German Blue rams or Kribensis

UGFs are highly efficient biofilters provided you suck the gunk out from underneath them when doing weekly water changes. I used them for years (might tell you when I started keeping fish), and the main problems with them are plants don't do as well and they lose efficiency when cichlids dig.

That said, kribs and rams don't dig much if you have lots of nice caves for them. While I prefer a HOB filter, if you really want the ideal filter for fry of small cichlids get an airpump and a sponge filter. The fry will feed of the organisms that grow on the surface of the sponge - no worry ever about the fry being sucked into it, and...despite the fact they're older technology, they do work very well. You do need to rinse the sponge off in your tank water (the bucket of water you just sucked out of the tank) so you don't destroy the good bacteria but do keep it clean enough to work.

Eric
 
Oops forgot to comment on the fish. This will be a new tank, right? Is your water soft and low pH? If not, go with the kribs - they're hardier anyway. Also, the tank needs to be cycled before adding the fish. If it's not cycled, the odds of rams surviving are essentially nil, kribs would hang in there - they're tough fish.

Eric
 
Good point on the tank and Rams having a hard time tolerating poor water conditions Jay.

As for the UGF I would suggest the HoB or powerhead with a sponge 1st, and then adding a Rugf as a 2nd option. The reverse flow would completely eliminate the entire argument over sucking anything!!

Besides, I prefer the RUGFs over the traditional UGFs and if I could do it all over again that's what I would go with (p.s. Plants do fine I hear from many a relaible source re: rBishop!) ;) I have never used undergravel filters, but I volunteer at our LFS (I just can't get enough!) and the RUGFs are a breeze and she has tanks with all sorts of plants and sizes with every fish she sells. She breeds her guppy feeders in her plant tanks with RUGFs with no issues.
 
i have no experience with kribs whatsoever, but i heard they breed like bunnies.

but i personally think GBRs look a LOT better, and it would be a good challenge to have a good surving fry rate,

the UGF is probably one of the worst ideas.

Mine found a piece of rock to lay the eggs on, but a few buddies of mine have their GBRs constantly dig little pits in the gravel and lay them, so it depends on teh rams. If the UGF doesnt suck the eggs then, it will when the fry are born. The wigglers are barely able to swim and will fall through the gravel, and then be sucked into the UGF.

I personally went with a single sponge fitler for the first 2 weeks, doing almost daily WCs, and then added a small whisper filter on its lowest setting with a foam prefilter on it.
 
I disagree that rams look better, I think kribs are beautiful. Their coloration is more subtle but I prefer it to rams'. I lost my pair today, they loved to dig in the sand, they dug all around their rock cave until they had a sort of cave condo. :( The bred like crazy but always ate the babies. I'm not sure what you meant about live fry, Lukee- kribs are cave spawners; after the eggs hatch they move the wigglers around a few times until the fry are free swimming, then herd the little guys around the tank like the ones in your pic.

If you're planning on keeping other fish and its a smaller tank, I wouldn't go w/ a pair of kribs. They can be... feisty. :p:
 
i really feel like a i have to change to a sponge filter and i thought kribs were live beares (dumb me) do rams eat there babies and whats the chance of the survival rate.
when my water is cycled could i just get 2 random GBR one boy one girl.
would there be a veryy high chance for them to mate
 
Lukee said:
i really feel like a i have to change to a sponge filter and i thought kribs were live beares (dumb me) do rams eat there babies and whats the chance of the survival rate.
when my water is cycled could i just get 2 random GBR one boy one girl.
would there be a veryy high chance for them to mate
Click to expand...

the survival rate pretty much depends on many things... whats in the tank with them, if the pair eat them, keepin up with WCs.

As long as the GBRs are close in size, the male maybe a little larger than the female, there is a pretty high chance for them to mate.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom