ACFs and sand ..........cichlids eventually?

[Phoenixphire55]

I have 4 juvenile ACFs in a 10 gallon. Eventually they'll be moved to a bigger tank, but for now they're in the 10 gallon with pebbles for substrate. The gravel is pretty deep at some points (there's a hill) and food gets down into it. I hear sand is good for ACFs, but wouldn't they ingest a bunch of it when they're eating and kicking it up into the water. Anyone have experience with this?

Also, if anyone keeps their ACFs with cichlids let me know how that works. I've always wanted to have an "African Lake" tank with ACFs and cichlids solely. I've read horror stories about cichlids biting ACFs legs off and I certainly dont want that to happen.

[WaterPond]

Originally Posted by Phoenixphire55

I've read horror stories about cichlids biting ACFs legs off and I certainly dont want that to happen.

Then dont do it. ACFs and most african cichlids don't live in the same area at all.

If you are talking about rift lake africans... they do best with other compatible species from their lake or origin.

[Phoenixphire55]

I guess there isn't really anything thats quite safe to be with ACFs

[Zagz]

I use sand very sparsely in my ACF's tank, the primary reason was gas buildup when the substrate was deep. ACF's don't like a lot of current and can be quite messy so it was easier to keep the tank clean and not to have to worry about gas buildup in the sand. There is just enough sand to cover the bottom of their tank.

I personally wouldn't keep anything with the ACF's. Cichlids are fast moving hungry fish that could quite easily harm the ACF. ACF's can't see all that well and would have a terrible time competing for food.

[Smaug21]

I have an about 5 year old ACF and he's now in a sand tank.

I had him with some larger pebbles but i was having some algea and detris problems because of buildup in the crap in the gravel, so i switched to sand. I'm going with a relatively thin layer of sand, an inch or less, and it seems to be working pretty well right now. It would probably be better and easier to clean to go bare bottom, but i hate the way it looks, and i feel that the frog wouldn't care for it much.

As far as the chiclids, i've done alot of reading on ACF's and you basicly can't put them with anything. Anything smaller then them becomes lunch, anything about the same size will try to get eaten and both die. Larger fish tend to pick on the Frog, eating legs or tearing at the skin. Part of the reason i switched to sand was because i can't keep anything in there to keep algea down without him eating it or dying. Tons of horror stories online if you look hard enough of Frogs trying to eat Pleco's like 5 times bigger then them and dying from the spines.

Besides all that, my limited zoological knowledge says that ACF's come from murky pools in south africa, wherea's most chiclids' are from either the rift valley or farther north? Basicly they'd rarely meet in the wild even if they did live together because of different habitats.

Basicly ACF's are species only pets. But they are pretty active and fun and don't need a ton of work so they are still fun to have!

[Phoenixphire55]

That's true. My four frogs have enough personality and energy to be very interesting in their own tank. I'm trying to think of a new setup or addition (non animal) for the tank to make the frogs' lives as fun and natural as I can.