New To Fresh Water Aquariums

[Brathe]

Hello, I have had my 50gal tank for about 6mo now, and I am starting to put live plants into my tank, they keep dying on me for some reason, i trim them down and they do not grow back, i was looking at the Nutrafin Natural Plant System and was wondering if that would improve it (http://www.hagen.com/canada/english/aquatic/addinfo/co2system.html).
If anyone has any tips or suggestions i would appreciate input, thanks.

 

[Guest]

We'll be glad to help, but need some tank specs.

Lighting,

Substrate,

Water conditions,

list of fish/plants.

I would first suspect inadequate lighting. Even for hardy, low-light plants, you need at least 2 watts per gallon (wpg) of light. If you have the standard single-strip light that comes with most hoods, this will not be enough for live plants. If you don't have enough light, the co2 system you listed wont really help. It is a good co2 system though, just got 2 myself, i like them and so do my plants.

 

[Brathe]

I belive my light is only 50watts or so, I'm going to go get a replacement light today, I have about 9 African Ciclids in the tank, I'm going to go pickup the CO2 system today also, I hope one of those will work well fro my 50gal.

Another questions is do i even need fertilizer if i'm going to put the CO2 system in there?
Thanks in advance for your help!

 

[Bearfan]

They will most definately. As far as fertilizer, I use a liquid (phosphate free) with my water changes with good luck. I use the Hagen CO2 system.

 

[Guest]

Plants and african chiclids dont usually mix well. Those fish are diggers and plant shredders. Also, they like a high ph and hard water, while most plants like soft water and a low/neutral ph.

The hagen system is good, IMO, but co2 in your tank will lower the ph, possibly affecting your fish.

Do some research as to compatiblity of plants and fish first, then make a plan and start getting supplies you'll need.

 

[Brathe]

Well, thats not good at all
I've already hooked up and installed my Hagen CO2 system, should i not even bother with fresh water plants with the ciclids?
There has to be a way to get both of them to work in harmony.

 

[Guest]

Let's see what we can do here, there are some plants that may work, java fern, and various Anubias species come to mind. they are low-light and need to be anchored to rocks or driftwood. it's not hard, just tie them on with black cotton thread, they will attach, then the string will rot away. Or you can tie them on with fishing line, it virtually disapears undewater, and will hold plants indefinitley.

Now, exactly what kind of fish do you have? Do they dig up gravel and move it around all the time?

 

[Brathe]

Yeah i don't know exactly what lake they are from I guess i should pay more attention to the names and locations, i don't even know what the plant names are, They do dig up gravel underneath the fixtures i placed in there, to make their home, but the gravel is defiantly moved around, they are ciclids, and i have the CO2 system hooked up as of now, it is starting to form bubbles. Should i remove the system, will it harm my fish? those plants you were talking about do they require the CO2 system?

Thanks

 

[loganj]

definately

You're busted Bearfan! We're sending you to the big house for a long, long time!
(definitely)
Logan J

 

[Guest]

Should i remove the system, will it harm my fish? those plants you were talking about do they require the CO2 system?

I really need more info about the fish to know if co2 will cause problems. However, unless you get more light in there, co2 won't really do any good for any plants. You need to make a plan where the fish and plants are complimentary, and then make your set-up fit them.

 

[Brathe]

The guy at my local fish store said that the CO2 will help the plants without a doubt, and as far as knowing more about my fish, I Maily have Malawi and Tanganyika Ciclids.

 

[Guest]

Well, it's worth a shot. Keep us posted on how this goes.

I still think you need more light, and keeping the fish from digging up plants will be a challenge.

 

[Brathe]

Yeah, i have decided that I have had enough, I ripped out all the live plants except for on potted, and removed all the corny little plastic crap i had in there for decoration and put some rocks in there, They seem to be adapting quite nicely to it, I will post some pics as soon as i get some more time.
Thanks for your help guys.

 

[loganj]

I think your cichlids will be happier with the rocks as this mimics their natural habitat.
Logan J

 

[Brathe]

Yeah i bought a new one to put in there, and one of my other ones from the same lake are already pairing up, i guess the one i already had was a male, he seems to be digging a spot for the new one i bought, I might have lucked out.

I have another problem tho with another cichlid i bought Melanochromis Auratus http://www.rkdzines.com/cichlidcellar/malawi/page19.jpg
has been very terretorial and all his yellow turned to a light gray color, and his black has faded, the black seems to be turning darker, but I am not certain. I put him in a netbox for breeding just to isolate him for a while since i added the new fish, the guy at the LFS told me to do that or he would kill the new fish, I just would like to know if his color is going to return or not.

Also all my fish seem to shake sometimes and sometimes they rub themselves on rocks, they had ick once before, but i cured them of that without any casulties,
also my Kalingo http://www.cichlid-forum.com/photogallery/images/Nim_livingstonii_01.jpg has some sort of rainbow tint to him at a certain angle at times, and sometimes his color seem to get almost cloudy

If anyone has any advice on what could be wrong, please let me know I am clearly open for suggestions.
I hope to post pictures soon if anyone is interested in checking the tank out.