Rosebud
Aquarium Advice Regular
Hello everyone,
I am a fairly new member of AA and this is my first thread here in the Cichlid forum.
I have a 55g 48" tank I am planning on setting up within the next few months. Initially I was considering a Rainbow tank but now I'm thinking I may want a cichlid tank instead. I have had some experience with cichlids many years ago. My late husband and I had a tank with a red oscar and after that we had a pair of jewels and convicts.
Based on my tap water testing, I think the Tanganyika cichlids might be best suited for my conditions, although I am wondering about the pH. My water is fairly hard. I have the API master kit and the GH/KH kit. It took 15 drops of the KH solution and 18 drops of the GH solution to obtain the desired color results. The test kit table in the package only goes up to 12 drops. On the other hand, my pH is not up over 8.0 as I expected. It appears to be 7.6 using the high range tester.
After reading pages and pages of posts here and fish profiles, etc. on Cichlid-forum.com, I am thinking I'd like to build a tank around some small shellies. They sound like they might be fun to watch. From photos I've found I especially like the looks of Lamprolongus ocellatus (Zambian blue), L. sp. ornatipinnis Zambia, actually quite a lot of them. It will hard to decide. I have also fallen in love with the Altolamprologus calvus (Black) and the Altolamprologus calvus (Chaitika).
So, the first question I have is will I have to treat the tank with epsom salt, baking soda, or bicarb (per article on cichlid-forum) to up the pH into the 8+ range?
What types and numbers of fish would I be looking at for a 55 gallon? I have an Emperor 400, an old Magnum 330 canister, and a couple of power heads. What other fish (non-cichlids) in addition to the cichlids could go into the tank? i.e., Synodontis multipunctatus or some other cat? a schooling fish? Or other cichlids - some paracyprichromis nigripinnis Neon Blue maybe? Something that will occupy the middle to upper part of the tank since the shellies and Altolamprologus calvus like the bottom.
Any and all advice and suggestions welcome. I probably won't be setting the tank up until after the New Year so I still have plenty of time to research species/genus. I will be doing a fishless cycle of course, and plan on using black sand for my substrate.
Thanks for your help!
Roxi
I am a fairly new member of AA and this is my first thread here in the Cichlid forum.
I have a 55g 48" tank I am planning on setting up within the next few months. Initially I was considering a Rainbow tank but now I'm thinking I may want a cichlid tank instead. I have had some experience with cichlids many years ago. My late husband and I had a tank with a red oscar and after that we had a pair of jewels and convicts.
Based on my tap water testing, I think the Tanganyika cichlids might be best suited for my conditions, although I am wondering about the pH. My water is fairly hard. I have the API master kit and the GH/KH kit. It took 15 drops of the KH solution and 18 drops of the GH solution to obtain the desired color results. The test kit table in the package only goes up to 12 drops. On the other hand, my pH is not up over 8.0 as I expected. It appears to be 7.6 using the high range tester.
After reading pages and pages of posts here and fish profiles, etc. on Cichlid-forum.com, I am thinking I'd like to build a tank around some small shellies. They sound like they might be fun to watch. From photos I've found I especially like the looks of Lamprolongus ocellatus (Zambian blue), L. sp. ornatipinnis Zambia, actually quite a lot of them. It will hard to decide. I have also fallen in love with the Altolamprologus calvus (Black) and the Altolamprologus calvus (Chaitika).
So, the first question I have is will I have to treat the tank with epsom salt, baking soda, or bicarb (per article on cichlid-forum) to up the pH into the 8+ range?
What types and numbers of fish would I be looking at for a 55 gallon? I have an Emperor 400, an old Magnum 330 canister, and a couple of power heads. What other fish (non-cichlids) in addition to the cichlids could go into the tank? i.e., Synodontis multipunctatus or some other cat? a schooling fish? Or other cichlids - some paracyprichromis nigripinnis Neon Blue maybe? Something that will occupy the middle to upper part of the tank since the shellies and Altolamprologus calvus like the bottom.
Any and all advice and suggestions welcome. I probably won't be setting the tank up until after the New Year so I still have plenty of time to research species/genus. I will be doing a fishless cycle of course, and plan on using black sand for my substrate.
Thanks for your help!
Roxi