Need Help Starting New Tank

[ilcapo]

I need help starting a new tank........i want to start an african tank with more agressive fish but keep them color full and excotic looking........ now whats a good combination of fish i can keep together without each eatin or harassing.... here are my specs...... 30 gal..... Aqua clear 200, Heater.....gravel and alot of tufa rock for hiding.....everything is balanced in my tank i just need my PH to rise....... my temp is at 74-76...... and thats it....i also need some help with plants....should i go real or fake...what plants are easy to maintain?? thanks

Joe

[Aquarius0015]

If you want cichlids, your planting options will be rather limited. Don't add pHup to raise your pH, there are better ways! Wish I knew more, but I'm a labrynth/livebearer kind of guy.

[ilcapo]

I was talkin to a guy at the aquarium and told me to just add the tufa rocks to help my ph go up naturally.....but thanks for the advice.....PHup is a No No

[Uncle Bete]

well lets see... african Cichlids and colorful. no problem!

African cichlids that get along. Thats gonna be ruff!

Plants. Generally probably "doing good" to keep live or fake with'em!

Balanced. As in seeing nitrate but no nitrite or ammonia because it's been cycled?

30 gals? maybe a pair of zebra's.

You might want to resart this thread over in the cichlid part of the forum. You'll get alot more viewers and suggestion's over there.

[OrionGirl]

Moving this to Cichlids. OG

[ilcapo]

okay thanks...anyone know any good websites to get plants from?

do you have any pics of zebras?

[prerunnedyota]

i would suggest ebay i got some nice plants on there one big amazon sword and 11 othre stem plants all for only 12$ and there very nice o ya and search for aquarium plants

[valerie]

With a 30g(not the best size for africans to begin with) you are pretty limited. How long and wide is a 30g?

I would say either(pick one species)
-4-5 yellow labs(Labidochromis caeruleus)http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/l_caeruleus.php
or
-4-5 Ps.saulosi(1m/3-4f) http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/p_saulosi.php
or
-4-5 Iodotropeus sprengerae http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/i_sprengerae.php (i have these and tey are one of my favorites)
or
-4-5 Ps."acei" http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/ps_acei.php

These are all "less" aggresive mbuna that stay smaller and work well in smaller tanks.

As for plants,mbuna will try to eat real plants. so if you choose to do real stick with java fern, and anubias.Both plants have thick harder leaves taht make them diffiult to eat.

- For raising the ph, I would buy chemicals. Jsut add some crushed coral to your filter and it should raise it up.what is you ph,gh,kh now?

[jeffro426]

My Mbuna have been doing ok with plants...i tried java fern and they pretty much destroyed it....i tried java moss but ive been having issues with it clogging up my filters and in general just making a huge mess...now i have a bunch of anarchis and some anubias(not sure of exact species). The anarchis is doing VERY well and is growing like a weed (almost an inch per day) and the anubius is doing ok, but i notice some nibble marks on it...hopefully they wont trash it like my java fern. I really like the anarchis though, it looks really nice when it grows really close together and covers almost the entire back of my tank...almost dont even need a background anymore. I havent had any problems with them digging anything up yet, and hopefully i wont either. They dont really seem to dig all that much. They seem to like the plants and i think the combination of a good rock scheme and proper placement of plants look really awesome. Its all trial and error though, some eat them, some dont!

[ilcapo]

thanks for all the helpfull info....im deciding to go with fake plants......just cause i dont want my affricans to eat off it.......

Val im looking into all those fish and doin some research on them.....there excatly what im lookin for..... would a blue jack Dempsey do well with those fish?? how about a pleco??

You think its possible to get on 7" exotic lookin fish with these fish??


Im also lookin for an agle eater i was thinkin of snails...what do you all think??

BTW: My ph is at 7.2 right now....it was 7.0 two days ago....but i added those rocks soo slowly it should go up

thanks everyone

[valerie]

I dont 'think a 7"fish would be very happy in a 30g. What are the tanks dimensions?

AS for algae in africna tnaks i have had great success with bristlenose plecos.Dont' know much about snails but i do know the smaller ones ,like ramshorns, can be eaten by mbuna.

a jack Dempsey shouldn't be mixed with africnas,plus dont' JD get big?too big for a 30g?

[JSchmidt]

Even the fish Val mentioned will be cramped in a 30... a quartet of yellow labs might be OK, but it's really too small for mbuna.

If you have cichlids in a 30, you'll have enough waste production from them. Getting a pleco (aka "poop factory") will greatly speed up the rate at which the water will pollute. If you get algae on the glass... spend 3 minutes a week with a credit card scraping it off! Eliminating the pleco will greatly reduce the bioload in a 30.

If you want to get pH (and KH) up, try putting a half cup of crushed coral or aragonite sand in a nylon stocking and dropping that in your filter. As it dissolves, it will drive up pH and KH. You should see some levelling off after a week or two.

HTH,
Jim

[ilcapo]

the dimensions fo the tank are 30' Long 20' Tall and 12 1/2' width

how about an eal would he be fit to live with those fishes val mentioned?

JS--- Have you had an experience with snails in the tank to clean alge??

[~*LuvMyKribs*~]

If you want african rift lake cichlids- then just do africans. Don't try to mix them with any other type of fish. It could be done- but for experienced aquariasts. You can get 6 3-4" mbuna in that tank as long as you have heavy filtration and lots and lots of rocks. I would suggest you research these fish a little more before you even consider getting them. When you research you will learn what these fish need and what types can be kept together.

[JSchmidt]

No experience with snails, but a fair amount with plecos. I don't think algae eaters are worth it in a small tank (<55 g.), because cleaning it is such a minor chore.

I agree with LubMyKribs that you'll be better off not trying to mix other fish with Rift Lake cichlids. The stocking level mentioned, 6 3-4" fish is more than I'd be comfortable with, but I'm a bit conservative in stocking small tanks with cichlids. Also, even more important than good filtration, if you stock a 30 with 6 cichlids, will be your commitment to water changes. I'd guess you'd be doing weekly changes of 30-50% at least as the fish reach adult size. That's assuming you don't get a hyper-aggressive male in your mix who kill some of the six.

HTH,
Jim

[jimbo]

I completely agree with JSchmidt on this.
I’ve got seven, 2½” Protomelas juvies in my 30 gall right now.
And trust me, it’s really too much, too crowded.
The only reason they are in there is to separate the males from the females.

Jimmy

[~*LuvMyKribs*~]

Yeah i guess that would be the max. And they would have to be completely compatible- no room for too much aggression. You would have to go with really mildly-tempered fish. Yellow labs or something. I've got labs and afras in mine, 33. Also some fulleborni but they will be moved when they grow up. They are all babies. As long as your able to put them somewhere else if it doesn't work out. But don't aim for that.