Changing to cichlids
- Thread starter Beehpee
- Start date
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Andrew McFadden
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Usually only takes a few days
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Cheers Andrew, so only a few days for eggs to hatch then I guess she will be holding in her mouth until they're ready to free swim? It's surprised me how quickly she has accepted the pipe I've put in as somewhere safe to hang out, I blocked the one end off completely with a stone rammed in solid then covered it with gravel just leaving the other end partially open, her and the male within a few hours had opened that end completely and most of the time she lays in there, looking promising at least but time will tell I guess.
BP
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BP
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TMRC Exotics
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Hello beehpee. Like mike said watch the convicts. Super aggressive when guarding fry. Its not ideal to mix central american cichlids with Africans but I'm sure you have already heard. I made the same mistake. I only have one female and so far its worked but I would not trust a pair.
Looks to me your red finned shark is actually a rainbow shark. Could you list exact quantities of all stock? I'm just curious.
Nice looking tank, I'm a little late to the party.
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Looks to me your red finned shark is actually a rainbow shark. Could you list exact quantities of all stock? I'm just curious.
Nice looking tank, I'm a little late to the party.
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I'm not doubting for a minute that they will get aggressive in protecting fry but then most fish will do the same whether cichlids or others, I sometimes wonder if it's a bit like the tale of a swan being able to break a mans arm, everyone has heard the stories but no one ever seems to actually know the person with the broken arm, but I shall be watching carefully on what happens in the tank over next couple of weeks, everyone says how ferocious Auratus become when breeding but mine bred and I didn't even know till I spotted 2 fry that made it through to now being a good 15 mm in size, they're now swimming around maybe not completely ignoring the bigger fish but certainly not hiding all the time, like I say fingers crossed for a peaceful tank eh.
BP
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BP
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TMRC Exotics
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Yeah except in this example your fish will be the guy with the broken arm and you will be able to find him alright. No joke, convicts go almost hulk like in protecting fry, this is no exaggeration.
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Well there's the convict pair plus another female convict.
The shark which I'm fairly sure is called red tailed but not gonna labour the point.
Male and female Aauratus plus their 2 fry.
Maybe 5 to 7 yellow lab, hard to be sure without doing a full count when tank all emptied as way too many hiding places.
Then there's 3 others which I have no idea of names as just sold as assorted cichlids.
Biggest fish in tank is the male convict and would put him at max 10 cm but prob more like 8 cm nose to tail with the 2 female convicts being half his size I reckon, nothing else bigger than 6 or 7 cm, all been in tank since I started it 18 months ago oh and the tank is I guess around 55 of your US Gallons.
Running a fluval 406 plus air stone to keep the water moving and do regular water changes rarely more than 2 weeks between changes. Water tested using liquid testing kit weekly with no problems since it was cycled other than odd spike in nitrates when I am extra busy at work and the water change gets left a bit longer.
The fish I lost was another Aauratus, when I bought them the guy told me all 3 were females, I later found out about how they will hold back on colour change if 1 male is most dominant, I eventually had what I took to be 1 male and 2 females, eventually I guess one of them was a male who couldn't avoid changing colour as one day he started to change and within a couple of days he was dead as the proverbial dodo, so I think the dominant male Aauratus run him into the ground.
BP
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The shark which I'm fairly sure is called red tailed but not gonna labour the point.
Male and female Aauratus plus their 2 fry.
Maybe 5 to 7 yellow lab, hard to be sure without doing a full count when tank all emptied as way too many hiding places.
Then there's 3 others which I have no idea of names as just sold as assorted cichlids.
Biggest fish in tank is the male convict and would put him at max 10 cm but prob more like 8 cm nose to tail with the 2 female convicts being half his size I reckon, nothing else bigger than 6 or 7 cm, all been in tank since I started it 18 months ago oh and the tank is I guess around 55 of your US Gallons.
Running a fluval 406 plus air stone to keep the water moving and do regular water changes rarely more than 2 weeks between changes. Water tested using liquid testing kit weekly with no problems since it was cycled other than odd spike in nitrates when I am extra busy at work and the water change gets left a bit longer.
The fish I lost was another Aauratus, when I bought them the guy told me all 3 were females, I later found out about how they will hold back on colour change if 1 male is most dominant, I eventually had what I took to be 1 male and 2 females, eventually I guess one of them was a male who couldn't avoid changing colour as one day he started to change and within a couple of days he was dead as the proverbial dodo, so I think the dominant male Aauratus run him into the ground.
BP
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TMRC Exotics
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TMRC Exotics
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Assorted cichlids can mean a lot as well... would love to see some pics. Certain cichlids that look like any others grow to massive sizes as well as have varied diets. Always good to know what you have.
You are aware your mixing fish from different continents right? Kinda skipped over that.
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You are aware your mixing fish from different continents right? Kinda skipped over that.
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Shame cos he seemed a really knowledgable easy to get along with person, I must admit I haven't been on here much myself in months, I'm not talking about anyone who's posted re my latest questions cos I asked for info and got it which I'm grateful for, however it often seems on here that someone with little or no experience comes on here and will post what they've got and then just get post after post seemingly just slating them for doing it wrong, if someone has a tank that's too small or not doing things correctly in another aspect once they've been told and then maybe got that backed up by a couple of people then that ought to be it but they then seem to get so many people saying they're are doing things wrong they must wonder if posting was worth it in the first place, loads and loads of great advice on here but too many people just seem to just hop aboard when it's someone doing things wrong.
BP
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BP
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TMRC Exotics
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Get your point entirely. Truthfully at times some of us need it. A few nice members here all but had to beat me over the head to see some of the things I did wrong. Its a hobby that you can never stop learning and I think a lot of the guys see the same situations over and over. Everyone here seems to genuinely want to help though, I believe their sincere.
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Andrew McFadden
Aquarium Advice Addict
I can agree with all said... here's a very short story of my africans. If I had to do it all over again the best bet would to only keep one or two africans and a lot of those. I'd probably aim for just one type. Over time in my tank and yes it did work but I often now ask myself were they truthfully happy, I'd say they wasn't. The stress alone being mixed and having fights even if it was only once in a blue moon caused a lot harm to them. Most didn't color up and didn't show their true selves. So as a hobby we need to take care of what we have the best we can.
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