We have lost our minds!

[killieskid]

Well i wanted to go to a 100+g tank but we got a 75g, I know that i want to go with south & north Cic's insteed of African ( already have 3 of them) plus turned 2 over to LFS for credit. So what do you all think i should get? I have pics of set up, we are having decorating trouble right now but will work that out i'm sure! :)

[rwilliams254]

Tank looks good.

[MIKE D]

Nice set up

[tha cichlid man]

Looking good:thumbsup:

[dbcb314]

How aggressive are you looking for?

For my 75 gallon, I was gonna have cichlids but I changed my mind and I am now going in a different direction. But I was gonna have...

- 2-3 cichlids (green terror for sure, and then a 1-2 out of convicts, mayans, salvinis, dempsey, ect)

- some sort of schooling dither (silver dollars or giant danios)

- and some ground feeders... either botio modesta or some sort of catfish like pictus cats

[Weezer]

Looks good so far....:)

[killieskid]

Our LFS has this great looking jack dempsey that i have been eyeing but he sold one of them and i'm not sure yet what i want to go with. can you put like danio's with cichlids? i have silver dollars in anouther tank. Gosh, so many choices! I will have to do some studying to see which cichlids i want to go with. any suggestions?

[jm1212]

very nice.

severum, festivum, and firemouths would all look great in there.

[UCF-Planted]

+1 for firemouths :)

I think Giant Danios are suggested as dither fish for the larger cichlids. Zebra Danios are doing great with my firemouths at the moment.

[mee-mee]

Cool tank KK...and future pix of the completed version also...plzzz:)

[sirasoni]

Maybe some large giant danios. You want that JD for sure I assume?

[severum mama]

Nice looking decor. Is that crushed coral substrate, or gravel? CC wouldn't be the best choice for SA/CAs, so I hope it is gravel. :) Good luck!

[killieskid]

lol, you got it, i wont be able to keep myself from showing off! hehe

[killieskid]

actually the substrate is a cichlid mix, it has broken shells and rocks in it, is that what you mean by crushed coral? the bag says cichlid mix on it.

[killieskid]

no, i'm not completely sold on the jd just yet, beuatiful fish though

[mostlycichlids]

I would get a trio of serevums and a school of 3-4 silver dollars and a pair of bristlenose plecos.

[UCF-Planted]

The cichlid specific substrates I've seen were all buffering substrates for African Cichlids. The shells in this mix are a goor indicator that it is going to buffer the water and increase the pH. If you are planning New World Cichlids you'll probably want something more inert.

[Rbishop]

Nice tank! Definitely get some Sevs!

[MIKE D]

danios are target fish. I put them in with my angle so the angles would go after the danios and not eat my community fish before I made a strictly angle tank.

[killieskid]

what is Inert? UCF. like sand or what?

[UCF-Planted]

Yeah, Most aquarium sand and gravels are inert, won't affect pH, but African Cichlid substrates intentionally increase the pH. Just look for things that say they "Will not buffer" on the bag. Is yours one of these: http://www.caribsea.com/pages/products/cichlid.html ? If you read they say things like "It buffers automatically for the life of the aquarium". Check the bag yours came in (if you still have it) and see if it says something like that.

I'm planning a planted tank with Eco-Complete for Angelfish. Eco-Complete says "Will not increase pH or Carbonate hardness in the long term" (http://www.caribsea.com/pages/products/planted_aquar.html). Now you don't have to use Eco-Complete or an expensive substrate if you are not planning plants, but look for something that says no affect on pH.

[killieskid]

I'm confused, don't most cichlids take a higher PH anyway? even the new world fish i have been reading on take a PH level of 7.6 to 8.6 or so. Not that i object to taking the subtrate out by any means, i'll do what ever i need to make what ever i decide on as comfy as possible. I do know that some of the new world cichlids live in sand and some in other rocky areas and still others in different areas.

[UCF-Planted]

It just depends on the cichlid I guess. My understanding is that most of the New World cichlids prefer pH around or below 7.0. This is all based on the concept of trying to replicate natural conditions, and most south american fish live in rivers with lots of tannins from fallen leaves that make the water more acidic. However, most of the fish bred for the aquarium industry are supposed to be more flexible. I don't know how much of an issue it is as long as you do not have wild-caught fish. My Firemouths have done just find with 7.6 pH. I doubt they would have bred in a pH of 8.2, but again, that's guesswork really.

[MbunaFishKeeper]

my dads new world tank has ph around 7 and the fish are happy. as for what to get i think your best of getting fish that you have seen and that you like, if you get an idea of fish to go in your tank and then tell us what you like we could help confirm the compatible etc. also tank looks great and cant wait to see the pics with fish in it.

[scott-kim]

Central American cichlids prefer pH of 7.4-8.0 and rather hard water, some cichlids like Mayan (urophthaltum) acually enter into the ocean.
South American cichlids prefer more acidic, soft water.