African Fish Questions

[rcm87]

I just picked up a Kenvi and an Auratus. Do African like Brackish water, and do they like warmer water or cooler. This are my first africans so I want to make sure I am doing things right. Thanks for the help.

 

[Pacu Man]

I'm pretty sure they DON'T like brackish water, and depeneding on the origins of your fish they could be cooler or warmer then others, i keep my SA cichlids at 78 degrees and they're doing fine.

 

[smb]

They are freshwater from Lake Malawi.

I would keep the water between 75-80 with a pH around 8.

You have 2 very mean and aggressive fish there. Make sure to provide lots of rockwork.

What size tank do you have? If it's big enough I would try and put a bunch of Mbunas in there or else you'll end up with one distressed or dead fish.

 

[rcm87]

I have a 20 gal, but I have a fair amount of rocks in there. We will see how things go. So far they seem happy, but I know not to put more then 4 in a 20 gal tank. Any other suggeestion would be great. Or if there is a great site on keep ing african, since this is my 1st time with them

 

[wiz561]

Here's a good web page for you. http://www.cichlids.com/ I went through the same thing too because I was just getting started as well. I've had my tank for about two months now and things are OK with it. My fish are actually pretty boring. Basically, I just do the simple work; water changes every two to three weeks, feed them once a day, keep the temp up to about 81 F...i think that's about it. The only huge problem I have/had was a small ammonia problem, which I think and hope I got control of. If you go to google and type in 'cichlid' in the search form, they have tons of great web pages! Good luck!