African Cichlids

[TankGirl]

I definitely think it is a peacock, and is a hap-type, not a mbuna rock-dweller, so it has a different pecking order system and in general it is wise not to mix the haps with the mbuna - the haps will suffer.

Check out this site http://www.cichlidrecipe.com/cichlidrecipe/ and scroll through each page, which has great pictures of cichlids that really help in identifying them.

 

[poppab02]

The fish is not an mbuna and thus is going to get killed by them.

 

[143gadgets]

Thanks again guys. I got rid of the Auratus yesterday and replaced him with a Acei, a Livingstoni, and a Perl Mutt. the tank seems a lot happier. I think i am gonna add some more rocks. i was thinking about changing the substrate to sand , but the guy at the fish store said that i should'nt. Have a good one.

 

[Menagerie]

i was thinking about changing the substrate to sand , but the guy at the fish store said that i should'nt.

Is your current substrate small rocks? Cichlids like to excavate!

 

[143gadgets]

Yeah it's a medium size gravel. about the size of pebbles.

 

[143gadgets]

Yeah it's a medium size gravel. about the size of pebbles.

Can ne one help?

 

[Menagerie]

I really don't know what to say. Take a look in my gallery--there is a pic of my white zebra and you can see the size of the gravel in my tank. The zebra is 6-7" long (well, you can't see his body, but he is full grown).

 

[143gadgets]

Well your gravel is a lot smaller than mine.

 

[Menagerie]

I see no reason that you cannot change the substrate. Take TG's advice and change is slowly.

 

[TankGirl]

I would change it if it larger than ~5mm, personally, because larger-sized substrate tends to allow debris to collect and it impacts the water quality a great deal. This is going to work against you even more so with a well-stocked cichlid tank.

You ARE at risk for disturbing too much bacteria by doing so, and that might have been the concern of the guy at the LFS, but in the long run it is a smarter way to go, either with very small gravel or sand.

One way to go about it is to get yourself a sponge filter and get that running on the tank now, and in about 2 weeks it will be loaded with bacteria, and will assist the biofilter while you remove the existing gravel. Or just use sand when you set up your big tank!

 

[Crippldogg]

Check out this site for alot of african cichlid info...

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/cookie_cutter_40g.php

It is possible to house mbuna in a tank less than 55 gal. You just have to be careful of what species you put in it. I have a 36 gal that hold 12 adult cichlids, but these are all fairly peaceful species, yellow labs, acei, and red zebra (can get kinda of bullish some times).