Alot Of Help In One Post *moved*

[deliverance]

first off i would like to thank everyone who has helped me and all who have posted what they know for us "noobies" to learn about this wonderful hobby.


-i was just wondering what i could put in with electric yellow's(i heard they are calm)?
-i would like to use sand since it looks better but i heard that its harder to keep the levels accurate(comments good/bad about sand please).
-i am going to use fake plants since i do not know alot about keeping live plants. I know you need to have a co2 system for real plants and all that stuff.
-my filter is a rena xp3 and everything is going to go into a 55gallon tank. (for the filters i need the following in this order correct?.?.?.?. :
Top
-Microfilters
-BioChem Stars/Ceramic Rings
-BioChem Stars/Ceramic Rings
-Ceramic Rings
-Filter Foam 20
-Filter Foam 30
Bottom


-if you have any fish you can recomend to add to the tank that would be fine with the electric yellow's please post them here.
-i am going to look up the temp, ph levels and all of the rest of the food i should feed them on google tomarrow.

thanks alot, Peter

 

[Fella]

With regards to the live plants, I've succesfully grown java moss, vallis, and amazon swords in my cichlid tanks with no problems whatsoever. Apart from the fish taking the occasional snack on it.

I use standard lighting, sand substrate and no CO2 whatsoever.

I also only use sand in my tanks. It's easy to clean, looks great and is cheaper than gravel if you know where to shop. In comparison with gravel I have found no downsides, except that fish excrement is more obvious.


Good luck with your tank!

 

[Ginge]

I think you should be worring more about rock than plants you needs lots of rocks in one of these tanks for the fish to hide in as the rocks prevent alot of agression in a tank.

 

[freddyk]

-i was just wondering what i could put in with electric yellow's(i heard they are calm)?

Psueotropheus Acei, Iodotropheus Sprengae, and many Aulonocara species work well with electric yellows and will contribute to an active but peaceful tank. Peudotropheus Saulosi is another great addition as well as Cynotilapia Afra. Otherwise check out what you can get locally, but don't buy anything until you are sure it will work in your setup - impulse shopping with these types of fish is a good way to acheive a bad experience with them.

As Ginge already stated hiding spots are important in an mbuna setup, and plants worth nothing more then the owners pleasure. The easiest way to obtain a tank with lots of caves and tunnels for these rock dwelling fish is simply stacking up rocks.

Sand vs. graval is a matter of personal taste. Sand makes it easy for the mbuna to dig through and ultimately leads to a cleaner tank since crud can't sink into it and end up out of sight and mind, but because of this the water column will often have more particulate floating around before it's picked up by a filter. I've found that with good water movement through the use of strong filtration and powerheads, the sand keeps nice and clean with almost no cleaning on my part at all.

 

[deliverance]

i seen a special sand made for cichlids in a magazine i have designed for them. should i get this or will playsand work? also whats a good website to get some fishing stuff from. my friend from work gave me a magazine from thatfishplace and other good sites that you can recomend.

i know from the past with bearded dragons they have corner basking areas and one which go in the center of the tank. what about drift wood? if i get rocks from the hardware store that i work at how can i clean them bake them?

thanks

 

[freddyk]

Sand that is meant for these cichlids is usually something that helps buffer the water to keep the PH up, but otherwise one is as good as another, and for the much cheaper price of it I've always gone with the play sand. Whatever you get just rinse it well first. Rocks can be boiled, baked, or merely rinsed off as I've always done it. Driftwood you may as well stay away from because all it will do is try to bring down the ph, which is opposite of what we want.

 

[deliverance]

thanks for everyones help does anyone know about the filter?

is the following information correct.... i got it off a website
-Temperature: 22 - 28 C; 72 - 83 F
-PH 7.5 - 8.5

EATING

-flake foods, cichlid pellets, freeze-dried bloodworms and small fish

DONT FEED

-live worms or live brine shrimp

 

[freddyk]

Mbuna should not get blood worms or small fish. They can have the occasional brine shrimp or mysis shrimp. PH of 7.5-8.5 is fine, temp of 72--82 is about right, though 76-78 is most ideal.

 

[j.c]

Mbuna should not get blood worms or small fish. They can have the occasional brine shrimp or mysis shrimp. PH of 7.5-8.5 is fine, temp of 72--82 is about right, though 76-78 is most ideal.

another plant that i'm successfuly growing is the dwarf anubuis

 

[deliverance]

how thick sholdl the sand be i was thinking about 2 1/2 - 3 1/2 inches is that to much i know they like to dig. also is it worth using the special sand made for cichlids or can i go to my work and get some play sand?

when u say fish in a 55 gal kept in a school do u mean 1 male and 2 females?

 

[Ginge]

You would be better off with around 1" and yes yoy can just use playsand aslong as it is washed alot. Dont forget before you put it in the tank use a type of sand that you like aswell as what the fish need.

 

[freddyk]

You would be better off with around 1"

Absolutely. You really only need enough to provide a base. A cichlid that would dig through an inch or sand would probably keep going and dig through 3 anyway. If you're worried about glass showing on the bottom you can use silicone glue to paste a layer of sand over the glass first.