Help With My First Cichlids

[Snick]

I am a newbie and i have had a livebearer (swordtail) tank for about 2 months now, and i plan to move onto the next level B). What i plan to do is get a 30-40 gal aquarium and start from there... but will anybody give me some recomendations before I start? after all, when i started with my livebearer tank i though it was going to be easy, but, well i had a few surprises. Any tips, comments, recomendations? Any comment is helpful.
Thnx.

 

[Mr.September15]

Well if you want a chichild for a 30-40 tank. Then your going to have to go with less aggressive chichilds like Electric Yellow Chichilds. I think there not as aggressive as most chichilds. Anywho remember that all chichilds like there water to be harder then acidic, they like the water to be between 7.5-8.0+ I think that its a good Idea to make it with more decorations especially rocks they like to have big heavy rocks to hide behind as well as a sandy bottom, I've heard they tend to move small gravel around with there mouth. Though that going to chichilds arent really going to the next level your proapably skipping a level or something. But if your going into another fish type please do more research on your own. Heres a good link to a site:

www.google.com

-Arrowhead

 

[Snick]

Yeah, I plan to get a tank that size... but how do i control the hardness of the water and stuff? Like what do I add/take away? Im a complete noob to water treatment and stuff , so i have no idea what Ph is and stuff/// the only thing i know about is salinity, ammonia, nitrite and nitride levels.... so... maby someone can helo me out.

 

[Krib Crazy]

Cichlids dont tolerate nitrite at all so before you add any cichlids make sure your tank is fully cycled.

Some good fish would be electric yellow as said in the above you can get jewel cichlids, kribs ( always good for beginers ) , and I have heard of egyptian mouthbrooders being good for the beginners to with small tanks even though I have never had them.

You can add sandstone to harden the water. Dont really put any driftwood because it will eventually reduce the ph. You can also add coral sand it is great at raising the ph.

If you want you can have a couple of hardy plants like amazon sword or java ferns.

Good luck would like to see your tank in the future

 

[Snick]

dont worry, ill post a tank pic when i get one.... ok, lets say that i add sandstone- will the ph go up, and continue to go up, or will it stabilize in time?

 

[Snowie]

For your first cichlid tank its easier to find out what pH your tap water is. If it is very hard (high pH) then it's perfect for Malawi och Tanganyikan cichlids. If it's softer you could go with South American ones. It is possible to lower or increase you pH but for your first tank it's easier if you can just use your tap water.

 

[Snick]

ok, what will be the perfect Ph level for african cichlids?

 

[Krib Crazy]

My ph is 7.8 and my cichlids do great in it I even have a new baby ( The only surviver )