Plant & Cichlid question

zmazza

nano r33f 4 u
Feb 21, 2006
114
0
0
I'm starting up a new planted tank, but I have some worries. I don't have an RO filter yet, so my pH is going to stay at around 8.3-8.4. It's that high out of the tap. I want to have a nice planted tank, and I've already got the CO2, a Rena XP2 canister filter, and a 65 watt pc light fixture. All this is going on a 29 gallon. I had originally wanted to soften the water and keep some tetras / angelfish / discus, but, if I we're to keep the hard water, what would you recommend as far as cichlids? I don't think I could keep much else in water like that. Are all cichlids plant eaters?

What other fish or plants would you recommend?

Thanks.
 
Sounds to me like your water water would be fine for (Rift lake) Africans. Have little experience with those myself, so can't speak to the plant issue. My CA's and SA's make tryng to keep plants an exercise in futility.
 
I've tried keeping angels OVER and OVER and never have any luck with them at all. They usually die within a few days. I figured if I acclimated them right, they'd be fine. How hard is your water?
 
Absolutely. It's like I remove ALL the fish that we're in there for MONTHS with no problems, do a small water change, acclimate the angels for an hour or so, and then two to three days later they start to get listless and then I find them stuck to the filter. I don't think I've had an angel to last a week. Same with plecostomuses. Not sure what I'm doing wrong. Maybe I'm feeding the wrong foods to the pleco. No telling. I've always wanted to keep those, and angels as well, but never have any luck what so ever.
 
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