new 50 gal tank

[bsdryder7]

mw friend gave me his 50 gall tank wich i have become obsessed over lol

i have put a few ciclids and some not so agressive fish together wich i have heard isnt so good but they have been good not fighting for the three weeks i have had them.

i also planted a couple plants im hoping do well....

kinda need to find out about fertalizers and if i need them

what im hoping to get out of this is: to have fun and make a kick *** fish tank lol i like the whole look of live plants a lot so trying to play with that mainly

[Mr. Limpet]

Ferts depend on what plants and lighting you have. Go to plantgeeks.com and you can find a lot of good info on plants and their needs.

Welcome aboard!

[Fishguy2727]

What kind of cichlids?

If you are not sure if you need something I suggest buying one bottle and using as directed. If you don't see any improvement stop using it when the bottle runs out. If you don't see any issues after you stop then don't keep wasting money on a product that is not making a difference in your tank right now. You will always have a limiting factor, it may not be fertilizers, at least not yet. Get the temp, light, major nutrients, etc. taken care of before you start adding ferts.

[bsdryder7]

i have 2 acei ciclids 2 Buttikoferi Cichlid 1 jack dempsy 1 jewel ciclid

[bsdryder7]

so i just planted two potted Balansae plant and a a type of thin grass looking plant in a pot , and some moss to put on a rock deco.

now my first question is the tank i have is a taller tank 30 inch tall ....i have 2/watts per gal but since its tall are the plants getting enough light

2nd question do i need fertalizer

3rd question should i take the plants out of the pot if not will the grow the same in the pot

any help would be nice.....want to add more plants but want to see if i can care for these before i spend anymore money????

ohh ya i have about 12 fish in the tank

[Fishguy2727]

That tank is no where near large enough for all those cichlids. What will most likely happen is the buttikoferi will outgrow and kill all the others, then one of them will kill the other, and you will have one cramped cichlid in the 50 that will have long ago eaten and destroyed all the plants.

[bsdryder7]

how long before they get to big and start atacking eachother ??

how many would you recommend ?

[Fishguy2727]

It depends on how fas they grow, which depends on the quality of their food and water.

I would suggest no buttikoferi, one jack dempsey (possibly a pair if you take superb care of the water), or all mbunas (acei and their relatives). Jewels could go in with mbunas depending on what you feed.

[bsdryder7]

i will return them maybe before they get to big.......i was looking at a green terror ....

if i return both buttikoferi do you think i would be able to get two green terrors??

im feeding them frozen bloodworms ,a litle bit of flakes, dried shrimp

making 30% water changes every two weeks

i check my water at my lfs every time i water change

[Fishguy2727]

Get your own liquid nitrate test kit so you can monitor the water quality yourself.

Feed high quality pellets. They are cleaner, healthier, and fill them up better. I suggest New Life Spectrum Thera+A exclusively.

Do water changes weekly. As the fish grow you may need to increase the amount of each water change to keep nitrate under 20ppm before water changes.

If you returned everything you could have a pair of green terrors.