat in the fact that they are in the back and leave more foreground space for the fish to swim in.

However, good luck trying to catch a fish with a background, especially if they sleep in the background. Once they sense the net, *voom* into the background.

I personally would save the money and just get holey rock and a paper background.

Hope this helps

chiu

[Crab Rangoon]

To go a really cheap, and fully custom route, use styrophome. A lot of the guys with nicer displays on Cichlid-Forum.com have either nice expensive Dutch-made backgrounds (Austin Aquariums has one or two examples of these, in African sale tanks), or DIY styrophome ones. All you have to do is get your hands on some sizable styro, cut/shave/sculpt it as you please, then apply paint, water-safe (chemically) sealer/clear coat, and then use whatever means necessary to attach it to the back of your tank (so it doesnt fall forward, nor float). They end up looking very good, and very natural, if you paint it good. Otherwise, I'd just do a makeshift "background" by having the rocks (probably limestone) built up in the back, and cascade towards the front. Any random means of stacking, or careful structuring, should provide a decently natural look, and plenty of cavernous space for the fish to use.