Need Help, Lots Of Help, For New African Tank

[jeffatus]

I am starting my research into setting up a African Cichlid tank over the next few months. I have started reading posts in various forums to get what knowledge I can about my new hobby, and it will be some time before I actually buy fish....actually, all I have done so far is purchase a fish tank (75 gallons).

So....if you can offer advice on any of the following, I greatly appreciate it:

Filter: I was thinking an Eheim 2217 (1000 liters/hr - or maybe 250? gallons/hr); would I need anything else? I am leaning away from an undergravel since I do not know what kind of fish I am going to get or if they will dig.

Substrate/Decor: I saw some pictures of African Setups that had crushed coral or sand that looked really nice. I also saw pics of ocean rock that were lightly colored (tan?) that looked nice, it was one of the first pictures in this thread: http/www.fishforums.net/content/African-...-Cichlid-Tanks/ Can I safely assume that there is no salt left in the ocean rock or crushed coral?

Lighting: I saw an African setup a few years back where the fish looked incredible, the guy told me that he spent some good money for the lighting. I would like to have enough light to show off the fish, but not break my bank. Could I also have a night/moon light? Any suggestions?

Finally, I do not know much about African's even though I have had fish since I was a kid. I enjoy the bright colors (yellows, blues, etc), but I used to have a 55 gallon with just 3 Brichardi and a little Blue Lobster (crayfish?) that was awesome. I really enjoyed letting the fishes personality's come out. I do not want to overcrowd the fish tank, but I would like more fish than I had in the 55 gallon a few years back. I am guessing that it is best to keep African's with other fish from the same lake. Could someone give me a rough overview of the differences between the lakes? For examply, are fish from lake "X" not as brightly colored, but easier going or more personable, etc. Which do you find the most rewarding for looks/personality/show?

If you can point to an article or website that has information that I am looking for, that would be a great help. I will continue to lurk on these forums to find out what I can. Are there other good websites/forums that would be helpful?

Thanks again for any advice you have to offer.

Jeff

 

[darrel69]

Hi...

You are going to need additional filteration, yes. For African's, you need to turn the whole of your tank water over at least 10times. More towards 15 if you plan to overstock for aggression issues ect... If your tank is 75gal, then thats 284litres i think ??? if so, you'll need two or more filters, that together turn at least 2840 litre per hour.

Also, undergravel filters are generally avoided, but i think some people do use them with Africans. I wouldn't personally.

Tan coloured ocean rock ?? Its proberbly algae thats grown on them. I never used ocean rock, but i dont think there would be any salt. I guess it depends were you got it from.. from a marine set-up for instance may have bits of salt. Not sure ..

Im not too good with lighting at the moment. Im currently trying to get my own right. Lighting can be abit tricky IMO becuase not enougth and your tank looks dull.. and not its best. Too much, and it drowns out your fish's colour, whilst making your fish uneasy at the same time... I heard marine bulbs look good though... Also, i dont see/or know nothing wrong with having moon light.

I dont think your suppose to mix lakes, however some people do successfully... Lake Malawi Mbuna can be nicely coloured but can also be very aggressive!! (shouldn't have many problems in a tank your size thought). Peacocks are beautifully coloured, not as aggressive as Mbuna, and can look absolutely stunning at times. Haps are nice but generally grow BIG.

Im not too familiar with Lake Tanganyikan ot Lake Victoria, but i do know that Lake Tanganyikan has some really species that are suited to big tanks such as Frontasa or the Tropheus species (which i think are quite aggressive and should be kept in large numbers)

Btw... how do plan on cycling your tank ?? Youve got plenty of time to do a fishless cycle if dont you plan on introducing fish for a cppl of months.

Hope this helps...

 

[jeffatus]

Darrel- I have not given too much thought to how I will cycle the tank. I have noticed a lot of posts relating to it, and I know it needs to be done. I was probably thinking of getting a couple hardy fish to start out, even if that means they are not what I wanted and need to take them back to the store. I have a three year old and it will kill him to have a big fist tank with no fish.....oh, I was going to let the tank sit for a week before I put ANY fish in. I have kept a lot if fish in the past and I don't think I have killed any by introducing too early. I usually just start out slow and almost never overstock. Are Africans that much more sensitive compared to other freshwater fish?

I thought it was interesting to hear you mentioned keeping large numbers to cut down aggression. I guess that makes sense that a fish won't know who to go after next if there are too many fish. I am not big on that though, I would prefer to give them some room.

thanks for your reply

 

[darrel69]

Are Africans that much more sensitive compared to other freshwater fish?

Not really, They seem to be quite hardy. Its just nice not to have to deal with the big waters changes everyday or so to keep stress levels down on the fish.

I thought it was interesting to hear you mentioned keeping large numbers to cut down aggression. I guess that makes sense that a fish won't know who to go after next if there are too many fish. I am not big on that though, I would prefer to give them some room.

thanks for your reply

Overstocking all depends on what fish you decide to get. If you decide on the more peaceful species, you shouldn't need to overstock, especially in a tank of your size.

I agree, i also prefer a tank with fish that have room.

 

[dthoffsett]

Filter: I was thinking an Eheim 2217 (1000 liters/hr - or maybe 250? gallons/hr); would I need anything else? I am leaning away from an undergravel since I do not know what kind of fish I am going to get or if they will dig.
Darrel pointed out, it is best to have a tank turn over of 10+ times per hour.

Substrate/Decor: I saw some pictures of African Setups that had crushed coral or sand that looked really nice. I also saw pics of ocean rock that were lightly colored (tan?) that looked nice, it was one of the first pictures in this thread: [URL="http/www.fishforums.net/content/African-...-Cichlid-Tanks/"]http/www.fishforums.net/content/African-...-Cichlid-Tanks/[/URL] Can I safely assume that there is no salt left in the ocean rock or crushed coral?
Unless you buy Live Sand, sand marketed for marine tanks (crushed coral, aragonite sand) doesn't contain salt. And again, unless you get Live Rock any ocean rock is basically dead and there doesn't contain sand.

Lighting: I saw an African setup a few years back where the fish looked incredible, the guy told me that he spent some good money for the lighting. I would like to have enough light to show off the fish, but not break my bank. Could I also have a night/moon light? Any suggestions?
I'm not the right person to ask on lighting, I just use the standard lights that came with my tank (I also have a 75) and am happy with the fishs' coloring.

Finally, I do not know much about African's even though I have had fish since I was a kid. I enjoy the bright colors (yellows, blues, etc), but I used to have a 55 gallon with just 3 Brichardi and a little Blue Lobster (crayfish?) that was awesome. I really enjoyed letting the fishes personality's come out. I do not want to overcrowd the fish tank, but I would like more fish than I had in the 55 gallon a few years back. I am guessing that it is best to keep African's with other fish from the same lake. Could someone give me a rough overview of the differences between the lakes? For examply, are fish from lake "X" not as brightly colored, but easier going or more personable, etc. Which do you find the most rewarding for looks/personality/show?
For a very quick overview: Lake Malawi has three basic groups of cichlids, mbuna, haps, and peacocks.
Mbuna - very brightly colored, are generally 6" or smaller, range in temperment from mildly aggressive to tank killers, probably the most popular African Cichlids.
Haps - Males have very beautiful coloration, females tend to be drab. They range in size from 4" to over 2 feet. Range in temperment from peaceful to hyper-aggressive.
Peacocks - only Aulonocara species (haps), again males brightly colored while females are drab, mildly aggressive.
This article gives you a more indepth look: [URL="http/www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/haps_vs_mbuna.php"]http/www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/haps_vs_mbuna.php[/URL]
I'm not very knowlegable about Lake Tanganikya or Lake Victoria, so I'll give you some more links.
[URL="http/www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/introduction_list.php"]http/www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/introduction_list.php[/URL]


And here's another good link for helping decide what and how many to stock.
[URL="http/www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/cookie_cutter_75g.php"]http/www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/cookie_cutter_75g.php[/URL]

My best suggestion is to go to your LFS and write down all of the fish you like, then post on here and we can help you with stocking and compatability.

Also, I highly recommend fishless cycling, here's a link to several articles.
[URL="http/www.fishforums.net/content/Tropical-Chit-Chat/73365/How-to-Do-a-Fishless-Cycle/"]http/www.fishforums.net/content/Tropical...Fishless-Cycle/[/URL]

 

[Talleyrand]

I buy 3-4 white cloud feeders for $.15 a piece and toss em in. Then just place the filter media from an existing tank in the new tank for a week or so. Bada bing, cycled tank.
I keep a mixture of Peacocks and Mbuna. They are quite colorful fish. When I add a new fish I always move around the rocks in the tank. The existing fish spend so much time figuring out who's king of what rock, they leave the new guy alone.
I used crushed coral for sub strata, to harden the water. I only have a Penguin 400 power filter on my 55 gallon, with weekly water changes it seems to do the job. I have rocks that I gathered from the back yard stacked up for "decoration". I'm too cheap to pay $20 for a fake rock.

 

[dogboy]

hi im not a expert on fish but i do keep malawi and tanganyika cichlids

firstly go for malawi, they are easier especially if you havent kept cichlids before. haps, Aulonocara or mbuna its all personal preference, i have all 3 in a community tank although i do seem to keep buying mbuna. over stocking is a good way to cut aggression with these fish, gives the really dominant fish more targets!! and yes you may have aggression problems. i had a colony of melanochromis maingano breeding happily then suddenly, overnight, 2 battered and dying fish! synodontis catfish and plecos also do well with cichlids and i also have 8 tiger barbs in 1 tank which keeps the hyperdominant male busy chasing them and gives his harem a little bit of peace.

substrate can be anything really, they do like to dig , i have coral sand in some tanks, this is prob best as it helps buffer the water and keeps it more alkaline and hard which they like (ph arround 8 is best although mine are happy with just over 7!) i also have dolomite sand from a local garden supplies store which buffers a bit but not as well as coral sand but lots cheaper! and i also have normal river pebbles with zero buffer ability.

rocks can also help with buffering, i use limestone, locally aquired from roadsides or beaches. slate is also good and great for making caves which is essential for mbunas especially. some people use plants such as vallis, java fern or anubias but they get dug up too often in my tanks so i stopped bothering with them although i might have another go soon!!

to me your filter sounds ok, i have a 200L (53G) tank with about 20 cichlids and catfish run by an old fluval 850L/hour and its all hunky dory with 1/4 water changes every 2 weeks or so. lots of people will shoot me down in flames here and i should probably have more filtration but the waters good and the fish are happy and breeding.

for lighting i use 2 types og globe one is a Sylvania Aquastar, this is a daylight type flouro with lots of red and blue ( i think) with this i also have a second globe on some tanks wich is an actinium blue (or something like that) which is a really blue light that makes the fish look great. your LFS will help more there .

good luck and enjoy