considering a cichlid tank

HeinekenMike

HeinekenMike

AC Members
Mar 14, 2005
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Portland, OR
hello, my current fish are below in my sig, I am going to place the 4 tetras in a smaller seperate tank, which leaves me with a 72G with 2 ABF's and a Buffalo head cichild. my questions are as follows.
question 1. Will Most cichilds live in harmony well with the ABF's, or will thay go for the ABF's long fins that hang down.
question 2. will an UGF work for them or will I need a Canister filter? I here thay are messy eaters.
 
In regards to question 1, I would think that the abf's fins would be too tempting for many fish, let alone cichlids. In my experience with abf's, I have found them to be fairly shy and nervous, and I don't feel they would be comfortable in a tank with any but the most timid of cichlids. Regarding question 2 , I have had good luck with UGF's in smaller tanks with low bioloads, but I haven't used a UGF in a cichlid tank for over 25 years. HOB or canister filters, along with frequent large water changes, have worked well for me. For my breeder and grow out tanks, I just use good old fashioned box filters - low tech, cheap and efficient. There are always exceptions, but this is just what has worked for me. Good luck, have fun and hit the internet - there are a lot of good cichlid sites out there!
 
If you're not really hung up on the size of your cichlids, then I think any of the apistogramma genus would work in your tank. (small but very interesting cichlids) My apistos take no notice whatsoever of anything above midtank. I have kept them with angel fish in my 29g with no problems. They're expensive , but that just means you won't have to be giving away fry right?

No idea on the buffalo head cichlid as far as compatability.
 
thanks for the info guys, and Yo I will keep that in mind since my ABF's are #1 priority, prehaps the Cichild tank isent such a great choice for me.
 
can anyone recomend any cichilds that may work or are there just none at all? other than apistogramma genus
 
How about some of the smaller eartheater cichlids, they would be fine and I dont think they would have a go at the ABF's fins. How about these fish?
 
wow good info, anyone else, or extra info pertaining to the above comments? :fairy:
 
my LFS said I definitely couldn't go for just any cichlid... once I told him my tank specs and water temp(84 degrees) he was able to help a bit more. but did say rams from SA in heavily planted tank would do well, and recommended several other cichlids all of which the rest originated from west Africa where the ABF and Buffalo are from, the guy really seemed to know his cichlids extremely well. he even said a elephant nose (which is also from west Africa) could do well in the mix only having to worry about the Buffalo which would for the most part stick to his area of the tank. Ill get back to you on what the names of them are before I buy them, Right now I am trying to get some more plants in there. also said a Gold Nugget Pleco could possibly do ok in the mix also. any thoughts or disagreements?
 
most cichlid tanks contain fish that "dig", and therefore UGF filters will be no help because the fish will dig until they reach the plates under the gravel and the UGF will be conpromised, stick with HOB or canister for cichlids.
 
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