From Sharks to Cichlids - My First Cichlid Tank - PICS!

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hondaman

Quisiera ser un fish!
Dec 15, 2005
260
0
0
New Jersey
Hey guys i finally caved in, well more like an unfortunate set of events took place which wiped out 2 of my sharks plus my catfish leaving my tank with only one shark and my pleco. So therefore, I decided to forgo getting new sharks and went to the cichlid side.

Now i have been contemplating this move for awhile and have reading up alot on the subject. I even was lucky enough, during my vacation to Atlanta, to visit the Georgia Aquarium and their beautiful Cichlid display. So I knew too many plants was a bad idea and rocks were good.

This is what my tank looked like when i had just the sharks....



So next step was lets add some rocks! What did I do, there is a stream about 200 yards from my apartment which feeds into a river from which people fish and eat out of. I went treking through the bushes found a spot which had fish swiming around them (i figured they would be ok) and started plucking out some rocks.

So I took them home, put them in the bath tub, and then...

1. soaked them in hot water for about 2 hours
2. scrubbed every rock with a brush scrubber
3. rinsed and scrubbed
4. soaked again in hot water with bleach for 1 hour
5. rinsed and scrubbed
6. soaked again in hot water with bleach for another hour
7. rinsed and scrubbed
8. PUT THEM IN THE DISHWASHER FOR 4 HEAVY CYCLES WITH HOT DRY! Woohoo!



Now of course by now i figured hell, if there was anything remotely alive on these rocks, they are long dead by now... but just in case they were not.

9. I didnt have a pot big enough (or one my better half would allow me to use) to boil the rocks, so I baked them at 500 deg for an hour.

So, after all was said and done (2 days of my life on this), I went to the fish store and picked up 2 small beautiful Cichlids from the "Assorted" tank. Please Identify if you can the names, pics below.

So I took my remaining shark and pleco out of the tank and went to town. This is what I have created. I just hope its good enough for my new friends.

'
What do you think?





Can you identify these?

BTW you know what I love the most about this project.... other than paying for the 2 new fish. I spent $0 on the new setup!!!!

So anyway as I said before this is my first attempt at this, so any suggestions would greatly be appreciated.
 

number1sixerfan

AC Members
Sep 11, 2006
237
0
0
corykid said:
OOOOO all right i will guess electric blue and electric yellow lol hope i not too wrong

I would agree with you.

I like how you have stacked your rocks. How many cichlids do you plan on adding from here?
 

liv2padl

cichlidophile
Oct 30, 2005
2,686
0
0
north carolina
the pics of the fish are far too small to help with identification. that's the nicest piece of 'driftwood' i've ever seen.
 

DeRo316

Keeper of Cichlids
Nov 23, 2005
709
0
0
Tallahassee, FL.
From that view looks like you have a cobalt blue and a yellow lab.
Cobalt Blue: Profile Link
Yellow Lab: Profile Info

Like the rocks and "driftwood"(have the same in my 30!). If you're up for the maintenance you could do 12-15 total. I would stick with all males or do 1m/3f of same species.
 

JulieC

AC Members
Aug 25, 2006
128
0
0
Fairbanks, Alaska
I also agree that the yellow is probably a yellow lab.

I think that the blue is either a socolofi or a johanni (as a lot of the juvies that I've seen are that color).

Just my guess! :p:
 

kay-bee

AC Members
Sep 14, 2005
706
0
16
Tampa, FL
Great set up!

The blue one is definately a pseudotropheus socolofi (a.k.a. 'powder blue') and among my favorites.

I've got a few dozen of them of that size (the black markings on the fins identifyable in the last pic are a dead giveaway).
 
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