Hello everybody,
I've been lurking for the past couple of weeks and a lot of good info comes out in these threads.
This is my situation. I've got a 55 g aquarium. My last fish in it passed away in November. SO I gave it a good cleaning and decided to make it for cichlids. One guy at a petstore told me I could use some zebra danios to get the tank cycled. he said in his tank, they got along with the cichlids. Well, at another store, I was told the cichlids would kill them. One salesperson told me I could use a few feeder fish to cycle my tank but that the cichlids would kill them sooner or later. They were cheaper than the danios! So now I've got four little goldfish in there. I also got two plants, a tight bunch of anacharis and something called mondo grass.
I hate to see fish killed but I guess it's going to happen. However, I just now realized if they aren't killed, how big does the common goldfish get? I've heard some can get rather large. Was it a dumb idea to use feeder fish to cycle a tank?
Another question is which and how many cichlids do you put in a 55 g tank?
I was thinking of 3 electric yellows, 3 kenyis, and 3 of another kind, maybe a red zebra or a jewel. And I'd need an algae eater, the Chineese algae eater or a gold one. That would be 10 fish. Too many or just right?
And how long would it take for the goldfish to get it ready for the cichlids?
The people at Petsmart told me I had good water, a little hard so the ph is more basic (good for cichlids, right) and that it had some nitrate in it, but the plants would like it. if the cichlids don't kill the plants, of course.
I appreciate any info you can give me about this. thanks.
I've been lurking for the past couple of weeks and a lot of good info comes out in these threads.
This is my situation. I've got a 55 g aquarium. My last fish in it passed away in November. SO I gave it a good cleaning and decided to make it for cichlids. One guy at a petstore told me I could use some zebra danios to get the tank cycled. he said in his tank, they got along with the cichlids. Well, at another store, I was told the cichlids would kill them. One salesperson told me I could use a few feeder fish to cycle my tank but that the cichlids would kill them sooner or later. They were cheaper than the danios! So now I've got four little goldfish in there. I also got two plants, a tight bunch of anacharis and something called mondo grass.
I hate to see fish killed but I guess it's going to happen. However, I just now realized if they aren't killed, how big does the common goldfish get? I've heard some can get rather large. Was it a dumb idea to use feeder fish to cycle a tank?
Another question is which and how many cichlids do you put in a 55 g tank?
I was thinking of 3 electric yellows, 3 kenyis, and 3 of another kind, maybe a red zebra or a jewel. And I'd need an algae eater, the Chineese algae eater or a gold one. That would be 10 fish. Too many or just right?
And how long would it take for the goldfish to get it ready for the cichlids?
The people at Petsmart told me I had good water, a little hard so the ph is more basic (good for cichlids, right) and that it had some nitrate in it, but the plants would like it. if the cichlids don't kill the plants, of course.
I appreciate any info you can give me about this. thanks.