how to stock a cichild tank

[Ben]

im setting up a tang tank 75g with many rock piles, and caves along the back wall made out of guttering, with lava rock stuck on to make it look like a cliff. im stocking with

10 x calvus (probably black or white)
8x cyprichromis leptosoma
6 x synodontis petricola
6x paracyp. nigripinnis
and a pair of julis or 6 younger ones.

how should i add these fish to my tank? should i cycle the tank 1st using something like danios, then add them all at once or should i build them up gradually or will this create aggression probs?
my other question is do i harden the water before i put the danios in or after i take them out after ive cycled the tank?
cheers

 

[Ben]

aslo, any one know any good places to get cichilds mail order to the uk?

 

[firetank]

fish online:

http://www.mrfish.co.uk/acatalog/MR_FISH_Tropical_Fish__1.html

http://www.tropicalfish.org.uk/tropical.htm

HTH

 

[JSchmidt]

With aggressive and/or territorial fish, it's really an advantage to be able to add them all at once. This makes a great case for fishless cycling... you can cycle the tank and then add everyone at once.

Here's a link to the seminal articles on fishless cycling:

http://www.aaquaria.com/aquasource/cycling.shtml
http://www.aaquaria.com/aquasource/cycle2.shtml

HTH,
Jim

 

[Ben]

cheers, i like the fishless cycle idea, got my mum (a teacher) on the job of tracking down pure ammonia from the chemistry lab!

 

[Glenstorm]

I figure I'll piggyback onto this post. . .

I am also starting a second tank and was trying to figure out this question. . . The way I am thinking about it though is to put my new filter on my current tank(yes it is healthy) for a week or two and then move it to the new tank. . . I am prettu sure this will work to establish bacteria in the filter then the new tank.

Am I overlooking anything?

Dan

 

[JSchmidt]

A week or two is an absolute minimum for colonizing the new filter. Three or four weeks would be significantly better.

Jim