has anyone ever tryed them? they seem pretty darn cool, especially the tankynikas, like the calvis with the big mouth and the ruby red males are so nice. please share your experiances with em 
i might switch to cichlids, what do you think?
- Thread starter Hans
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Sounds good to me. I have always had nice experiences with the Tanganyika breeds because they afford a wide range of combinations. A large number of them are on the smaller side, so you can school them in tanks of under 50g. I also like that there is a good number of both tranquil and agressive species, so you can do a lot of things depending on your preferences. Also, they tend to be nice and hardy, which is always a plus.
ya they are tuff as nails in our store, they are NEVER sick
also, could i keep my german and blue rams in teh same tank as them? they are pretty small, but the ciclids i would be getting would be even smaller
also, could i keep my german and blue rams in teh same tank as them? they are pretty small, but the ciclids i would be getting would be even smaller
Ive personally always like the malawi species...i think other than saltwater that they are some of the most colorful and beautiful fish around. Most of the species is pretty hardy and for the most part they tolerate eachother fairly well. Make sure your filtration is up to par, and keep your water hard!
yea i figure its perfect for me because my water is pretty hard and ph is pretty high, so would i have to add like crushed coral to keep teh ph higher then about 7.5? i was thinking i could just fill the baskets in the 330 with some instead of littering my gravel with it
Yeah I do not think the rams will pose a problem, it should be fine. They max out around 3 or 4 inches, correct? They are peaceful with similarly small fish, so I think it would be alright. The PH should be on the high side, 7.5 should work if that is what you are comfortable with.
Different Cichlids require different conditions depending on whether they are old world or new world species. Some prefer hard high PH water and some prefer soft, low PH water. Some can be kept in community tanks and some cannot. Some species of Cichlid can live over 220 years and some can get a foot or more in size so make sure to read up on the ones you want to get and make sure that you know what their needs are. As far as fish go Cichlids usually have a lot more personality that most fish.
Alex
Alex
If your gonna go to a rift lake tank, I would strongly reccomend against putting your rams in there. First the water should be hard and alkaline for the africans, rams like soft acidic and quite warm water. The africans don't like the water over 80. Rams, though seem to have quite the attitude, I don't think could stand up to the rift lake cichlids. My sister's J. transcriptus or Lelupi's would simply kick the crap outta my rams. Rift lake cichlids have attitude, fairly aggressive, and are tough as nails, the rams wouldn't deal with that well. Just the water condition issue would keep me from putting rams in with rift lake cichlids, they are on the totally opposite side of the scale, be kinda like tryin to put Discus in with Frontosas.
I have to agree with my brother. I tried keeping my older transcriptus with a pair of kribensis that were larger than him, and he kicked them all around the tank and back. Not to mention that I have read a few places that kribs can kick rams around. So, if the transcriptus can kick around the kribs and the kribs can kick around the rams... then the transcriptus would probably kill the rams, right?
While 7.5 might be okay for the rams, Tangs (like the calvus's mentioned) need higher pH, I do believe the 8 should be the minimum in most cases; however, I can say they can adapt to lower pHs from personal experience.
Here's what rams like for water:
pH between 6 & 7.9 (depends on what the breeder used)
gH, between 2-(probably) 10
Temperature, they do better with the temperature above 80
Here's what tananyikans like:
pH between 8 & 9
gH between 12 & 20
Temperature, best at somewhere between 75-80F
Mainy, rift lake cichlids and any new world dwarf cichlid are simply not compatible due to the different requirements for water.
While 7.5 might be okay for the rams, Tangs (like the calvus's mentioned) need higher pH, I do believe the 8 should be the minimum in most cases; however, I can say they can adapt to lower pHs from personal experience.
Here's what rams like for water:
pH between 6 & 7.9 (depends on what the breeder used)
gH, between 2-(probably) 10
Temperature, they do better with the temperature above 80
Here's what tananyikans like:
pH between 8 & 9
gH between 12 & 20
Temperature, best at somewhere between 75-80F
Mainy, rift lake cichlids and any new world dwarf cichlid are simply not compatible due to the different requirements for water.