Cichlid questions

[captexas]

Well my girlfriend and I spent our first Xmas together with her family in El Paso and her sister got me two fish. Unfortunately, this was a bad idea for an Xmas present and even worse was they were not saltwater fish! I got a Tiger Oscar and a Yellow Labidochromis. After being near death couped up in tiny beta bowls and then traveling in the cold overnight for over 8 hours for the drive home, I have them situated in a 10g tank I had.

Anyways, they seem to be doing well and are eating some cichlid pellet food I found, but I wanted to know if they have any special needs as far as food or water parameters? And yes I'm browsing around online for info! lol :P

[Ping]

I had raised Cichlids for over 20yrs before I caught the SW bug. They are very easy to care for. I fed them flake and pellets. When they got larger I would occasionally feed them guppies or goldfish. Just like lionfish we should not overfeed them. They are pigs. I did a 10% water change once a month using untreated tap water. I would just let the water sit out over night. I never heard of R/O for aquariums before I was turned on to MAAST. I used HOB filters that I changed the cartriges about once a month. Also Cichlids grow quickly and will need a larger tank.

[SBreef]

Chris,

Like Ping said, they are easy!!! They do eat like pigs!! Mine ate flake and pellets. They very fast. I used carbon filtered water for mine. They like hard water, and if it does get cloudy, they do not care.

[captexas]

That's cool. I had freshwater fish (barbs, bala sharks, loaches, etc.), but never got into cichlids. I thought about just getting them healthy and trading them into a fish store, but as my saltwater tank has been torn down for awhile, it's nice to hear running water in the living room again! lol

[wkopplin]

Tiger Oscar will eventually kill the yellow lab. Tiger Oscars are a South American cichlid and the yellow is an African. Not good to mix them. They require different water parameters, Africans prefer very high pH water while South Americans require a lower pH. It is not unheard of for the pH on and African tank to be 8+/ Yellow labs are very hardy, so the water conditions will not be too big of a deal, but the Oscar will kill him which is probably a bigger problem. If you are interested in keeping cichlids, go with the Africans. They are much cooler. Armke's in New Braunfels sells the best ones around.