Crushed Coral

[Fishyfanatic]

Do I have any SA Cichlid's? Last night I set up an Excel Workbook with all of the relevant info on each of my fish, Habitat, Country, pH, Temp, and so on, and have found that all of the Cichlid's are Lake Malawi with the exception to one (can't remember which one) that comes from West (I think) Africa. I thought I had them right, but maybe a website was wrong in stating that it was African. I know that the Parrots aren't African but have read that they prefer a high 7 pH and thought they would be fine. If I am totally off base, please tell me. I dont want my Parrots to suffer, they are my favorite. I just recently learned that they should definately be in a pH 7.8 (at least). I used to go by the advice of the lfs (pH 7.0) and it has worked well, but I would prefer to have the tank as close to the natural habitat as possible. We are trying to re-create their habitat in our tank by having a sand bottom with rocks and caves, plenty of hiding places and greenery. They have probably all been farm raised and haven't actually been in their natural habitat, but we're trying to re-create it.

Also, our GH/KH is at 6, can we raise this or should it be raised with the cc? We naturally have soft water.

 

[Menagerie]

We keep a common pleco with with our Africans and he's been with us for many years. As long as the pH goes up slowly (and it will with coral), your pleco should be fine.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

Thank you Menagerie. We've had the pleco for quite some time now and we just didn't want him to suffer because of the pH. I'll keep an eye on him to make sure he doesn't have any ill effects. We're actually trying to figure out if he is a particular type. He's black with small brown spots. He was listed as "Asst Pleco" and just figured that he was a common until recently he's been hanging on the front of the glass and we've really been able to see his spots.

 

[Fishyfanatic]

Any luck with figuring out what type out John Doe's are? I was thinking maybe a little bit of Oscar in the black and pink one.

 

[Menagerie]

I need better pics. At least they are bigger in the gallery, but I still can't make them out

 

[TankGirl]

OB peacocks come to mind when I see that spotted pattern, but the pics are too blurry for me to really get a good idea.

Your KH will definitely go up a bit with CC, FF.

 

[Menagerie]

OB peacocks

That's what I thought too, but better pics will help

 

[Fishyfanatic]

I'll try to take some better close ups of the fish when I get home on Wednesday.