55 gal Crushed Coral

[Calvert13]

I just purchased a 55 Gal tank, and my father has a huge bin full of crushed coral/sand substrate that he had in his 150 or so saltwater tank. Of corse I will wash wash wash wash the heck out of it, but can I use it for Freshwater and what kind of fish would you recomend, also would it be better to mix it w/ some gravel or sand. Also what kind of live plants and grass could I use.

[dorkfish]

Yes, you can use it and no, you can't use it - it depends on what kind of fish you want to keep in the tank. However with plants it would most likely be a no-no.

[Calvert13]

what kind of fish ya recommend

[dorkfish]

If you have to use the crushed coral, rift lake cichlids. Some pics of fish from both lake malawi and lake taganyika can be found here: http://badmanstropicalfish.com/afcichlids.html

There's also fish available from lake victoria (might want to google that one: "lake victoria cichlids" or similar), however I'm pretty sure lake malwai and lake taganyika cichlids are the most commonly available.

You need to pick all fish from one lake as doing otherwise could easily result in compatibility issues (although it probably could work if you put enough research into it).

I'm not the most knowledgable with these fish, so if you would like to go with them, please post a thread in the cichlid section with the title saying "newbie starting [insert the lake you picked here] cichlid tank, need help" and these questions and any other questions you can think of in the post:

1. What kind and how many fish from [inset the lake you chose here] would you recomend for my tank size (55g)?

2. What should I know about these fish?

3. Any links to some good reasing on these fish?

4. What should I be doing maintenence wise for these fish?

[plah831]

right, crushed coral is great for marine setups because it increases pH. African cichlids (FW) also appreciate high pH and hard water.

[rosita]

. . . . . and the "Rift Lake Salts" for Malawi and Tanganyika are actually only @7-8% salt; the rest consists of various trace minerals and other necessary elements, very different from marine or freshwater aquarium salts.

[Calvert13]

could I do target puffers?

[dorkfish]

Using a crushed coral substrate, I wouldn't recomend it. You also need a second tank to raise snails for them to eat and they shouldn't be kept with other fish. Read up on them:

http://www.pufferlist.com/puffer/targetgroup.htm

http://www.pufferlist.com/puffer/freshpuff.php?puffid=5

http://www.pufferlist.com/puffer/freshpuff.php?puffid=19

[Calvert13]

What is the most aggressive carnivorus freshwater fish that can be purchased at a fish/specialty store that I can put in a 55 gal. I saw a guy feed a Tiger Oscar a minnow and I loved it, but I heard that they get to big for a 55 gal if I want more than 2 fish. Also if I go w/ Africans from Malawi like haps or peacocks, what other fish are compatable.

[Calvert13]

Do Oscars really get 15" big?

[DeRo316]

Oscars, Red Devils, GT, most large tropical SA/CA cichlids are pretty aggressive. With fish this big you can pretty much only fit 1 in your 55gal tank. Oscars could get up to 15'' i suppose, but I doubt it in a 55. These fish like lower Ph than your crushed coral would give them.....

There are aggressive african species and you can put more than 1 in a 55. Mbuna are aggressive but small and wont tear up a goldfish like I suppose you want. Most African Haps from lake malawi can be aggressive and a little bigger. My venustus would bully fish 3x his size until I traded him in, they get to 8'' and I fed mine live food. Super VC-10 may be hard to find but it gets as big as any of the africans and looks great.

There are other aggressive carniverous fish that aren't cichlids that someone will chime in about.

[Calvert13]

I've heard people putting Bala Sharks W/ African Cichlids if they put the Bala's in first. Also my tank is a little cloudy I made sure I washed the coral good, is there any advice about clearing it up?