Recent content by laxpatrick

Guess the other show stopper could be the inclusion of salt and the cats... Thoughts for those species and a minimum of salt required to keep the cichlids happy?

Interesting... K - maybe I'll let Darwin take a shot at it as I gradually introduce the cichlids. Thanks!!!

Looking at going to cichlids after all. Currently have danios and tiger barbs, which would presumably NOT get along with african cichlids... Should be able to find a home for those. So - thinking a mix of singles - johanni, auratus, other suggestions? Those two are my fave, but I'm...

Love my XP2 - though many will tell you that the XP3 is in the butter zone for a 55 gallon... I'm quite happy with it - been running since early Jan - crystal clear water and chemistry is spot on...

Expect your green water will get worse - with the excess ammonia and all. Sounds like your cycle may not have been complete - 3 weeks is fairly quick. If you were using strips to measure, that might have been the case. Definitely agree with the API kit - it's the standard one many folks use.

Stay on target - with no fish, keep it going until your nitrates hit the floor... You're almost there!

I would think that a pair of kribs would force a short life span on guppies... Angels would probably find themselves living in the upper corners of the tank. Though I've seen some that can stand up... until the kribs spawn, then all bets are off.

Welcome to the forum!

Wow - oceanography class - they never had stuff like that when I was in HS... Welcome to the forum!

How big is your tank? Could you add a few more to reduce bullying?

Sounds familiar - congrats on making it through!

I'm planning on replacing my black plastic hoods with glass tops so I can use my existing lights and then add another light bar to get the watts I need for plants... Just my plan.

I think school size is the key - enough tiger barbs to keep them busy with their own. Same with mixing in fish like danios - big enough school to prevent singling any one out. I've got 6 tiger barbs and 10 danios - no cross-species bullying going on...

Danios did the trick for me. Not sure if I want them around for the long haul, but they did great after my fishless cycle. Now I'm stocked up, water's clear, running great.

Sounds like a bad mix - particularly with the severum in my experience. Cichlids like angels and severums (perhaps less so by reputation for the angels) can be somewhat aggressive whereas your gouramis are probably getting bullied around. Not to mention that serverums get fairly large. How...