theclearblue
01-22-2004, 11:29 AM
Okay, this is a story with a couple of different questions, which I'll number at the end. Any comments/advice would be greatly appreciated.
I'm a junior in college and my three room mates and I decided earlier this year to get a fish tank. We went to a LFS and bought a package deal ten gallon tank on the word that African Cichlids would be fine in it (which I now know to be absolutely false). We cylcled the tank with feeder comets for three weeks and I set up the tank to match the water conditions the LFS gave me (pH 8.2, Water Temp, etc.). After the three week cycle we added four fish, which I had identified for me on another board (Fish 1 is a Metriclima Zebra Sp O.B. aka O.B. (orange blotch) Zebra. Fish 2 is a Metriclima Callainos aka Cobalt Blue Zebra. Fish 3 is a Metriclima Greshakei aka Red top Cobalt Zebra. Fish 4 is a Labiochromis Cauruleus) The red top Cobalt was the only fish they felt somewhat confident in identifying as male by the picture. He is by far the largest, about three times the size of the yellow lab and twice as big as the other two.
They seemed to get along fairly well in the ten gallon, with some chasing by the Red Top, but no deaths. I decided to research cichlids online and found out that they require much larger tanks than what we were providing. The ten gallon was being filtered by a penguing mini and a heater. So I decided to go out and buy a larger tank (our school has a limit of ten gallon tanks) I went with a 20 gallon long as I had heard that it roughly gave the same floor area as a 30 gallon without the smaller gain in water stability of a thirty gallon. I'm sure I can convince my RA that it's ten gallons if he confronts me as most people aren't very good at estimating volume.
I decided to go with sand as a substrate for the new tank rather than the gravel I had been using in the previous. I set it up and filled with pre-mixed water set to the correct conditions. I let it settle and then moved in all of the structure from the previous tank, moved the filter, and then put the fish in (I tested thoroughly to make sure the water was exactly same, as well as adding five gallons from the previous tank). It's been two weeks with no deaths, odd behaviour, and/or water quality fluctuations.
I've taken quite an interest in these fish, while my room mates are somewhat indifferent. I've spent quite a bit of time researching Cichlids and I've come to ask for some advice.
So... here are my questions
1) I know the tank is too small, and my parents have agreed to let me set up a 75 gallon at home (a present!) which I'll go home on weekends and set up. Can I in good conscience keep these four fish in this tank for the next four months before I go home for the year? I know returning them to the LFS is an option, but my room mates would be pretty pissed as we've all grown quite attached to the fish. They're all pretty small still except for the red top who's stilll pretty young (around 1.75").
2) I realized from reading that my penguin mini is probably not up to the job of filtering the 20gallon L, so I ordered an Emperor 280, which should arrive tomorrow. How long should I run both simultaneously until the 280 is established?
3) Should I add a powerhead to the tank to eliminate dead spots or is that not an issue in a 20L? If so, what kind would you recommend?
4)Once the 280 is established should I move the penguin mini back to the ten and recycle it and put the red top in it to take pressure off the other fish?
5) Are any of my fish significantly incompatible?
Thanks in advance
I'm a junior in college and my three room mates and I decided earlier this year to get a fish tank. We went to a LFS and bought a package deal ten gallon tank on the word that African Cichlids would be fine in it (which I now know to be absolutely false). We cylcled the tank with feeder comets for three weeks and I set up the tank to match the water conditions the LFS gave me (pH 8.2, Water Temp, etc.). After the three week cycle we added four fish, which I had identified for me on another board (Fish 1 is a Metriclima Zebra Sp O.B. aka O.B. (orange blotch) Zebra. Fish 2 is a Metriclima Callainos aka Cobalt Blue Zebra. Fish 3 is a Metriclima Greshakei aka Red top Cobalt Zebra. Fish 4 is a Labiochromis Cauruleus) The red top Cobalt was the only fish they felt somewhat confident in identifying as male by the picture. He is by far the largest, about three times the size of the yellow lab and twice as big as the other two.
They seemed to get along fairly well in the ten gallon, with some chasing by the Red Top, but no deaths. I decided to research cichlids online and found out that they require much larger tanks than what we were providing. The ten gallon was being filtered by a penguing mini and a heater. So I decided to go out and buy a larger tank (our school has a limit of ten gallon tanks) I went with a 20 gallon long as I had heard that it roughly gave the same floor area as a 30 gallon without the smaller gain in water stability of a thirty gallon. I'm sure I can convince my RA that it's ten gallons if he confronts me as most people aren't very good at estimating volume.
I decided to go with sand as a substrate for the new tank rather than the gravel I had been using in the previous. I set it up and filled with pre-mixed water set to the correct conditions. I let it settle and then moved in all of the structure from the previous tank, moved the filter, and then put the fish in (I tested thoroughly to make sure the water was exactly same, as well as adding five gallons from the previous tank). It's been two weeks with no deaths, odd behaviour, and/or water quality fluctuations.
I've taken quite an interest in these fish, while my room mates are somewhat indifferent. I've spent quite a bit of time researching Cichlids and I've come to ask for some advice.
So... here are my questions
1) I know the tank is too small, and my parents have agreed to let me set up a 75 gallon at home (a present!) which I'll go home on weekends and set up. Can I in good conscience keep these four fish in this tank for the next four months before I go home for the year? I know returning them to the LFS is an option, but my room mates would be pretty pissed as we've all grown quite attached to the fish. They're all pretty small still except for the red top who's stilll pretty young (around 1.75").
2) I realized from reading that my penguin mini is probably not up to the job of filtering the 20gallon L, so I ordered an Emperor 280, which should arrive tomorrow. How long should I run both simultaneously until the 280 is established?
3) Should I add a powerhead to the tank to eliminate dead spots or is that not an issue in a 20L? If so, what kind would you recommend?
4)Once the 280 is established should I move the penguin mini back to the ten and recycle it and put the red top in it to take pressure off the other fish?
5) Are any of my fish significantly incompatible?
Thanks in advance