Considering setting up cichlid tank

[Jeff1192]

Ok so when we moved I had to tear down my 90 gallon planted and I ended up selling off the tank so I wouldn't be storing an empty tank for a long time and through multiple moves. I'm hoping to have a big tank 75-90 gallon up and running maybe this spring after the move is done and the basement is finished.

I'm thinking of trying my hand at cichlids this time. I have never tried them other than some South American ones before. Plus my water is pretty hard so that will help. I definitely want to try Africans but not sure where to start. I have been fascinatedby tropheus since the lecture the club had a few years ago. But not sure if they're a great choice for a starter African.

I like really researching before divin into something new with fish so I figured I'd get the ball rolling now and get some people's suggestions.

Thanks

Jeff

[1macuser]

Hi Jeff1192,

I've been running cichlid tank for a few years now and love it, I think it's the closest thing to salt water cause you get some great colors in the fish without the cost of salt water.

If your water is hard then you are looking at the right type of fish to get.
Here is a good link http://www.cichlidrecipe.com/crindx.htm for you to do some research
and figure out what type of Cichilds to get covers pretty much everything you need to know about setting up your tank and go from there.

If you need and info, don't be shy ask away...that's what we are all here for

[sas]

Wonderful, great to see you back in the hobby.

There are so many different cichlids the options are endless and they are so
entertaining.
Can't wait to see what you decide on. 

[robt18]

Tropheus aren't too bad; like all fish they have their requirements and if you meet them they'll be fine. Sure, they're a little more sensitive than others, but their requirements aren't too hard to meet. BIG issue is that they're strict vegetarians. If you feed them meat you'll surely end up with bloat and a lot of loss. Great, super rewarding fish to keep and I don't think you'd have any problems with them.

[exv152]

Love the topic. I personally have not ventured down this hobby path, but I intend to and have done some research. First, I would suggest purchasing all juveniles so the aggression is not imbalanced, because they will eventually become aggressive, it's in their DNA. I would go with the largest tank you can get, nothing smaller than a 55 or 75, because the extra space helps reduce aggression. Look forward to seeing what you come up with.

[robt18]

Have fun checking out the 4 types of tropheus and the 9000 variants

[Jeff1192]

So one of the reasons that I am considering cichlids is that my water is naturally hard (gH and kH of  12-15). The pH is usually low 7s so I know that would need to be boosted a bit. However, I'm not a fan of water additives. I don't like playing around with water chemistry with additives, I find it's just a ticking time bomb waiting to go off. From what I've read the best way to boost the pH a bit is with substrate or using limestone. Anyone have a preference or opion on which is preferable; using substrate or limestone rock, to boost pH, or does it not matter?

Ideally I think I would prefer to have black sand, a lot of rock work, some root like driftwood and some cichlid safe plants (anubias, java fern, african fern, ect) for decoration. I can't have a tank without plants...haha.

Thanks,

Jeff

[1macuser]

Sure sounds like you are doing your homework...that's great.
Limestone is favorite it buffers the water to the proper Ph, another option would be to add crushed coral as a base layer before adding substrate on top but the cichlids will move everything around on you so you can add crushed coral in a nylon bag and hide it behind some stone work.
If your lucky enough to find some real Texas holy rock then your laughing as its limestone that looks awesome but very $$$.  Anubis works great in my tank the fish leave it alone and it grapples to the stones really well.

[Fishnut]

I have a tank that requires a higher PH and I use Tulfa Rock.  It looks like Lava rock only it's beige.  On black gravel it's going to look like a huge contrast though...I have mine on a more natural colour gravel.  So far it works really well.  I don't have to play around with additives at all and it's been a few years.

Did the speaker about the tropheus say that they should be kept in a species tank?  That's one of the things that came to mind when I was reading this thread.

I also remember the requirement for a vegetarian diet.  Not all "veggie" fish foods are vegetable based.  They just contain a bit more spirulina than usual but they still have a high level of meat/fish protien.  So when you're looking at the brands of fish foods, make sure you read the ingredients.  The closer an item is to the beginning of the list, the higher the content in the food.  I had a livebearer that was supposed to be eating a strict veggie diet and it took me a long time to find the proper food, so start looking into that before the fish come home.  The one I eventually bought was HBH Veggie flakes.  Lots of veggie ingredients!!  They make an algae wafer too.

Here's a couple of links:

This one is for Dianichi Foods.  Not bad.
http://www.dainichi.com/cichlid_food_specialty_VeggieFX.html

This one has the indredients list for the HBH flakes I bought.  Just scroll down a bit.
http://www.jehmco.com/html/hbh_flake_descriptions.html

Maybe I'm being too anal about it, but if a fish spends all day grazing algae in the wild, then a food (IMO) should not contain too much of anything else.

[robt18]

Most salt water substrates work well for africans, crushed coral, aragonite, etc. If you want black sand then go for that, and use limestone or coral rock to buffer the water. Be careful with using driftwood, as the tannins will lower the pH of your water, putting you right back where you started. (Although with extremely hard water, its more likely to stay a bit higher and more stable).

[Jeff1192]

So it has been a while and life has thrown me some curveballs but I'd really like to get this project off the ground finally, maybe this fall.

I have still been doing some reading though.

I still have my 90 gallon stand so I'm leaning towards a 90 gallon instead of a 75.

I have also decided that it would look much better with regular sand.

As for rockwork I like this sort of a layout I think:

http://akvaguru.hu/kepek2/akvariumkepek/bekaso.jpg

I'm also thinking I'll keep the first attempt a little more simple in terms of livestock so I'm thinking going with easier Malawi's like yellow labs and some other easier one.

Any recommendations on sand and a good source for that style of rock? I'm thinking egg crate and then using aquarium epoxy to glue most of the rocks together to ensure there are no collapses.

Thanks

Jeff

[Mike L]

 Hey Jeff
So glad to see someone going with cichlids. I have kept many cichlids over the 30 years I have been in the hobby They are a joy to watch and keep. I keep Tanganyikan cichlids exclusively as they are less aggressive then Malawian's in my opinion. One of the things with Tanganyikan cichlids is that there are species that occupy each area of the tank. So you can have rock dwellers, mid water and upper water and they rarely bother each other. Many tangs also stay relatively small 

I had gravel for years and have switched out to aragonite and will never go any other way again.  I purchased limestone from Canlok and use that for all my tanks. Think I paid .10 cents a pound or around that.

Keep us updated with your progress.
Mike

[sas]

Really looking forward to seeing what you eventually decide upon.

[Jeff1192]

Mike,

I guess the aragonite sand and limestone aren't too
Much for the ph. I would have thought doing both might have raised the ph too much.

Where do you get your sand?

[Jeff1192]

I'm looking for any ideas people have for good sources of large stones. I don't want a stacked look but I plan on having one corner of the tank with rock piled up fairly high, some open area with only a few rocks and then a smaller pile on the other side. I'm thinking I'll at least glue the bigger base rocks together with aquarium silicone. But ideally the rocks would be of various shapes for a more natural look.

Something like this

http://fish-etc.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/rock-your-world-cichlid-tank.jpg

I saw Mike's recommendation for Canlock.  I'd like to ideally check out a couple of places before making a decision.

Has anyone just combed the river shore to get rocks? I know they'd need to be thoroughly washed before using but is this worth it or just looking for trouble?

Thanks

Jeff

[dpatte]

I may be mistaken, but I believe the rock on the ottawa river shoreline is protected, due to rare fossils.

Personally I like red granite. If you would like a day trip, drive down to just past where the 401 west splits from the thousand island parkway. The rock cuts for the highway on the 401 are all red granite. For the best red take the exit for landsdown south, then search on the east side of the road near the overpass. Beautiful red granite of all sizes.

You can see red granite from there in my profile pic.

[Jeff1192]

Alright so step 1 is accomplished. I picked up a 90 gallon tank off Kijiji tonight. It's only a few years old and she threw in an almost new Marineland C-360 canister filter and an Eheim 200 watt heater. I'm thinking I'll probably use the C-360 instead of my Eheim 2215. It should provide plenty of filtration teamed up with my Eheim Pro II. 

I wasn't planning on picking it up this soon but the deal was too good to pass up.

So my next step is a rock hunt. I have a few ideas about what to use and I have a few places I want to go check out. That will probably have to wait until next week when my boys go back to school and I go back to having free time....haha

[nortonj]

Jeff1192

Are you still working on a Cichlid tank??

Sounds like you and I may be on the same path except your tank is bigger.

Jeff