Looking for advice about Fish Aquariums

[Nightbreed]

Check to see which fish you might want and these are charts on compatibility issues.

Freshwater: http://www.liveaquaria.com/general/f...lity_chart.cfm
Marine Fish: http://www.liveaquaria.com/general/c...lity_chart.cfm

I am leaning towards African Cichlids, they are pretty cool looking. Looking through Aquabid I see 4 different categories when i click on African Cichlids:

Malawi 319
Tanganyika 234
Victoria 12
Western 22

Are those the areas they come from? Can I get one from one category and a second from a different such as 1 from Malawi and one from Victoria? Just trying to wrap my head around all this so when I am ready I can try and find them locally.

Thanks for all the help!

[Quixon]

Cichlids are not really "easy" to keep in general. They need hard water (Higher PH), and they are fairly aggressive.

The notations you see are different sub-categories of cichlids. The first 3 are lakes in african where those cichlids can be found. "Western" is a form of all-inclusive term used for cichlids found outside the African Rift Lakes.


It isn't as simple as buying 1 from here and 1 from here, and putting them together. There are tons of sub-species that come from each of those areas. Some will completely obliterate any fish you put in with it, and some will be more peaceful. The consensus is to typically stick with 1 biotope (area) per tank.

Cichlids are not the kind of fish you can just purchase and toss in the tank. Some are much easier than others, but I would consult some online forums first before you make the decision to buy.

[Nightbreed]

Gotcha! Thanks!

And I absolutely plan on doing tons of research before buying.

Would Molly's be a better option instead of the Cichlids for my first tank?

[Quixon]

IMO yes.


They are one of the hardiest fish you can buy. They are also VERY peaceful and completely oblivious to other tank mates. They will also breed in the home tank very easily.

You're still going to want to research cycling and filters and what not, but they are VERY easy fish to take care of.

[Nightbreed]

Thanks Quix!

I will be definitely be taking a look around on other fish forums but for some reason many are blocked here at work.

This is going to be part of the little ones birthday gift so I have plenty of time to research what I need.

[AzazaelFenrir]

Hmmm. They have to be coming from somewhere. If you have a deeper sand bed ( >1") that would more than likely be your problem. Phosphates will also bind to calcium carbonate rock if you let crud build up in them. You are using RODI I am assuming?


Definitely get a handle on the phosphates before you start the new tank up. If GFO is not working, the phosphate is bound to something (sandbed or in the rock), or you have phosphates in your tap water. It's easy to get of the sand just by rinsing it really well. If it's bound in the rock you will need to be a bit more aggressive, like organic carbon dosing (sugar, vodka, vinegar, etc).


Look into the manifold dude. You have to up the size of the return pump a little, but you are saving space and power in the long run. You don't have to worry about dumping little power heads in the sump for media, calcium, and nitrate reactors. You don't have to worry about maintenancing all those little pumps either.

And what's up Groz! I quit FFXI like 5-6 months ago, nobody every online and got bored just standing around in town lol.

I think my phosphate problem is in my rocks, which is why the rocks are all getting cooked once I move the stuff to the 10gal. I will keep a bowl of sand in there, just to keep some live, as well as one or two rocks with corals I can't take off.

I just need to do some more research on manifolds. Haven't had time to search on reefcentral for some examples to base mine off of.

[Auspice]

I've had my 75 set up for YEARS with all kinds of cichlids and very rarely do I have problems of fish from different regions picking on each other. I've got plenty of caves and hiding spots for them to cruise around in. My "mentor" in aquarium fish has been keeping cichlids for nearly 30 years and also mixes and doesn't generally have issues.

tl;dr As long as you have caves/rocks/etc for the fish to "live" in, you're probably not going to see problems with aggressive behavior with cichlids.

As far as water conditions go, you can add some baking soda to the tank to raise the pH if your water chemistry is really that far off. Thankfully, the water where I live is really basic so I don't have to adjust the pH at all for my cichlids to be happy.

[Kerberoz]

^ I've seen Oscars and breeding Convicts kept together in a tank with no heating, for years. Not saying you should do it, but cichlids are a lot hardier than they get credit for.

[Nightbreed]

I have been browsing locally for a tank just to get things going and found someone about 10 minutes from me selling a 55 gallon half hex fish tank. It comes with a black wooden stand and light. He is asking $100.

I spoke to him today through email and text and he answered all my questions and offered to help me get everything going. He just moved his fish out of the tank into a bigger setup about 8 days ago. The tank is about 4 years old.

Any thoughts on the price? I think $100 seems very fair plus he is willing to help me out getting started. He said he had 5 tanks and breeds african cichlids so I am sure he has plenty of info that would help me out.

Here is a picture when it was setup:
http://img63.imageshack.us/img63/834/tankum.jpg