Cichlids Newbie Advice Sought

[Andypalf]

Hi everyone. I've got a 125 litre (3ft) tank that's been a planted community tank for a year now. It's my first tank and it's been very succesful. I did what I thought was the sensible thing and chose hardy fish to keep. I love the tank and it's inhabitants to bits but I feel it's time for a change. This is what I'm thinking...

Change over from gravel to sand. With time I want to remove the plants and rehome the fish. Then keep the two juvenile BN plecs I have (both female) and add 3 cichlids. I haven't trawled through all the options but something along the lines of two Yellow Labs and another fish (perhaps something contrasting in colour).

One thing to mention is that my water is very hard. Are there species suitable or a way of softening my water?

Thanks in advance for the advice all.

 

[kj23502]

If I did my calc right, thats about 33 us gallons. That's not big enough for your type of cichlid your choosing. I don't know very about them, but I believe a pair Kribensis would be alright in there!

Krib link

 

[Andypalf]

Well I think the Yellow Labs are too large. Incidently, my BN plecs are starting to get a little competetive over food so I think it's time to move them onto a larger tank.

So having done a little more reading....get a Gold Nugget Plec (or a Green Phantom if I'm lucky) and either a pair of Kribs or a pair of Cockatoo Dwarf Cichlids. Has anyone got any other ideas?

Also, and probably most importantly....what water perameters do I need to aim for to keep these fish?

 

[pirate monkey]

I live in a hard water area, think the dH(?) was about 16 and pH 8.0

I keep kribs in my community tank, if you buy them locally, they will be already adapted to the hard alkaline water, so won't have a problem in your tank. (in fact they're usually locally bred).

There are a few methods to soften your water but unless you are keeping delicate species I believe as long as the pH is constant your fish will be fine.

Kribs are great dwarf cichlids, they have lovely personalities, and are fasciating to watch when they're courting! Apparently they're easy to breed, but I'm still waiting...

Just a word of caution, i have a blue phantom plec, who lived under a bit of bogwood in my community, but the kribs decided they wanted the bogwood to be their territory too, so our phantom ended up with tatty fins (never budged tho!) and we had to move him.

If you go with kribs, they like coconut shells to hide in, but make sure there is enough territory for both the kribs and the plec to claim as their own!!

HTH

 

[Andypalf]

Thanks for the advice. My water is extremely hard so I'll look into whether it's best to always soften it or try and source fish that are already aclimatised to it.

Well, the tank layout that I'm looking at is going to be very simple....3 ft tank with sand, one medium size piece of mopani wood and some sort of cave with a few pebbles. Hopefully the wood and cave will offer some territory markers and the kribs and plec can get on.