how do i set up a african cichlid tank

S

stunt 101

1 fish, 2 fish, red fish, blue fish
Feb 18, 2004
203
0
0
36
Northern VA
Visit site
im looking into setting up a 50 gallon african cichlid tank with one male of each of these fish, yellow lab, electric blue johanni, auratus, socolofi, bumblebee,acei, pleco and some bottom feeders. my question is what do i need to set up a tank for them.
im getting a 50 gallon with lights, filter, heater etc.
do i need alot of rock caves and crevases?
do i need more then one aqua clear 500?
how many air stones/ pumps do i need?
what should i use as the substrate?
what water perameters do these fish like?
what is the recommended temp for these fish?
what should i feed them besides flake food and cichlid pellets?
do these fish like plants fake or real in their aquarium?
anything else special i need to know about these guys?
thank you for your help.
 
The cichlids you want to keep appreciate hard, alkaline water. Do you know the pH, KH and GH of your tap water? Unless your water is quite soft, you probably can get away without doing much or any water modification. Using crushed coral or aragonite sand as a substrate will increase the carbonate hardness (KH) of the water, as well as pH, which the fish will appreciate.

Your fish also need lots of caves and rockwork in which to hide. In my Malawi tanks, I pretty much cover the floor of the tank with carefully stacked rock piles to allow lots of hiding holes. If you don't, your fish will fight more and they won't coexist as peacefully. (Cover the bottom of the tank with plexiglass or plastic 'eggcrate', then stack your rocks, then add the substrate. These fish will dig, and you don't want rock sitting on substrate, because it will be undermined when the fish dig.)

You don't need any air pumps or air stones. A single AC500 is probably sufficient. I prefer several smaller filters over a single big one to provide redundancy in case one goes south. A couple AC300s would do the trick. The 500 should be OK it that's all you can afford.

I keep my mbuna tanks at 78-80 degrees F, and I sometimes have a few fake plants. Most of my Malawi tanks are just substrate ane rockwork.

I feed New Life Spectrum cichlid food, Hikari Cichlid Excel and Hikari Algae Wafers to my mbuna. I avoid standard flakes and any food high in protein and/or fat, as they seem to cause bloat in mbuna. They also love natural veggies: zuchinni, lettuce, spinach.

For your setup, I'd consider ditching the pleco and getting some synodontis catfish (e.g., Syn. petricola or Syn. multipunctatus). The synos are good bottom feeders and are much less messy than plecos. Plecos are poop factories, and you have a fairly small tank for the cichlids you want to keep. Cichlids are messy too, so no point in having a pleco around to add to the bioload.

HTH,
Jim
 
My friend has built an interesting looking tank using sections of black PVC tubing. The fish love to hide in the tubes and generally stake claim to their own tube. When adding new fish though it is essential that you move everything around or else the new fish will get beat to death.
 
if my lfs does not sell crushed coral or aragonite sand could i buy some coral and just place that in the tank for a ph buffer?
my water out of the tap is.....
GH- 150 hard.
KH- 100
PH- 7.0
 
I don't believe a hunk of coral has enough surface area to sufficiently buffer the water. Surely your LFS would order you a bag if you asked... if not, time to shop for a new LFS or order online.

Jim
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom