Rachel0001
Aquarium Advice Regular
Yes, I know cichlids are messy fish. But good grief, they poop SO MUCH! I feed them a lot so I'm not surprised, but I do wonder why I get fish poo that gathers in certain spots in my tank.
( "a lot" = I feed them until I see the underdogs get a bite or two). I have one group who practically leap out of the aquarium when they see me and others who run for cover. I feed them by distracting the bold guys and sneaking pellets to the smaller ones on the other side.
I feed them 1-2x day for around 30 seconds and they eat it all as they fall so I never have uneaten food around. I only feed NLS cichlid, Thera-A, or medium fish formulas. I don't know if I'm overfeeding, I've heard everything from feed twice a day to feed every 2-3 days. If I feed less frequently the underdogs get skinny.
I have a 100G with a Fluval 405 and a Rena xP3 with the spray bar, three 250W Aqueon Pro heaters and a Tetra Whisper air pump rated for my tank size.
I vacuum the sand weekly during PWCs of 25-40% and test my water before the change. Every week it's the same...Am: 0, NO2: 0, NO3: between 5-20, pH:8
Current stock: 10 sm/med yellow tail Acei, 6 yellow labs, 1 rusty, 6 red zebras.
In QT I've got 1 blue & 4 albino socolofi and 3 aulonacara (I know, they're not really mbuna, I've heard some have success keeping them together so I'm trying with a QT tank close by).
Why is it that the poop doesn't get filtered out? Or is it normal that it sits on top the sand?
The filter intakes are about 4-6" above the sand because I recently took out a bunch. The poo wasn't sucked up when they were closer though, so I don't know if that's it. I have 1 intake and 1 output on each side of the tank. I just added the Rena, hoping maybe that the poo-piles were because I just needed more filtration. No change.
Should I try for more circulation, maybe add a power head to move things around? I don't even know if I can use them w/o an UGF.
Wow...that turned out longer than I expected! Thanks folks, for responding- and reading the entire thing!
I'll post poo pics from my phone
( "a lot" = I feed them until I see the underdogs get a bite or two). I have one group who practically leap out of the aquarium when they see me and others who run for cover. I feed them by distracting the bold guys and sneaking pellets to the smaller ones on the other side.
I feed them 1-2x day for around 30 seconds and they eat it all as they fall so I never have uneaten food around. I only feed NLS cichlid, Thera-A, or medium fish formulas. I don't know if I'm overfeeding, I've heard everything from feed twice a day to feed every 2-3 days. If I feed less frequently the underdogs get skinny.
I have a 100G with a Fluval 405 and a Rena xP3 with the spray bar, three 250W Aqueon Pro heaters and a Tetra Whisper air pump rated for my tank size.
I vacuum the sand weekly during PWCs of 25-40% and test my water before the change. Every week it's the same...Am: 0, NO2: 0, NO3: between 5-20, pH:8
Current stock: 10 sm/med yellow tail Acei, 6 yellow labs, 1 rusty, 6 red zebras.
In QT I've got 1 blue & 4 albino socolofi and 3 aulonacara (I know, they're not really mbuna, I've heard some have success keeping them together so I'm trying with a QT tank close by).
Why is it that the poop doesn't get filtered out? Or is it normal that it sits on top the sand?
The filter intakes are about 4-6" above the sand because I recently took out a bunch. The poo wasn't sucked up when they were closer though, so I don't know if that's it. I have 1 intake and 1 output on each side of the tank. I just added the Rena, hoping maybe that the poo-piles were because I just needed more filtration. No change.
Should I try for more circulation, maybe add a power head to move things around? I don't even know if I can use them w/o an UGF.
Wow...that turned out longer than I expected! Thanks folks, for responding- and reading the entire thing!
I'll post poo pics from my phone