How to Care for African Cichlids

[phoenixkiller]

I would like any advice available for care on African Cichlids.

 

[Convict2161]

I would like any advice available for care on African Cichlids.

Do you already have them? What kind? What size tank do you have?

Is this a pre plan?

There are different kinds of African Cichlid's and you have to be careful how you stock your tank. So more info would help myself and others help you.

You could start here.

http://www.google.com/search?q=care+guide+for+african+cichlids&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&client=safari

 

[phoenixkiller]

55 gallon tank which is not cycled yet, so I won't be getting them soon. I hope to get a Lake Malawi tank.

 

[Convict2161]

55 gallon tank which is not cycled yet, so I won't be getting them soon. I hope to get a Lake Malawi tank.

I LOVE Malawi Africans, check out my profile picture albums!

Anyway... After your tank is cycled you can enjoy the many wonders of African Cichlids (Malawi)

I have a mixed bag in my tank and have been through A LOT so I can pretty much tell you what NOT to do and from experience I hope I can offer some help as well. What where you looking for? In a 55 I wouldn't put too many,then again most stock to the limit or even overstock to help keep the aggression down. Feed them good quality food. I feed NLS Thera A pellets, I feed my crew once a day, Make sure you have good filtration, I would go 2x over what you have. A good filter is the AquaClear 110 or if you wanna get something real nice you can go with a canister, I run my 75 with a Fluval Fx5.

Do as much reading and research as possible and go somewhere that you trust when getting your fish. you wanna get a good male to female ratio.

Plants? Sure you can keep live plants like Anubias and Java Fern. I use both,make sure you have A LOT of hiding places for them such as rock caves etc... You can add driftwood too!

There so fun and colors are beautiful!! I hope this helped out a little.

Any questions just ask, I'll do my best and I'm sure some of the more knowledgeable members will chime in,it's a great forum with so many great people willing to help!

good luck!

 

[Cichlid-dude]

There is a lot to start with. Malawi like hard water with a high ph of 7.8-8.0. Water temp ranging from 76 to 80 is ideal. They live in sandy rocky areas in the lake so sand and lots of rockwork is great so they feel at home and have places for them to hide. Good filtration is a must, the more the better. Unless you want an all male tank a good male/female ratio is 1/3 or 4. Africans can be very aggressive and a way that some deal with that is overstocking a bit. If you do that make sure that you make up for it in filtration and water changes. That is some of the basics of african cichlids. Im sure others on here more experienced tha I will add a lot more to it. Good luck and have fun, they are wonderful fish!

 

[Malawi Freak]

Get intimate with this site.

http://malawicichlids.com/index.htm

 

[Labenator65000]

It's good that you are being patient and researching before purchasing your fish. Malawis are a very entertaining. Just know what you are getting into before you get into it! Plan for partial water changes at least weekly. That means have the gear needed to remove and add a lot of water from your tank. Have a means of vacuuming the substrate. Using a 5 gallon bucket and a simple vac takes about an hour per week for a 55 gallon tank. There are alternatives (e.g. a Python) but do your research and ask questions about those as well.

Look up what water parameters are acceptable for your fish, and prepare to make subtle adjustments as needed to your own tank, and make a plan for how to keep those levels consistent even through partial water changes. Have a good quality test kit, or a reputable pet store that is willing to do it for you and test frequently. Be sure to treat your water if needed, particularly for Chlorine/Chloromine, etc if you have city water. Consider appropriate and distributed heating: have an oversized heater or a pair of heaters in case you need to crank it up to treat ick, etc.

Mbunas (African Rift Lake Rock-Dwelling Cichlids) like plenty of stones and/or caves to hide in. I advise setting up all of your decor early and in the cycling phase.

This is all just a few of the basics. Be sure to take the advise of folks in this forum before purchasing fish, and avoid impulse purchases. Your local fish store may not always give the best advice, and mistakes can be expensive.

 

[phoenixkiller]

How do you raise PH to 7.8-8.0? I do not want to have to buy the expensive live sand, so does things like crushed coral, or medical PH buffers work to do this? This is truly a worthy investment, and I really hope this is not going to be disappointing. On a scale of 1-100 (1 being mollies or something, and 100 being impossible sting rays to keep) what would you rate African Cichlids??

 

[bob mccoy]

pool filter sand works great and its cheep. i started using it and i love it. i breed assorted cichlids and they all seam to prefer the sand.and its easier to clean than gravel

 

[Ckennedy37]

African cichlids are just as easy to take care of as any molly or tetras. Where you may run into problems is in the compatibility of certain cichlids with others. Sometimes you will get a fish that is so aggressive it throws off the balance of the whole tank. So when it comes to actually getting your fish it's just kinda trial and error. Just make sure you have alot of knocks and crannys for fish to hide and get away if they need to.

 

[Malawi Freak]

African cichlids are a more sensitive fish than many other freshwater. You need to make sure you have consistent water parameters and the selection is the most important. Plan out exactly what type of fish you want and unfortunately accept the fact you will be limited to a certain group as many cichlids cannot be mixed with certain species of cichlids.

 

[Edwards36]

African cichlids are just as easy to take care of as any molly or tetras. Where you may run into problems is in the compatibility of certain cichlids with others. Sometimes you will get a fish that is so aggressive it throws off the balance of the whole tank. So when it comes to actually getting your fish it's just kinda trial and error. Just make sure you have alot of knocks and crannys for fish to hide and get away if they need to.

Knocks and crannys huh

 

[phoenixkiller]

Ok, but what to do about the Ph?? I need to know!

 

[Jmedic25]

A stable ph is more important then a perfect ph of 8.2. Most cichlids are farm raised and dont need exact rift lake specs. Adding buffers are fine but you have to be very consistant.

 

[phoenixkiller]

Ok, thank you all!

 

[tiger terror]

I use crushed coral in a mesh bag...I also rate the Africans at a 95...you'd be better off to invest in a canister filter as well..I also use an aquaclear 50 completely gutted with hip-balls in a mesh bag to supercharge the hip-filter along with a magnum 350 canister for the mechanical filtration...have fun&enjoy these great fish..

 

[Labenator65000]

A stable ph is more important then a perfect ph of 8.2. Most cichlids are farm raised and dont need exact rift lake specs. Adding buffers are fine but you have to be very consistant.

Agreed. Make sure to properly acclimate new additions to your water parameters. I always put new additions in a clean bucket with the water they came in and by degrees add small amounts of tank water to the bucket. When you ar eready to add them to your tank, be sure to net them out to keep the fish store pollutants, disease, etc out of your tank.

 

[Labenator65000]

On a scale of 1-100 (1 being mollies or something, and 100 being impossible sting rays to keep) what would you rate African Cichlids??

IMO (disclaimer) If you plan to have more than one species: 75/100. There are (at least) hundreds of different African Cichlid species and (at least) a million possible compatibility issues. You just can't go to the store and pick up a bag of ones that catch your eye. You have to ask several reputable people of their opinions on compatibility and then go with the popular opinion. There are no absolutes and there are exceptions to the general rules. Keeping water parameters and conditions acceptable is very challenging and time-consuming. Figuring it all out is like trying to hit a moving target and can be quite frustrating and expensive to someone new to the field. (like I said.. IMO)

That being said, the difficulty level and the required research tends to make thriving Cichlid tanks more rare than community tanks. I believe it's also the challenge that makes people who keep Cichlids very enthusiastic about keeping them. As with any other hobby, more research yeilds better results and more enjoyment. Once you get it figured out, they are very rewarding to have, and every bit as entertaining as keeping dogs or cats (but without finding poop on your carpet).

 

[Wy Renegade]

How do you raise PH to 7.8-8.0? I do not want to have to buy the expensive live sand, so does things like crushed coral, or medical PH buffers work to do this? This is truly a worthy investment, and I really hope this is not going to be disappointing. On a scale of 1-100 (1 being mollies or something, and 100 being impossible sting rays to keep) what would you rate African Cichlids??

There are several additional ways in which you can adjust the pH of a tank. If you're going with a sand substrate, you might consider using aragonite sand - available at Petsmart or other stores in large dry bags. The aragonite will slowly dissolve in freshwater, helping to maintain a higher pH. Domomite rock chips would be another good choice. I've also mixed in large amounts of crushed oyster shell - readily available at any farm or ranch supply location as its feed to chickens to help with egg shell formation.

As others pointed out however, high pH isn't nearly as important as a stable pH. So whatever you do you want to be able to maintain it long term so that you don't have fluxuations. As far as the rating goes, I think that a lot has to do with how much mixing and matching you do as well. I run several species tanks of Africans, and I would rank them at about a 10 once water parameters and aquascaping are taken care of. I would actually rank them easier to keep than a molly, except for the extra work required in setting up the tank. Others (such as Kenya) I would rank at a 99. IMO the higher the diversity in the tank, the higher the ranking will go.

 

[phoenixkiller]

The most disturbing fact to me is that excessive and EXPENSIVE filtration is needed... I can do plenty of hiding places and time-consuming water changes, but there is no substitute for the special filtration that they need. This is the only thing keeping me from buying some quite soon.