New To The Keeping Fish Game

[lauren_davina]

Hi guys!
Im lauren im new to this site. Me and my boyfriend are very very interested in african cichlids and would love some advice on the best tank set up. We are planning on buying a juwel tank very soon, but due to financial issues and the fact we live with his mum and dad havent got round to picking a tank up yet. His dad already has two tanks one a community tank, and the other houses a pair (of possibly breeding) discus. My blokes brother in law has his own tank with malawi cichlids in it, but i would like to learn about them somemore before we invest in a tank. Can anyone recommend any good books, or give some advice on them Also any advice you can give on the maintainance of a tank with sand would be very useful.
Also does anyone know where you can buy cheap(ish) juwel tanks from>>>??? Pm me if u know of anywhere
thanks
lauren (and sean)

 

[WaterBender1995]

save your money and get a place you and sean can call your own first

 

[chr15_8]

welcome to the forum.

do you know how to cycle a tank?


some usefull links to start you cichlid tank - best of all there free

The Mbuna Aquarium

some pictures for inspiration

what sort of cichlids are you going for?

what size tank are you after? the only thing i know of that arnt any good is the juwel internal filters. most people rip it out and replace it with an external filter. so bare this in mind when you thinking of the price of the tank.

in my tank all i do maintainance wise is give the sand a light vacum and drain about 20% of the water once a week. if your going for mbuna cichlids you need lots of rock aswell for them.

chris

 

[lauren_davina]

thank u for the links and advice
ane me n sean cannot move out for next 3 years due to my training to be a nurse

 

[adpierin11]

Don't you just love the smart *** comments. Makes people really want to come here and look for help.

I just started my first Malawi tank, and I love it. If you are thinking strictly Mbuna then a tank 55 gallons or larger is a must. Anything smaller IMO will not help with the aggression. Cichlid-forum is where I go to learn about different species of cichlids. Great website.
African cichlid tanks need a high pH, in my case the water coming out of my faucet was about 7.2, and african cichlids need anywhere 7.5-8.4. But don't go adding chemicals in your water to higher the ph. As long as the ph stays at a stable rate they will be fine. All I did to the new tank is added crush coral as the substrate, and that shoots the pH way high, and it will keep it high.
They live in a rocky habitat so plenty of caves and rocks will keep the aggression down, and make it easier for fish to escape attacks. If you want plants I would only go with fake ones. Most plants either the Mbunas will eat or tear them apart.
Also with cichlids you almost want to overstock the tank, which once again will keep the aggression down. If you only had two, one fish would constantly be picked on by the other, and would eventually die. So more fish in the tank will make it harder to establish a pecking order. You will know who the alpha is, but there will be so many fishies he'll have a hard time choosing just one to pick on.
You have two decisions to make once you decide on what fish you like. You could do 1 male to every 3-4 females (tell you why later) or all males. I personally went with all males. They seem to be less aggressive when there aren't any females to chase, IMO. And the reason you want more females is so the males can't pick on the female and stress her out, which will kill her.
Since this will be your first tank I would strongly suggest getting some Yellow Labs. They are an easy species to take care of and very hardy. And their nice yellow color looks great in any tank. And they are the least aggressive, relatively speaking. Once you figure out what size tank you are going to get, it will be easier to tell you what kind of cichlids to look at and how many you can keep.
And there is tons of stuff on the web that will teach you a great deal about cichlids. Your first step is correct in getting information on caring for a tank and learning about the species instead of automatically going out and picking out some fish and hoping for the best.

Hopefully you know about cycling a tank. If not let me know and I will help you out with that too. Hope what I said helps some! Good luck!

 

[lauren_davina]

thanks for that.
one question though wot on earth is the smart *** comment thing meant to mean>>

 

[chr15_8]

i think he/she was joking? wouldnt worry about it either way i still live at home.

have you orderd the tank yet? if so what you getting?

chris

 

[lauren_davina]

we havent ordered one yet but think we lookin at the juwel one of the the rio ones

 

[adpierin11]

I was talking about the guy who said save your money and buy a house or something....