Hi AA check out my 40 gallon cichlid tank

[91cichlid]

40 gallon breeder (ph 8.0)
fluval fx5 (15% water change weekly)
eheim jager 300watt heater (80degrees)
odyssea 2x t5 24watt light (48watts)
40 pounds of crush coral
15 pounds of lava rock
live java fern
fake plants as well

fish:
1 red frontosa
1 blue frontosa
1 masked julie
1 malawi blue dolphin
3 jewel cichlid
1 electric blue johanni
1 electric yellow
1 jacob peacock
1 blue/yellow acei
1 cobalt blue zebra
2 red top zebra
3 red zebra
1 albino zebra
1 ob peacock

other fish:
1 dwarf flamed guaormi
1 albino bichir
1 albino bristle nose pleco

This is an upgrade from my 20 gallon and this Tank has been running for 3 months! Let me know what you guys think.

 

[CharlieKlein]

Nat tank! I read the lava rock and thought it said live rock. And I'm like, oh gosh no.. But nose tank! Glad to have you here!

 

[91cichlid]

Nat tank! I read the lava rock and thought it said live rock. And I'm like, oh gosh no.. But nose tank! Glad to have you here!

Yeah live rocks would be a waste in my freshwater tank hahah

 

[cbourg746]

Have you had any issues with aggression between your Africans and tropicals?

 

[Stumpyjr]

New 40

Great looking tank......sounds a little crowded for a 40 though! Just sayin.......

 

[Convict2161]

I like it!

 

[jseiverd]

Seems overcrowded frontosas get to be 16 in for males and 10 for females 40 gallon is way to small just for them alone

 

[91cichlid]

Have you had any issues with aggression between your Africans and tropicals?

No not between species fro
different lakes. The only aggression in the tank is between the red top zebra and other zebras. They seem to be picking on each other but Not on any other species. This doesnt happen often either..

 

[91cichlid]

Seems overcrowded frontosas get to be 16 in for males and 10 for females 40 gallon is way to small just for them alone

Frontoasas haps peacocks and bichir will be moved into a 100g+ tank as soon as they grow to 4-5 inches each. ... Mbunas will remain in 40g.

 

[jseiverd]

Im sorry it is overcrowded i didnt see the whole list you have 22 fish in a 40 gallon tank this will not work long term probably not even short term unless your doing crazy amounts of water changes

 

[jseiverd]

That wouldnt be bad if it was just the mbuna i think i saw 8 that would work but untill then keep up with water changes

 

[91cichlid]

That wouldnt be bad if it was just the mbuna i think i saw 8 that would work but untill then keep up with water changes

I have a filter rated for 400 gallons running in a 40 gallon tank. I change 15% a week and readings always close to the same.. Cichlid tanks are supposed to be over crowded to reduce aggression right?

 

[jseiverd]

Yes but thats really really pushing it i have a 55 with 2 hob filters a 90 and 65 with 14 mbunas and i have to do two 25percent changes a weak to keep water quality ok

 

[91cichlid]

Yes but thats really really pushing it i have a 55 with 2 hob filters a 90 and 65 with 14 mbunas and i have to do two 25percent changes a weak to keep water quality ok

Lol thats nice. You have more gallons and less filtration per gallon than me. But im not hatting on you bro! Different set ups call for different maintenance. What kind of cichlids you have?

 

[jseiverd]

I have couple yellow labs a kenyi bout 4 diff kinds of zebras electric blue hap ob peacock some unkown peacock so mainly mbuna.. actually one of my zebras is pregnant so thats pretty cool

 

[Cichlid-dude]

As long as you plan to move the large cichlids to a larger tank then youll be fine. I agree an fx5 on a 40 gallon is a lot of filtration. I bet you have some nice water movement in there too.

 

[91cichlid]

As long as you plan to move the large cichlids to a larger tank then youll be fine. I agree an fx5 on a 40 gallon is a lot of filtration. I bet you have some nice water movement in there too.

Yea its pretty good. I have 1 of the exhaust causing a current directly in the middle and the other one blasting the wall. My cichlids are growing pretty fast. Bought them at about 1 inch each and now they're about 1.5-2.5. Feeding them hikari gold excel, hikari herbivores excel, frozen spinach/cucumber and once a week either frozen blood worms or ghost shrimp. They also have 1 day with no feeding at all and when that happens they start munching on algae growing in my tank.

 

[rotorhead22]

Have you been monitoring your nitrates? What did you base the weekly 15% PWC on? With such a large bioload, I'd expect that muck larger weekly water change is needed. What are the levels now? It is recommended to keep Nitrates at 25 ppm or lower. They actually can be kept at 80 ppm or lower, but good luck finding something stating that.

 

[Freakgecko91]

I'd actually shy away from spinach, I'm not sure if it's the same in fish, but for herbivorous reptiles, it actually makes calcium unabsorbable

 

[91cichlid]

Have you been monitoring your nitrates? What did you base the weekly 15% PWC on? With such a large bioload, I'd expect that muck larger weekly water change is needed. What are the levels now? It is recommended to keep Nitrates at 25 ppm or lower. They actually can be kept at 80 ppm or lower, but good luck finding something stating that.

Yeah i monitor everything using the api freshwater testing kit. Ph 8.0 ammonia 0 nitrite 0 nitrite 0 . I also add cycle to every water change and condition my water with prime.