Help please

[bonedog]

Im a noob. I was given a 55g tank with cichlids. I love it. Now ive put money down on a 210g tank. Going to pick it up in 2 weeks. Should I put extra filter material in my 55g to help seed my new tank? If so is the more the better?

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[ScotJudd]

There's not a lot of info in your question.
Is the tank a replacement. Will the filter be moved across. Will it be powerful enough. Are you buying a new filter. Will you run both tanks or is the smaller tank being closed down.
Your plan of events are needed to give a constructive answer.
The simple answer is the more seeded media you have available for the new tank the faster it will be cycled.

 

[bonedog]

New tank. Will be running both. Ive ordered 2 aquatop cf500 canisters for the new tank. The filter will stay with original tank. I was thinking just to put things in 55g to put in 210g when I get it.

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[Mebbid]

You are going to want to add all the filter media from the old tank into the new one to keep it well cycled.

What type of cichlids do you have?

Most common cichlid set ups are Mbunas which require some special considerations when keeping them in a tank to cover aggression issues. Assuming that's what you have you will need to quickly add upwards of 40 specifically chosen Mbuna to keep things civil in that tank. Not to mention the obscene number of rocks you are going to need to provide them all with caves.

Nevertheless, most cichlid tanks need to be heavily stocked so that fish don't have enough space to establish territories. There are also known tank killers out of all the types of cichlids out there. Setting up a successful cichlid tank requires quite a bit of research. I would suggest going to the cichlid sub forum to get some advice on where to go from here.

 

[bonedog]

I have a jaguar, jack dempsey, red zebra, kenyi, and parallel mbuna in 55g. Going to get all new fish for 210g. All africans. Was planning on 40 or so. I think my filtration should keep up. Each canister is rated for 175g and ill have 2.

 

[Mebbid]

That's the same filter I use on my 55g.

Do you have any ideas on what africans you want? I would try to stick with an assortment of the same type either Mbuna, Haps, or Peacock that all inhabit the same lake.

 

[bonedog]

I dont know what fish. Ive only had the other tank not even 2 weeks. Im brand new at this. What type do u recommend? I want bright colored ones. Do u think 2 cf500 will keep up with 40 fish?

 

[Mebbid]

I dont know what fish. Ive only had the other tank not even 2 weeks. Im brand new at this. What type do u recommend? I want bright colored ones. Do u think 2 cf500 will keep up with 40 fish?

It should be okay, just be sure to very very thoroughly od a fishless cycle and then add all the fish at once.

For stocking suggestions I would highly suggest starting a new thread in the cichlid forum. I have fairly limited experience with Mbunas.

Some suggestions I would throw out there are Yellow labs, Acei, Cynotilapia Afra, and rusty cichlids. There are hundreds of species out there though; most of which would work. Generally fish are stocked at 1m - 4+ females depending on the species. Yellow labs are fine with 1 male to 4 females while other more aggressive Mbuna such as a Demasoni need to be kept at 1 male to 15+ females.

The other way of stocking them involves adding a single male of large number of different species but that's something I haven't personally tried.