40 gallon breeder

[gman42]

Well i currently have a 40 gallon breeder, and i have a mismatched stock, that prob wont work long term.
I have a emporer 400 filter, and an aqueon 10. A total of 500gph.
Tank sits at 78-79 degrees.
I want some fish that will live in a 40 gallon comfortably.
I was thinking a total of 8 africans
I was think 1 male 3 female yellow labs( i currently have what i think is a male. Im going to try to vent it in a cpl days).
Im kinda stock on the second group. Most fish around me require a 4 ft tank, and i dont want to order online bcuz the shipping breaks the bank.
I was thinking some type of afra, but i will prob have to look around.
Does this plan sound good?
Are there any options u guys can think of?
This is all just ideas for the tank in the future.
Thanks

 

[Andrew McFadden]

It sounds good to me other than you'll have a hard time finding afras at a lfs.

 

[gman42]

Thats the only problem.
Its hard to find afras around me.
U can sometimes find a white top, but just 1, not 4.
I guess i will have to look around

 

[Andrew McFadden]

I know your against online but you can look on aqua bid sometimes you can get free shipping. But they usually charge more.

This place has good quality Cichlids for cheaper the price and his shipping to me was only 20 bucks not to bad compared to other online places.
http://www.cichlidsarespecial.com/index.php?route=common/home

I'm going to try and start breeding my afra cobue Orange back. If I have some ill let you know. Just pm me when your getting ready to get some and see if I have any

 

[gman42]

I will have to wait on shipping due to the cold weather.
I looked up some info on ur afra, and hes a beautiful fish.
I would def be interested in some fry. Keep me posted if u have any.

 

[Andrew McFadden]

I will have to wait on shipping due to the cold weather.
I looked up some info on ur afra, and hes a beautiful fish.
I would def be interested in some fry. Keep me posted if u have any.

Will do and good luck I have labs too but ya the shipping and stuff. Plus you can get them about anywhere

 

[HUKIT]

Gman where are you located? Have you looked into local clubs in your area? Many like myself sell their fish and other related items at swap meets, it's a great way to purchase quality fish for pennies on the dollar compared to LFS prices. I'm lucky to have one of the largest Cichlid clubs locally, GCCA. I'll post a link and you csn look through the classifieds to get a idea.

Swap meet

Swap Meet 2/10/13-GCCA Events

Classifieds, always have loads of rift lake cichlids.

Ads -

 

[gman42]

Gman where are you located? Have you looked into local clubs in your area? Many like myself sell their fish and other related items at swap meets, it's a great way to purchase quality fish for pennies on the dollar compared to LFS prices. I'm lucky to have one of the largest Cichlid clubs locally, GCCA. I'll post a link and you csn look through the classifieds to get a idea.

Swap meet

Swap Meet 2/10/13-GCCA Events

Classifieds, always have loads of rift lake cichlids.

Ads -

Im from the st.louis area.

 

[msumpter87]

Im from the st.louis area.

Have you tried tropical world?? I live an hour south of STL so I don't make it up there all the time but I have saw afras there in the past.

 

[gman42]

I was actually just there, but they were closing when i walked in, and the lughts in the tank were off. I pretty much bought a sponge filter and left.
I could buy them there, but it is a bit of a drive

 

[gman42]

I just called tropical petworld and they carry afras and a bunch of yellow labs ::score!
They said most afras are an 1 1/2" when they get them in so i guess i will have to buy a bunch and get a male and 3f.

 

[gman42]

Im thinking about getting the 100 ml bag of purigen.
Do any of u guys use it?
I know alot of ppl use it for salt.. But i was wanting to know if anyone uses it for fw

 

[gman42]

I grabbed some purigen while i was out.

Ill put it in the tank tommarrow.
My lfs said they r getting some labs in, im going to hold off for a while though.
My lfs is starting to carry some cool stuff... They just got some nice looking discus in, and they ordered 3 different types of africans. Hopefully its some cool ones.

 

[HUKIT]

Im thinking about getting the 100 ml bag of purigen.
Do any of u guys use it?
I know alot of ppl use it for salt.. But i was wanting to know if anyone uses it for fw

I experimented a few years ago which resulted in a minuscule decrease in nitrates(less than 5ppm), which is nothing a little more water during changes couldn't handle. With regards to tannins I found regular carbon to be more effective and the only positive aspect to Purigen is that is it can be recharged with chlorine. Overall I'd personally skip it.

 

[gman42]

I guess i will try it out and see how it goes.

I just want to try something different.
I heard that it polishes water, which is a plus. I do a 5g wc daily, or every other day (im a bit crazy about the cleanliness of my tank lol), i just want to see if it makes it clearer like some people say.

 

[gman42]

I have a cpl questions on some filter media.

In my aquaclear50 im running polyfill, and purigen.
In the emporer 400 i have 4 fluval 305 sponges, 2 aquaclear 50 sponges, and the biomax from the fluval, and the aquaclear 50.
There is still quite a bit of room in the emporer, so my question is what do you thing would be good to add to the filter.
I was thinking more sponges.

 

[gman42]

Im getting tired of my 1 bulb t8 fixture, and its time to upgrade. My budget is around the $110-$120 range max.
The 3 lights im looking at are...
36" fugeray $107
36" marineland double bright $103
36" aqueon led $80
Its more or less a toss up between fugeray, and double brights.
Any opinions on which one to get?

 

[Andrew McFadden]

The marineland Double brights has my vote. Convict has them and they put a really nice touch to the water

 

[gman42]

I have read a bit more on them, and im liking it more and more.
I got to thinking, maybe the fugeray would cause algae problems.
The one plus side is that the fugeray would be good for a sw set up if i ever convert to it.

 

[gman42]

Im thinking about adding some dw to my tank, my lfs just got some really nice pieces in. Do you guys think that dw would look good in my tank?
Im having a hard time because i cant really find a spot where it would look good.
I dont have the dw yet, but i dont know of it would look right in my tank.
This is kind of a dumb question, but i cant figure out if it would look out of place or not.