finally pictures, new tank pics and questions!!

[oneball]

Well i finally got some pictures of my one tank. 30 gall with kenyi cichlids. be gentle its my first time taking pictures of a fish tank... all suggestions welcome! im a nub so feel free for any input please! questions to follow...

my tank 30 gall

the ruler of my tank my only yellow kenyi

new tank 70+ gallon. got it for 50 bucks

questions about substrate for new tank, algae etc to follow haveta run!!

 

[DragonFish71]

Nice tank. If it were me though I'd get rid of the blue gravel and go with something like pool sand. But again, that's just me

 

[spoonman]

Definately Pool Filter Sand for substrate if you are putting ciclids in it!

 

[oneball]

Exactly the kind of information I need! With my new tank i was going to do a sand substrate, gonna be another chiclid tank. Not the kenyi's though way to agressive

 

[mgamer20o0]

paint the background black too.

 

[DizzCat]

Hey there

I too was going to suggest going with a sand instead of the blue gravel and also a black or dark blue background. Those backgrounds with pictures on them just distract from the colors of the fish IMO.

You will also need a lot more rocks for them. Enough that each fish has at least one cave to hide in, 2 is even better. That way the dominant fish does not take over the whole thing.

the ruler of my tank my only yellow kenyi

If you are going to keep Kenyi, keep only ONE yellow one, because yellow Kenyi are the males. If you get more than that they will fight badly. Females stay blue. Kenyi are one of the most aggressive Mbuna there is, so watch them close.

What else do you have? Are they going into the new 70 gallon tank? A 30 is just too small for adult Mbuna.

 

[oneball]

I saw some African chiclid sand at jacks aquarium today but it was like 30 bucks for a small bag. Packed in water though supposedly with good stuff for chiclids. That seems steep though. Also, how much substrate? 1 inch? 2? And to top it all off, they're asking 300$ for a bow front aquarium stand! Any place online or something you can get that stuff cheaper?

 

[mgamer20o0]

you dont need that. you can just use pool filter sand from home depot / lowes. might have to build one if you want to save. its not very common to find the stands alone.

 

[oneball]

Hey there

I too was going to suggest going with a sand instead of the blue gravel and also a black or dark blue background. Those backgrounds with pictures on them just distract from the colors of the fish IMO.

You will also need a lot more rocks for them. Enough that each fish has at least one cave to hide in, 2 is even better. That way the dominant fish does not take over the whole thing.


If you are going to keep Kenyi, keep only ONE yellow one, because yellow Kenyi are the males. If you get more than that they will fight badly. Females stay blue. Kenyi are one of the most aggressive Mbuna there is, so watch them close.

What else do you have? Are they going into the new 70 gallon tank? A 30 is just too small for adult Mbuna.

Well if I put them into my 70 gall would they kill eveything else? If they will do that I may have to take them back to the petstore if they get too big. I'd hate to do that I've had those for maybe 2 years, but I don't want a bunch of dead fish in a big tank. They didn't really tell me much when I got those about how big they'd get...

 

[mfdrookie516]

I saw some African chiclid sand at jacks aquarium today but it was like 30 bucks for a small bag. Packed in water though supposedly with good stuff for chiclids. That seems steep though. Also, how much substrate? 1 inch? 2? And to top it all off, they're asking 300$ for a bow front aquarium stand! Any place online or something you can get that stuff cheaper?

dont waste your money on that... i got my sand for $5 for 50lbs at Leslies Pool Supply, and imo looks better than any aquarium sand ive seen yet... depending on who you talk to, some recommend 1.5-2", some say less, some say more... i have about 2" in mine, i wouldnt go any deeper than that though to prevent pockets of gas building up... petsmart has cheap stands, i saw one for a bowfront the other day for around $100... check online, ebay has alot of stuff like that, mainly for pickup only, but craigslist, petsmart, petco, several sites have way cheaper stands than that...

 

[rive1404]

Nice avatar, mfdrookie! Go Big Blue!

Sweet tank Oneball! Go with cheaper sand, there's not much difference.

 

[oneball]

Yeah that's what I will do. How deep do you think?

 

[mfdrookie516]

Get some PFS (pool filter sand), im guessing that 50lbs is the only size you can get... i would go 2"... now one thing you want to remember is to rinse it very thoroughly when you get it. I rinsed mine once, put it in, and it clouded it up for an hour. Make sure that your filter intake is at least 2-3" above the sand so you dont suck any up and ruin your impeller. You will also want to take either a hair pick or chopsticks or something of the like and either tape or silicone (i prefer silicon because its aquarium safe) it on to your gravel vac... that way it "stirs" up your sand and relieves any gas pockets that may be accumulating in the sand. the pfs is pretty heavy and ive never had much of an issue when vacuuming with it coming through, but i keep my finger on the shutoff valve so that if it does, it doesnt go in to my sink and cause problems with my garbage disposal Im going to be setting up a new tank in the next couple days, and ill post pics of mine... and it will definately have pfs as the substrate

 

[mfdrookie516]

Oh, and not to criticize your tank or anything, but you need to put some more "cave structures" in there. Everybody on here has suggested to me to have at least one, preferrably two caves per fish so they dont get too territorial and take over. I put clay pots, cut in half, in and all mine love them... ive got about 6 in my 55 which is plenty for my JD and Convict along with their babies (who have dissapeared somewhere in the tank )

 

[oneball]

Oh, and not to criticize your tank or anything, but you need to put some more "cave structures" in there. Everybody on here has suggested to me to have at least one, preferrably two caves per fish so they dont get too territorial and take over. I put clay pots, cut in half, in and all mine love them... ive got about 6 in my 55 which is plenty for my JD and Convict along with their babies (who have dissapeared somewhere in the tank )

Cool I will for sure use the pfs. I will also get some more cave structures. I know I need em. The clay pots are a great idea. Also constructive criticism is exactly what I need, no sweat on that! Thank you for yor help. I'm an admitted noob and any help I can get is greatly appreciated!!

 

[oneball]

I was going to move these chiclids into my new commnity tank, but I don't want a superagressive fish in there. I want a community if I can but those kenyi's I have are just insane. Wouldn't even let me put snails in. So I don't want them in my new tank lol so if the get too big I may just have to take them back to the pet store

 

[mfdrookie516]

Dont feel alone, im new too ive been keeping aquariums for 2 months and 7 days... just to show how new i am, heres a picture of my tank about a month ago when i first got that one, and then a couple weeks ago after some of the guys on here recommended pfs... what do ya think? (btw i added some clay pots to it after taking that picture)

 

[mfdrookie516]

I was going to move these chiclids into my new commnity tank, but I don't want a superagressive fish in there. I want a community if I can but those kenyi's I have are just insane. Wouldn't even let me put snails in. So I don't want them in my new tank lol so if the get too big I may just have to take them back to the pet store

I tried snails in with my Jd and Convict, they killed it, i tried one with my fairy cichlids, they killed it... I dont think cichlids in general like snails

 

[oneball]

dude i like it alot. your tank looks really good. i think the sand is the best way to go by the looks of it alone. makes a big difference. pots are a great idea too

 

[mfdrookie516]

the sand makes it look more natural than anything else ive found... especially the horrid blue, pink, green, multi colored gravel... I fully plan on setting my new one up similar to this one. Thanks for the compliment... I look forward to seeing new pics of yours in the next day or two... And some people think a tank with hardly any open space is better than one thats bare, but for some reason, my fish seem to like the open swimming space alot more than they did when there were things sticking up everywhere?