African Cichlid Tank?

[JoeGuzzo]

soo i had a tank with a bunch of dwarf gouramis in it, unfortunately the past week they all died for some reason.

the only fish that survived in my tank are my couple bloodfin tetras, them and my snail.

with most of my fish dead i was thinking about starting over. i was thinking of making my tank an african cichlid tank or majority african cichlids. im also wondering on how it is to care for them, and what are good tank mates for african cichlids as well.
the tank i plan on putting them in is a 55 gallon with sand substrate and aquaclear 70 filter

 

[onidrase]

soo i had a tank with a bunch of dwarf gouramis in it, unfortunately the past week they all died for some reason.

the only fish that survived in my tank are my couple bloodfin tetras, them and my snail.

with most of my fish dead i was thinking about starting over. i was thinking of making my tank an african cichlid tank or majority african cichlids. im also wondering on how it is to care for them, and what are good tank mates for african cichlids as well.
the tank i plan on putting them in is a 55 gallon with sand substrate and aquaclear 70 filter

You might need a slightly bigger filter, but I'm not exactly sure. It also depends on what kind of african cichlid setup you do.

Good tank mates for african cichlids are more african cichlids or synodontis catfish species. Some plecos might also work.

You'd need to change out the sand you have with aragonite sand, which will buffer the pH and hardness and keep it up high, where the african cichlids like it. Because of their high pH preference, they tend to not fit in/others tend to not fit in with them unless they're from a similar lake. (unless they're kribensis species or jewel cichlids, there might be a few others which like regular water conditions.) Also, as you can tell by members setups, lots of rocks are needed for them to claim territories.

that scratches the surface, but I'm just starting off as well.

 

[JoeGuzzo]

im noy sure yet if i even want to do african cichlids, its just something i was considering because they have a wide variation of colors. and i knew there was something about them that made it hard to find tank mates for i didnt know it was because of the ph though i heard that theyre somewhat aggressive.

its so hard to decide what i want to do especially with the 55 gallon i know i have a lot of choices with this tank because i can pretty much put any type of fish in it. i definitely want a pleco in my tank thats for sure, other then their obvious desirable cleaning skills i just think theyre awsome, but i was also really considering putting in kuhli loaches, theyre pretty sweet too.

and why did you just start up an african cichlid tank??

 

[onidrase]

im noy sure yet if i even want to do african cichlids, its just something i was considering because they have a wide variation of colors. and i knew there was something about them that made it hard to find tank mates for i didnt know it was because of the ph though i heard that theyre somewhat aggressive.

its so hard to decide what i want to do especially with the 55 gallon i know i have a lot of choices with this tank because i can pretty much put any type of fish in it. i definitely want a pleco in my tank thats for sure, other then their obvious desirable cleaning skills i just think theyre awsome, but i was also really considering putting in kuhli loaches, theyre pretty sweet too.

and why did you just start up an african cichlid tank??

I'm turning my 37 gallon into a mini tanganyikan community, it's just something different. haven't tried it yet, so I'm gonna give it a go. I love julidochromis species, which is what got me in the door.

kuhli loaches aren't going to be possible, they like the exact opposite of the hard, alkaline water that african cichlids prefer. If you want kuhlis, you could look into new world cichlids of small to medium size, such as keyhole cichlids, apistogramma species, rainbow cichlids, etc. African cichlid tanks should have a ph between 8 and 9, and kuhli loaches like it between 6 and 7.

Aggression does have another thing to it, but keep in mind that a lot of central american cichlids are quite aggressive as well, and they still tend to do fine with fish of other species. It's mostly a water condition issue which keeps old world with old world. I'm being quite serious when saying you're limited to pretty much other africans and synodontis species.

 

[JoeGuzzo]

no i believe you i knew there was something about african cichlids that made them hard to keep, with other fish anyway.

but thats a good idea honestly i have noidea why that thought didnt even come to my mind.. maybe ill look at new world cichlids, any species you reccomend?
i really want a sort of colorful tank, thats why i was thinking about african cichlids

and thats nice, that would be cool if you could let me know how that works out for you

 

[onidrase]

no i believe you i knew there was something about african cichlids that made them hard to keep, with other fish anyway.

but thats a good idea honestly i have noidea why that thought didnt even come to my mind.. maybe ill look at new world cichlids, any species you reccomend?
i really want a sort of colorful tank, thats why i was thinking about african cichlids

and thats nice, that would be cool if you could let me know how that works out for you

definitely look into apistogramma species, you could do trios or a male of each species, probably like 8 different species total in a 55 gallon tank if you do all males, though with trios you should limit yourself to one species. all apistos are very colorful and peaceful. My favorites are apistogramma borelli, apistogramma cacatuoides, and apistogramma hongsloi, but there are hundreds of others out there you can look into.

You could also look into bolivian rams, although they're somewhat matty in color in the LFS, with proper care they are quite stunning. As said before, rainbow cichlids are great, or you could look into some less common morphs of angelfish, which are often wonderful as well.

these are all fish which would be much more compatible with what your looking for, and you could add a school of glow light tetras and/or cardinal tetras to add some movement and extra color to the tank, as well as some striped kuhli loaches for the bottom.

 

[JoeGuzzo]

thank you so much this has been extremely helpful you have no idea now i have so much stuff running through my head on what to do.
but the names you gave me they seem very long which leads me to assume these are the scientific names of these fish? i looked them up but cant figure out if they have other names.. i only ask because the common name for fish are usually easier to remember then the scientific names.

and like i said i have a few bloodfin tetras left so ill probably throw them in there with them..not the most colorful fish but i cant just get rid of them, also theyre the only ones that stayed alive when every other fish in my tank died so im sort of proud of those little guys!

 

[onidrase]

thank you so much this has been extremely helpful you have no idea now i have so much stuff running through my head on what to do.
but the names you gave me they seem very long which leads me to assume these are the scientific names of these fish? i looked them up but cant figure out if they have other names.. i only ask because the common name for fish are usually easier to remember then the scientific names.

and like i said i have a few bloodfin tetras left so ill probably throw them in there with them..not the most colorful fish but i cant just get rid of them, also theyre the only ones that stayed alive when every other fish in my tank died so im sort of proud of those little guys!

you could try looking up "cockatoo cichlid" and "umbrella cichlid" for a few apisto species, I use the scientific names because they don't tend to have common names, since there are so many different types. All of them are very colorful and beautiful, which is much more up your alley than the african cichlids imo. Keep in mind that most africans are also listed by their scientific name.

 

[JoeGuzzo]

well im still going to do some research on them, they seem like really good, pretty fish from what ive seen so far, especially for what im looking for. i supposed im just going to have to get acquainted with their scientific names but the more i look at it this seems like the road i probably want to go down

 

[BigTuna]

I'm most likely going to start over and do a Malawi tank. My pH from the town water is quite high to begin with. I'm constantly battling pH weekly right now, so it would be better for a Cichlid tank anyhow.

Can someone tell me if my fine gravel substrate and live plants going to be a problem? I'd hate to have to remove the plants, but I guess I would just have to be more creative with the rocks I use, if that's the case.

 

[JoeGuzzo]

I'm most likely going to start over and do a Malawi tank. My pH from the town water is quite high to begin with. I'm constantly battling pH weekly right now, so it would be better for a Cichlid tank anyhow.

Can someone tell me if my fine gravel substrate and live plants going to be a problem? I'd hate to have to remove the plants, but I guess I would just have to be more creative with the rocks I use, if that's the case.

well that is one thing im sure of that cichlids do love a soft substrate, im pretty sure anywayy

 

[BigTuna]

so fine gravel will be a problem?

 

[JoeGuzzo]

so fine gravel will be a problem?

no a fine gravel would be good sand is much better but a fine gravel should be good aswell

 

[onidrase]

I'm most likely going to start over and do a Malawi tank. My pH from the town water is quite high to begin with. I'm constantly battling pH weekly right now, so it would be better for a Cichlid tank anyhow.

Can someone tell me if my fine gravel substrate and live plants going to be a problem? I'd hate to have to remove the plants, but I guess I would just have to be more creative with the rocks I use, if that's the case.

all african cichlid tanks that aren't jewels or kribs should have aragonite sand substrate, just to keep the water hardness and pH consistently high imo. The plants may also be ripped up depending on the fish you get and the types of plants you have.

 

[BigTuna]

if water is the concern, mine is naturally hard and pH is high. Annoying now, but will be much better for a cichlid tank.