Hi! New To Tropicals

[Craig'o]

G'day all,

soooo, i have been a keen fish keeper since i was 14 (now 21) starting off with a humble fish bowel
and 2 comets.

through the years i have up graded tanks, until i finally got bored of goldfish, and turned to
tropicals..

my current set-up is only a 75lt aquarium, with 2 dwarf gourami's 2 angels, 3 clown loaches
and an electric yellow cichlid.

the other day i purchased a 4 ft tank that i will be setting up as an african cichlid tank when me and my fiance
move to our own house very soon...

any advice on how to set-up for cichlids would be much appreciated

ie substrate, driftwood vs rocks etc....

cheers

 

[DJ ArKaDaRkA]

[quote name='Craig'o' post='2255497' date='Jan 27 2009, 11:03 AM']G'day all,

soooo, i have been a keen fish keeper since i was 14 (now 21) starting off with a humble fish bowel
and 2 comets.

through the years i have up graded tanks, until i finally got bored of goldfish, and turned to
tropicals..

my current set-up is only a 75lt aquarium, with 2 dwarf gourami's 2 angels, 3 clown loaches
and an electric yellow cichlid.

the other day i purchased a 4 ft tank that i will be setting up as an african cichlid tank when me and my fiance
move to our own house very soon...

any advice on how to set-up for cichlids would be much appreciated

ie substrate, driftwood vs rocks etc....

cheers[/quote]

i think a clown loach will grow too big and i maybe wrong with this one but so will the angels

 

[Miss Wiggle]

hi there, if you hop over to the african cichlid forum you'll find details there of how to prepare a tank for african cichlids.

have to say i'm also concerned about the stocking of your 75litre tank, the angels need a tank around 110litres minimum and at least 18" tall, the clown loaches will reach 12" long and need to be kept in a group of 6 of them so you're often looking at a tank around 465litres to house them properly. The electric yellow is an african cichli and needs to be housed with other african cichlids and is also too big fro the 75l tank.

I think you need to sit down and have a good think about how you're going to resolve the stocking issues before you worry too much over the new tank.

 

[Craig'o]

the clowns will be going to the new tank, the angels are going to my mates 8 ft tank, and the dwarfs will most likely
be going to a shop.

the cichlid will be part of the cichlid tank.
should have explained that earlier

 

[Miss Wiggle]

not sure how the clown's will fare in an african cichlid tank, you need to get the pH up around 8-8.2 for africans, not all fish can tolerate this so it's not just a tank size issue.

 

[Craig'o]

well glad im asking this questions then, told ya im new to tropicals/cichlids

 

[Miss Wiggle]

No probs, ask over in the loach forum, you'll find someone there who can confirm the pH requirements of the loaches as this may mean you need to have a rethink on what to do with the new tank.

It may mean re-homing some fish that you wanted to keep.