African Tank Setup

[J.P. Nagle]

Alright, this is my first post here, but I'm not a newbie to fishkeeping... *g*

Anyway, a recent disaster involving a four year old cousin, a bottle of car wash soap, and my fish tank resulted in the death of all but one of my fish (A Pearl Gourami, who will, either today or tomorrow, be moved into a different tank). The result is that it is my intention to break down the tank, give it a good scrubbing, and restart it. Originally I was going to do a species tank with a group of Tetras, but being the poor college student that I am decided to try and do it on the cheap. I bought the new gravel from Home Depot and it promptly raised the pH of the water I tested it in from our normal tap (7.5) to 8.0 overnight.

That gave me an idea though... I decided to try something different. I want to setup an African Cichlid tank. The problem is that while I can handle anything from the New World (including Cichlids) I've done only a small amount of research on these fish. I'm currently starting a crash course, but I could use a little help in narrowing the field of study.

The major qusestion I have, as a result, is can any African species be kept in a standard 29 gallon? I would, at least, like a species that would be interested in breeding, but I don't want any aggression problems. If you have any suggestions I'd be interested. As many as possible too... I want to take a look at everything, and the more suggested the better the chance my LFS will have one of these species in stock.

Also, my other question revolves around buffering the water. I was looking at the Seachem buffers, and I was wondering how good these are. Also, as I said, the gravel I purchased has a buffering capability on its own, but Home Depot also sells marble chips, and these, I know, as well also buffer the water. So, my question here is what exactly is the ebst way to go about obtaining the proper water chemistry? Should I add the chemical and trace buffers directly to water changes, should I add them to the tank after a water change, or is there some other formula you reccomend?

Thanks in advance.

[NickH]

For research, start here:

The Cichlid Recipe (http://www.cichlidrecipe.com)

As for buffering, most people use decorations that increase the PH. Rocks like limestone, lace rock, etc., all have buffering capacity. It's probably the easiest way to maintain the water the way you want it. You'll need a LOT of rockwork for territory and cover anyway, so let it do some work for you.

Some people add trace elements (like lake cichlid salt, etc.). Your mileage will vary, and you might want to test your tap water hardness, because that is a factor for Africans as well (higher is better). If you do water changes with a siphon (like the Python), you can add it directly to the tank with your water conditioner(s).

Good luck.

[fishlips]

You need to check gh and kh for the africans. The gh should be around 10 and the kh 10-20 I think. Try this site for africans. Theres tons of info in the dicussion section about africans at cichlid-forum.com

[J.P. Nagle]

I probably should have included my tap parameters in my first post...

Our tap has a pH of around 7.5, a GH of 15, and a KH of 7. That KH has always been a problem. It is low when compared to the GH, and we had a problem softening our tap water without knocking it off the chart. I never used a python. For the tank I just had I would mix Schnucks RO water and our tap and then dump it in.

I know about the bufering, as you suggested, but my biggest concern is with the pH swing. One of the species I'm looking at (thanks to the website you provided... Although I read it before I came back here to respond) are the "Dwarf Julies" and the information other sites have on them suggests they like a pH in the range of 8.8 to 9.3. Generally, I would change out six gallons a week, and it was my intention to continue doing so. Wouldn't that drop the water parameters?

[NickH]

Some of the cichlid mixes will take care of the PH and the hardness for you, so if you add that to your bucket and mix well, you should not have any problems.

While it is true that Tangs like the highest alkalinity out of all the Lake fish, they are still fairly hardy. Changing out 20% of the water weekly is only temporarly going to bring down the PH (like a few hours). If your tank is stable at 8.8, it should not dip below 8.4 or so. As long as it doesn't dip below 8.0, you should get by. Just don't use any RO water!

[jimbo]

Well, in my opinion it's not really the best choice you can make, I mean a 29 for Africans (from Lake Malawi that is) I guess it would be ok if you plan to have just one specie in there. Perhaps one male together with two or three females would work. The recommended minimum size for Malawians is 55 gallons. In this sized tank, you would be able to have more than one specie to look at.

Another option could be some smaller "shell dwellers" from Lake Tanganyika. You can make quite an impressive tank with those colorful creatures.

As for adding any chemicals to raise or buffer the pH, I would mix them all together in a glass canister, filled with half a gallon of water and poor it into the tank in the same time you add the new water during the water change.
However, to de honest, I do not think you need any chemicals or salts to buffer the pH.
Your gravel is taking care of that. Perhaps you could monitor the pH drop when you change 50% of the water. Check it right after you are finished (my guess would be a drop to pH 7.8) and try to find out how long it takes the pH to get back to 8. (My guess, 4 hours) If I’m right, you don’t have to add any chemicals. Adding more buffering-stuff will increase the pH even more. A pH 8 is just beautiful for Africans from the Rift Lakes and It doesn’t harm your fish when the pH fluctuates with 0.2

Edit: If the KH=7 there is enough buffer capacity.
When you go with the Julies you've mentioned, a pH 8.5/9.2 wil do ok. But than you have to raise the pH a bit.


Jimmy

[AMiR UNC]

A 29 gallon would make for a real nice dwarf tanganyikan tank. You can easily do one rockdwelling species and a shelldwelling species. You might even get away with 2 rockdwelling species if you choose right ones and arrange for two distinct rockpiles. The shelldwellers would prefer sand so they can bury their shells but they can survive with gravel...but you can make them happier with sand.

As for pH 8.0 that is fine and so is your gH and kH...assuming you keep only tank raised specimens. For wild caught you might want to bump the hardness up a bit. Can use baking soda for kH (and therefore pH) and aquarium salt and epson salts (magnesium sulfate) for gH.

Now is your pH 7.5 straight out of the tap or do you let it sit for a couple hrs for CO2 to gas off then measure pH? CO2 will give you a false reading that is lower than reality.

Have a look around at pictures of different tang species and then ask questions about them if you like. Here are some I can suggest you take a look at that would go fine:

Chalinochromis species
Telmatochromis species
Julidochromis ornatus, transcriptus (not gombe varient too nasty), dickfeldi
Neolamprologus caudopunctatus, multifasciatus, similis, signatus, ocellatus, meleagris, brevis
Lepidiolamprologus boulengeri, hecqui, meeli

[JSchmidt]

I agree with the above comments that a 29 is too small except for maybe shell dwellers. It's certainly too small for mbuna.

Your water is pretty much OK for african cichlids. If you wanted to increase KH (buffering), you could use aragonite sand as a substrate. I'd avoid doing water mods if you can; the commercially prepared buffers/salts are nice (esp. Seachem's), but they get costly quick, and in most cases (like yours) they aren't really necessary.


HTH,

Jim

[fishlips]

A 29g is fine for half a dozen or so fish, for a while. Try it , see if you like them, then go bigger. some of the fish don't grow too fast which will get you started at least. The more crowded the more water changes you'll have to do.