Just Starting

[Mary&Jason41902]

[color=darkblue:6f41e91ee1][/color:6f41e91ee1]

:?: Clueless :?:
I'm new to this Cichlid "stuff". I have had goldfish, and koi, but never have tried other species. I first fell in love with the Oscar, then while researching I came across the African Cichlid...I was like wow. I also love the colors of the Terror and the Jack Dempsey. But I which to ask the more experienced people. I have chosen a 60 gal aquarium for now, decided on a Ebo-Jager heater, and a Aquaclear filter. Pretty blank on the other stuff. Could you please help me? Such as gravel, plants, basic set up of the tank, how often to change water and such (I know there are other topics with this answered but still could you humor me?) and perhaps I could still have an Oscar along with one or more of these beautiful fish, or would it be very foolish to mix species. Any other input that you guys have for me be greatly appreciated. :wink:

Thanks,
Mary

[SGypsyMermaid]

hi mary--welcome! well, you've got to first decide what kind of cichlids you want to keep. oscars and lake cichlids definitely do not mix. they have different requirements such as ph, probably diet(depending on the lake species), and they have different social structures with different body language. you might start by reading some of the other posts and looking at some pictures to get an idea of what you want.

[Scotty]

Hey All :) I usually like to recommend Malawi cichlids, or "Mbuna" to less experienced keepers. They are relatively small, clean, colorful and very hardy. You should be able to keep a nice sized, active group in a 60 gallon tank. Since Mbuna are so common, they are among the least expensive Africans, and there is a ton of information available on thier care.

Stay away from Oscars and Dempsys. Your tank is not big enough. A highly experienced keeper "might" be able to successfully maintain a single Oscar or Dempsy in a 60 gallon. But even then, it's still too small for the fish to have any quality of life, and the tank would require a lot of filtration and maintenance. Once you get your feet wet :roll: in the hobby, look into a tank of 90 gallons or larger for these guys.

If you decide to go with the Mbuna, some basic info on tanks setup is as follows; Mbuna love hard, alkaline water and lots of rocks in thier aquarium. You can look around on the web, and in books for lots of good ideas on creatively arranging rocks for a beautiful tank. The hard and alkaline part is fairly easy also. You can buy easy to use water additives specially made for "rift lake cichlids", and add some crushed coral to your gravel to maintain the correct parameters. Most importantly, get a good book on these fish, and do some reading before you go ahead. Post back with any questions you have. Hope this helps....Scott 8)

[Mary&Jason41902]

Oh I havn't bought anything yet, I do my research first. Plus being in the Military my husband and I will be in a new base before next June, so I probably will until he gets out before I actually do this. Right now I'm doing more research, starting to get a lil confusing, but I'll ask more questions later.

Mary

[bgeorge]

Hi Mary. I am seriously new to cichlids and just went to the lfs and said give me one of these and one of these....


I am told I powerfeed my fish, and change the water too much.

My fish are perfectly happy, the water parameters are great and they are growing like nuts. I even have a pair of auratus who are holding. And I still know nothing.

Take the advice of the people here, they know a lot and are very helpful. You can trust them with your fish

[chennes]

[quote:c0674c3785="bgeorge"]and change the water too much.[/quote:c0674c3785]
This is probably BS, anyway. You'd have to change it an awful lot for it to be "too much" for Mbunas (which I believe is a specific subset of the Malawi cichlids, as opposed to the peacocks and haplochrominae, from the same lake). An awful lot being something like > 25% per day.

Chris

[1980camaoz28]

I dont about 60gal to small for a Dempsy. True they are beast's with feeders and small fish but not till a couple of years. My Dempsy was 9 years old and died do to my tank blew out the bottom :( I have a in my 55gal tank a 8inch female dempsy a 9 inch Peacock Bass a 5in Red Devil and Gold Dust Pike they all get along fine. Also have 2 Channel cats. Dempsy after 5 years old true keep them away from others when mine turned 5 I put him in a 75 long by himself. I also have a 200gal with 5 very large fish and it's great to go into my 30gal feeder tank when people come over to enjoy the show. Just remember fish need alott of care.

[Mbuniac]

bgeorge,
You can change too much water, but changing your water too often??? I think B.S. pretty well covers it. I think most of the folks on this site go by the 25-50% per week rule. You can definitely overfeed your fish. Don't feed them anymore than they can eat in about 3 minutes. I feed mine twice a day. LOL