First post! Need help with our Cichlid tank...

[LowBelly]

Hi Everyone!

We recently upgraded from keeping about 5 Convicts in a 10 gallon to keeping just a pair in a 29 gallon and added 3 young Africans that are about an inch each.

We thought our biggest problem would be fighting, however, we have a large rock cave in the middle of the tank that really divides it into 3 areas with lots of plants and hiding spots. So far no one picks on anyone else, the Convicts have claimed the cave and are happy with it.

We never had water issues in the 10 gallon so I thought a 29 would be easy. It was cycled when we put the fish in and all the tests looked nice for about two weeks. Then we decided to go back to feeding them twice a day and everything spiked. We did a water change, added cycle, and went back to once a day feedings. Since then we've gotten back up to .25 on the Ammonia and Nitrite about every two to three days. We've used Amquel Ammonia and Nitrite remover twice and that works for about 24 hours and that's it.

Do I just ride it out and keep up with the water changes or am I doing something wrong? Our 10 gallon was much more heavily stocked and it never had problems. We're using a 40 gallon Whisper filter with a Chem-pure bag inside.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. :help:

 

[ChrisK]

What type of africans??

 

[SHAWNIE]

Hi Lowbelly...cycle is probably the issue..it doesnt have self sustaining bacteria which means once you stop using it, the cycle crashes....it has to be used for the life of the tank...if you can find some tetra safestart, which took over for bio spira, that is instant bacteria that you need...you can get some prime or stress coat+ at this point to make the ammonia and nitrites neutralized for 24 hours until another water change...then the fishies can tolerate the mini cycle

 

[LowBelly]

Thanks Shawnie, I'll look for those products.

Chris, I don't know what kind of Africans they are, I bought them as "assorted africans". Here are pics, the last two are of the same fish.

 

[Pittbull]

The first photo is a auratus.. the second photo is a red zebra.. the third is a kenyi..

First off if you have male and female convicts your mbuna will be harassed to the point of death not a good match there.. They may be able to fend for themselves for a bit but are no match when the cons decide to breed and really anything else ect. other cons only the parents will prevail..

It sounds as the cycle wasnt complete is why your having issues with ammonia, just keep up the water changes maybe twice a week and this will help..

 

[Pittbull]

Also hopefully a MOD will move this to the african section for more attention..

 

[LowBelly]

OK, I'll keep an eye on them. The Cons are not agressive at all towards them at the moment and no one is forced to hide. They swim past each other with no problems, as long as no one goes in the Con's rock/cave.
If they breed and become agressive I'll move them.

 

[Coler]

I agree with pitbull on the ID of the africans and also as he says the bacteria should catch up quickly to handle the bioload increase - just keep testing and water changing as necessary.

The Melanochromis Auratus is a notoriously unpleasant character - generally I don't reccommend keeping them in even a standard African set-up in a 55G (often considered minimum tank size for rift lake cichlids). Yours is a juvenile. As it matures it will get more muddy brown and become highly highly aggressive - I would put money on it killing a lot/all of your present stock.

If the cons are a true pair they will breed (those guys will get it on in a puddle during an earthquake) and become highly highly aggressive themselves. This is likely to provoke conflict with the africans sooner rather than later and in general I'm afraid you may be looking at World War III.

The Africans you have should generally be kept in a tank of four feet in length, in either mixed groups of 1 male and 3 females or so, to a total of about say 4 species. They require to be highly overstocked to manage their territorial aggression (the other option is an all male tank with no females - more tricky to get stabilised).

My advice, and sorry to be pessimistic, is that you return the Africans to the shop and stick with the pair of convicts - if they breed (and they will presuming they are a pair) you are going to be overrun with convict fry anyway

Sorry to be negative - it would not be responsible to reccommend that you keep those fish in that tank and as the africans mature I don't see any solution.

As there's a mix of fish involved, and you have two different acute issues (the cons breeding and the auratus) I'll leave the thread in the general cichlid forum.

Oh and welcome to AC

 

[dent20]

You say you're feeding them twice a day. Until things improve you might try feeding them once every other day. If they're eating a lot and producing a lot of waste that is just going to add to your problem.

 

[LowBelly]

Thanks so much for your comments!

I have noticed that the "Melanochromis Auratus" is the pushiest of the tank and doesn't even fear the big male Con.

Putting aside the potential for the Cons to get aggressive, how long does it take for the Melanochromis Auratus to become a problem? Is it a matter of months or years?

I included pics of the tank to show you what I mean by the rock cave, the Cons seem to claim the inside and are not territorial anywhere else *yet*. If I remove the fry is there any chance they will get along with anything else?

I do have one other African that is alone and needs a tank upgrade, we've had him for two years and we are actually very attached to him. Again, I don't know what kind he is but I included a pic. Would it be possible to create a set up were he, the red zebra and the kenyi could thrive together?

Sorry if I'm posting out of "form", do you think it would be better to seperate my questions about the different cichlids into different forums?