nnew to cichlids..have a couple of questions

[rey1rey]

Hello there!! I am new to the cichlid word....

I have a 75 tank with 4 blood parrots and 3 tiger barbs....size are from 1 inch to 4 inch....for all fish involved.... I have two 60 gl filters on it plus an undergravel filter unit.... all water level check out grood..

o ammonia,,, o nitrites... around 7 on ph.... holding steady...been up around 2 weeks... the tank used to have goldfish...just used all same environment...so cycling is moving forward...

my question.... i want to add more color to the tank... yellow...blue....

I had in mind some yellow labs and electric blue jack dempsey...

will these mix????

ahh..have two plecos...3 inch

[aardvark1]

Rey-

I think the yellow lab is an African type Cichlid, needs a harder more akaline water than the parrots and tigers.

EBJD-from what I've read here they are sorta fragile. Perhaps a regular JD instead? Mine has bright blue and green spangles...

The plecs-common? They will get HUGE! I had one in my JD tank for about a year-got to be a foot long....

Plus they are poop machines....

[mee-mee]

yellow labs are from africa lake malawi to be exact and i have read many websites that say african cichlids are only good with african cichlids. the jack dempseys are the new america cichlids south american and they are only good with south american cichlids. the pH range for the most of new world or south american cichlids is not compatible at all with african cichlids. the average range for pH is 6.5-7.5 for new world or south american cichlids and african cichlids require a lot higher ph 7.5-8.2 jack dempseys are new world or south american. i saw on a website somewhere that if you put african and new world together the water would become such a mess.if you added the yellow or jack you would have to get rid of the barbs. because their ph only goes up to 7.0 so no it wouldnt be a great idea to add the cichlids. sorry and good luck you can research cichlids and find out what is compatible for the ph range you have there are alot of new world cichs that are in the range you have

[rey1rey]

Thank you for the information!!!

So... basically....find American Cichlids... yellow cause that is the color...and remove the barbs.... the EBJD will be ok with the Blood Parrots....and well yes the plecos do get large....

I bought a holey rock and was going to buy more...however with what I am learning today...it seems that the rock will keep the PH too high for both the Blood prrots and the EBJD.... is this a true statement??

[fish_chic]

the rocks will not effect the ph unless they have something in it. you can do the vinager test on them if your not sure about them (like if you got them outside) if you bought the rock then you should be fine unless it stated that the rock will raise the ph. to do the vinager test just drop a few drops on the rock with some white vinager and see if it reacts (fizzes). anyway if you have a 75 gal and 4 parrots then i wouldn't add anything else the parrots will get atleast 6inches so with 4 of them you would be fine. now if you want some color then i would maybe try some dwarf cichlids that will stay closer to the bottom. they like a little lower ph around 6 to 7 which should be fine with the parrots. bc the parrots are hybrids they don't really have a natural habit and are pretty hardy. i would go to cichlid-forum.com and check out there profiles for the dwarfs cichlids they have an awesome profile selection. oh and i would get rid of one of your commom plecos they will get huge, one is all you need. you could always get rid of both and try a bristlenose pleco or a rubberlip pleco they only get to be about 5 or 6 inches. corys would be good to you just need to have them in groups they like to school together. well i hoped i helped you.

[rey1rey]

thx fish_chic... very well put...

I am going to get some of the dwarfs...to ensure I do not overcrowd...I have a tendancy to overcrowd my tanks.... I do not want to do this to this new one.... so...keep a couple of the parrrots and add other for color......

yep...all my fish are small right now and therefor I cannot see how big they get and space in the tank seems empty... :O

[sreid]

dont get cichlids with the other fish as u will end up with heartache - they r very agressive

[wataugachicken]

^ you should try to be more specific than that. there are many kinds of cichlids (including blood parrots, which the original poster already has), and not all of them are aggressive. keyholes and bolivian rams for example.

[jessicar613]

You're correct about the holey rock; it will raise your ph.

[wolf13]

Vineger is not a good test, it will only produce a reaction if the rock is strongly basic, so a weakly basic rock may still help raise pH but might not be enough to cause the vineger to react. to be absolutly sure, you'll need a much stronger acid like diluted HCL or sulferic.