What kind of sand to use and how many Cichlids

[gemach7]

I'm going with the German blue ram! No African cichlids

This species is very intolerant of change so make sure temp, ph and nitrogen cycle is stable and also acclimate slowly: 20-30 minutes floating then 45-60 minutes drip acclimated. So worth the time to make them happy beautuful fish!

 

[neontetra0131]

Wow I didn't know all that I'm putting three Germans 5 Cory cats and 5 black tetra in a 30 gallon should be okay correct?

 

[gemach7]

Should be ok if the rams are all the same sex, if 2 paired the odd man out might take beating during breeding. And would say up both the tetra cory schools to 6.

 

[neontetra0131]

Okay I didn't know if that was too many. What kind if decor would be good for them

 

[neontetra0131]

Defiantly will keep you guys updated! This is my first cichlid tank, I'll be getting the sand Sunday and laying in the tank for the final week of my cycling the water hopefully by next weekend I can get the fish in there!!!

 

[neontetra0131]

Defiantly will keep you guys updated! This is my first cichlid tank, I'll be getting the sand Sunday and laying in the tank for the final week of my cycling the water hopefully by next weekend I can get the fish in there!!! I hope all goes well

 

[gemach7]

Try to match their environment, lots of plants(fake or real) and driftwood to hide in. They are from the Orinoco river basin if want to look up examples online of what others have done. Dont need to get exact but you already picked all nearby species why not go for the full monty lol.

 

[elephantnose]

If you go with drift wood. Make sure to buy from eBay or dr.fosterandsmith.com most other places charge a fortune. While at dr.fosterandsmith.com it's only ten for a large piece.

 

[neontetra0131]

I like cheap haha not to cheap though you get what you pay for

 

[Iamtechno13]

And you get what you pay for with the Ram's as well. Make sure you buy them from a reputable fish store/breeder as GBR have been known to have weak genetics leading to all kinds of problems. It has gotten a lot better recently as there are good breeders out there with very good fish but there are also a ton of mass produced, hormone injected Rams out there. You'll see that some people don't have good luck with Rams and I'm sure at least some of those are due to poor quality fish. And it is true that they need stable water conditions and are a little harder than most fish, but with good, quality fish, you shouldn't have any problems. This was the first fish I really got into and started breeding. The Electric Blue variation is really cool too.

 

[Iamtechno13]

A male from one of my breeding pairs of EBR.

 

[Fishy Smell]

EBR's are awesome, i have one at the moment which is doing well but have had bad luck in the past with them.
Bolivian Rams are hardier but not as colourful, and apistos are nice but not always easy to keep as they need soft water.

In a 30G, if you want hardier, colourful and interesting American cichlids you could do Female convict, Female Sajica, Rainbow, and less colourful but still nice Keyhole. I think you would get away with one of each of those (4 cichlids total) without any probs, put in a shoal of something appropriate and some appropriate bottom dwellers and it would work well.