Hey guys,
I am in the process of moving to Kentucky. As a result, I have re-homed the hodge podge SA cichlid tank in my daughter's play room, and I am looking forward to a clean slate. I'm considering african cichlids, but not sure where to start.
A litte about me:
I'm a fairly experienced fish keeper. I've kept a bunch of different NW cichlids, planted tanks with CO2, piranha, a saltwater fish only with live rock tank, and I've got a background in biology (I'm a nurse). I've kept west african riverine cichlids, but never rift lake species.
The tank that I'm looking to reboot is a 29g aquarium that will be in my kids playroom. I'm more especially interested in mouthbrooding or other interesting behavior. I really enjoy watching NW cichlids pair off, change colors, and raise a spawn, and I'd like to show case some interesting breeding behavior for my daughter. I'm not overly concerned with colorful species but my wife and daughter might be.
I've looked at the "cookie cutter" setups for a 20g long, and 29g on another fish forum, but none of the fish species seem familiar to me. I don't even know where to start.
1. What kind of setup do I need? right now I have eco-complete in the tank, but I'd rather not have plants and I'm looking forward to something relatively easy to gravel vac and maintain stable water parameters.
2. What lake lends itself best to something like this?
3. What species and how many for a 29?
4. last but not least I'll be in a new area with few fish resources available. I'll mostly be buying from big box stores or online unless someone knows a LFS in the Paducah/Western, KY area. What kind of fish can I find given this limitation?
Any and all help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
-C
I am in the process of moving to Kentucky. As a result, I have re-homed the hodge podge SA cichlid tank in my daughter's play room, and I am looking forward to a clean slate. I'm considering african cichlids, but not sure where to start.
A litte about me:
I'm a fairly experienced fish keeper. I've kept a bunch of different NW cichlids, planted tanks with CO2, piranha, a saltwater fish only with live rock tank, and I've got a background in biology (I'm a nurse). I've kept west african riverine cichlids, but never rift lake species.
The tank that I'm looking to reboot is a 29g aquarium that will be in my kids playroom. I'm more especially interested in mouthbrooding or other interesting behavior. I really enjoy watching NW cichlids pair off, change colors, and raise a spawn, and I'd like to show case some interesting breeding behavior for my daughter. I'm not overly concerned with colorful species but my wife and daughter might be.
I've looked at the "cookie cutter" setups for a 20g long, and 29g on another fish forum, but none of the fish species seem familiar to me. I don't even know where to start.
1. What kind of setup do I need? right now I have eco-complete in the tank, but I'd rather not have plants and I'm looking forward to something relatively easy to gravel vac and maintain stable water parameters.
2. What lake lends itself best to something like this?
3. What species and how many for a 29?
4. last but not least I'll be in a new area with few fish resources available. I'll mostly be buying from big box stores or online unless someone knows a LFS in the Paducah/Western, KY area. What kind of fish can I find given this limitation?
Any and all help would be appreciated.
Thanks,
-C