Getting some African Cichlids

[thresholdoftime]

So I decided to get some African Cichlids for my 30 gallon tank. I've had the tank for about a month and have about 11 community tropical fish in it that are doing great, and growing fast too. I really put a lot of effort into making the tank suitable for a community of Tanganikan Cichlids. I'm wondering what kind of special things I should know about careing for these particular cichlids. What kind of species would go good together. Of course they all need to be a dwarf species because my tank is only a 30 gallon. right now my levels are 7.3 ph, 0 nitrates, 81 degrees... Do they prefer lower light, because the bulb I have in there now is kinda bright. Any special kinda plants? Here is some pics of my tank how it is set up now.

 

[kribbman]

The tank looks good although a little sparse but iff you planing on cichlids that will do, although they wouldnt mind more caves and hiding places, from what I can see in your pics it seems as though you have some neons in there. your gonna have to take them out when you get your cichlid because eventualy they will get harrased and you might end up with some deaths. in fact Id recomend you only house cichlids in your tank and get rid of the other fish. or keep your fish get some plants and dont get the cichlids. But If your really set on the type of fish you want you might want to look into kribbs althouth they might be a little agressive as well.

 

[thresholdoftime]

nah I'm pretty set on getting African cichlids from lake Tanganika....And I am going to trade in all of the fish that are in there right now.

 

[thresholdoftime]

The tank looks good although a little sparse but iff you planing on cichlids that will do, although they wouldnt mind more caves and hiding places, from what I can see in your pics it seems as though you have some neons in there. your gonna have to take them out when you get your cichlid because eventualy they will get harrased and you might end up with some deaths. in fact Id recomend you only house cichlids in your tank and get rid of the other fish. or keep your fish get some plants and dont get the cichlids. But If your really set on the type of fish you want you might want to look into kribbs althouth they might be a little agressive as well.

oh what do you mean by my tank being sparse?

 

[kribbman]

Tanganyikan cichlids are very fascinating fish, but they are a rowdy bunch. a 30 gal is just large enough for a few, by sparse I mean that it looks pretty empty (although thats pretty much how they like it) but try and get more nooks and crannies in there they like caves and if one of them ends up being bullied at least they will have a few places to hide. I used to have some Kenyi (pseudotropheus Lombardoi) in my first tank (10 gal.. with some plants!!!!) They eventualy ate all the plants and as far as I know the spawned once. but In the end the male killed the female, and I gave him away.

 

[thresholdoftime]

isn't a 10 gallon kinda small for a pseudotropheus Lombardoi? Maybe that's why the male killed the female. I wanna get dwarf cichlids (shell dwellers) that only get 2 inches. Possibly a few rock dwellers that are a dwarf species too. I added like 5 more big shells to my tank and I plan on buying more shells, and more rock. I'm really in no big hurry to get them; I just want to make the environment for them as comfy as possible.

And I know a fish dealer near me that will do tradeins. pretty cool. Never knew that they did that anywhere.

 

[thresholdoftime]

does this look better? I still haven't got my African Cichlids yet... I still want to make sure I know every bit of info I need to know to keep them happy. Anymore suggestions?

 

[JustOneMore20]

Yay! You are doing Tang Cichlids!

If you want more than just a few fish, I suggest getting some Multis (Neolamprologus multifasciatus) The picture in that link is kinda bad, so search google before deciding they are ugly fish! I would get 6-8 to start with....and suggest getting some smaller shells. Smaller Multis might be ok in those large shells, but adults could get stuck. It is hard to tell by the picture, how big the opening is, but they'd make me nervous.

A good site to order shells, if you want to is cichlidbreeding.com. I use whale's eye shells for my Multis and they would work for other shell dwellers too.

If you go with Julidochromis, the ornatus species is smaller. Same with transcriptus. I'm not sure about their aggression level compared to other species though. I would start with about 5-6 of them and then let them pair off.

 

[thresholdoftime]

the Multi breed of african cichlids have really caught my attention. From what I've read they sound like they have some pretty interesting behaviors.

I do water changes to my tank right now about every two weeks.. The fish I have in there were attacking my arm yesterday when I was holding the syphon in there... Mind you these are basic community tropical fish (danios, and tetras). I found it kinda odd because I thought they were mostly pretty passive. Maybe they have gotten to know me a little too much. idono.

I have a question though.
Will I run into the same problem when I get the Multis? I'd imagine it might hurt a little more. Is there any special way I should go about while cleaning a tank with these fish in it, like possibly removing the multi first?

 

[shawnryan1977]

I think your fish are just curious or they are hungry that’s why they are nipping you. My one 20 gallon tank I have I can’t do water change without sucking up at least half the fish since nothing seems to make them move out of the way. Multis are great they are very interesting to watch they love to rearrange their home by moving sand constantly they are very busy fish, but they can be sort of a pain when you want to get rid of them since they will hide in the shells when scared and you will want to at some point get rid of some since when they start breeding they don’t stop breeding and you can have 50 fish in a 30 gallon in no time. My trick when I kept them was to drill a hole in the top part of the shell and when I wanted to get rid of some I would use something like a small straw and gently prod them till they flew out the shell. On quite a few occasions when I didn’t have shells with holes I would be selling a bag of shells at my societies meeting swearing to everybody there are fish in them. If you want add more shells go to a hobby store, that’s where I buy all my shells very cheaply.

 

[Leeny]

I do water changes to my tank right now about every two weeks.. The fish I have in there were attacking my arm yesterday when I was holding the syphon in there... Mind you these are basic community tropical fish (danios, and tetras). I found it kinda odd because I thought they were mostly pretty passive. Maybe they have gotten to know me a little too much. idono.

Fish do this because the hair on an arm looks like algae to them.

 

[JustOneMore20]

You won't have a problem when you clean a Multi tank. Mine hide when I stick my hand in the tank....even if they don't, they shouldn't attack your arm. Plus they are like 2" max, so they can't do much harm. I definitely wouldn't take them out for water changes/sand vacuuming.

If you ever want to get rid of fry, just take the shell and fry instead of trying to get them out of a shell. Definitely makes it easier for you, just have extra shells available so you can add more to your tank. That's my plan, if I ever get overrun or decide to encourage more breeding, for selling them. No need stressing the fish out more than they need to be.

 

[thresholdoftime]

Yay! You are doing Tang Cichlids!

If you want more than just a few fish, I suggest getting some Multis (Neolamprologus multifasciatus) The picture in that link is kinda bad, so search google before deciding they are ugly fish! I would get 6-8 to start with....and suggest getting some smaller shells. Smaller Multis might be ok in those large shells, but adults could get stuck. It is hard to tell by the picture, how big the opening is, but they'd make me nervous.

A good site to order shells, if you want to is cichlidbreeding.com. I use whale's eye shells for my Multis and they would work for other shell dwellers too.

If you go with Julidochromis, the ornatus species is smaller. Same with transcriptus. I'm not sure about their aggression level compared to other species though. I would start with about 5-6 of them and then let them pair off.

you really think they could get stuck in the larger shells? has this happend before?

 

[JustOneMore20]

Well like I said above, its hard for me to tell how big the opening is. Shells with the flat openings like that could be a problem. Shells with round openings are better IMO. But yours might have a big enough opening and be fine!

 

[thresholdoftime]

hmmmm <-----thought that one was cool