My first Cichlid Aquarium (video)

[Komodo]

My first Cichlid Aquarium
Nineteen mixed baby African Lake Malawi Cichlids
Seven Tiger barbs
Three Synodontis eupterus

http://youtu.be/0N2VAPZRij4

 

[joecoones]

Lovely tank, great decor. Good sized tank too for those africans. Just curious but why the barbs in there? They might get destroyed when those babies grow up. I absolutely love my synodontis cats! Mine are a hybrid between petricola and eruptus I think. Once they are good and comfy they will be fun to watch. Especially if you have moon lighting for night.

 

[Komodo]

Just curious but why the barbs in there? They might get destroyed when those babies grow up.

I had the barbs in the tank before I added the cichlids to insure the tank was fully cycled. I will eventually find a new home for them. Someone did say they make good dither fish, I’m not sure if this is true. Hum, good forum question.

 

[joecoones]

They might work for that. IMHO with 19 cichlids in that tank you won't need a dither, they will probably all be quite active. I let a bunch of algae build up on my rocks and mine float around over the rocks and graze all day.

 

[Komodo]

Joecoones,

Your Synodontis cats, do you see them feeding? Mine are doing okay since their growing but I never see them feeding. Thinking of dropping sinking pellets at night for them. If I do this in the day the cichlids get the pellets first.




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[joecoones]

Oh man my cats go NUTS when i drop in flake, pellets or brine shrimp. They are the pigs of my tank. One day I thought one was dying his stomach was SO big, showed a pic to a LFS african enthusiast who laughed and said he had eaten a lot. How long have you had the cats? Mine took quite a while to get brave, and I had to add a lot of rock for caves and hiding places. Mine were never thrilled with the bottom feeder tabs I bought them, actually the mbuna would devour them before most would hit the bottom. Your cats are eating, they will go around at night and vacuum up everything the cichlids missed.