Filtration for large tank

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tracyb

tracyb

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Nov 26, 2005
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0
0
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Scotland
Hi all

New member seeking advice. At the moment i am using a Fluval 404 canister and Fluval 4 internal filters to filter a 75 uk gal tank. I find this type of filtration very affective and maintenace


I have recently bought a Jaguar Cichlid and Mota Cichlid. They are still only a few inches at the moment and are in my 75 gal tank with an 7" oscar and 7" Golden Severum with some dither fish. In a couple of months i will be buying a new tank to house the two new cichlids. I have a few questions

1. What would be the min tank size for Jag and Mota. I have heard 180gal for the jag alone.

2. I can go with the type of filtration i know maybe have a couple large caniters and a couple of internals, but i want to maybe try sump filtration. Can anyone give advice on how to set this up?

Thanks

Tracy
 
I would do a wet dry of some kind, as they mature they can handle some serious fish loads. This will require some kind of drain from the display however, and having it drilled is the best way to go.
 
First off, the jag and mota are to alike to settle into anything less then 200 gallons. These fish are almost the same fish so at full grown they will not tolerate one another in a 180.... Jags and mota's are seriously aggressive fish but when put into a tank with other large aggressive hardy cichlids they seem to lay back a bit but only if other fish dont look similar to them. I have a 180 with JAG,OSCAR,GT,JD,TEXAS,SALVINI,CONVICT,JEWEL and it works great but its because no real similarities in the fish which keeps them from fighting off similar males to find a mate.... My advise would be choose the jag or the mota and then add other tough cichlids with it in the 180.. As far as filtration a wet\dry would be great but you dont need it, go with a pair of FILSTAR XP3'S OR FLUVAL 404'S and then add a AC110 in the middle.... Your tank will look great with either set-up goodluck..........
 
Thanks for the advice.

I think i have a female mota. Are they less agressive? I am not sure what sex the the Jag is at the moment, it is too small to be sure but i think its a female too.

Can anyone confirm that my Mota is a female.

How easy to set up is a wet and dry. I understand how the canisters work, are there any articles on how a wet and dry works.

Tracy

Mota.jpg
 
You may want to research building your own filter. I had borrowed a book from my aquarium club library "Enjoying Cichlids" by Ad Konings. There was a section which described the construction of a trickle-type filter, which was supposed to be very efficient. Basically a water pump running into a canister which sits on top of the tank. Canister is filled with filter media (i.e. bio-balls, foam, floss, whatever), and has holes drilled in the bottom. Although I have not tried it, it souded really simple to construct, and would be a heck of a lot cheaper than buying a canister (or two canisters as some will suggest). As well, it doesn't require drilling of the tank.
Arapaimag from this site runs a modified version of this filter on some of his large tanks (not the monsters but tanks in the range of 180-800 gals.). He uses rubbermaid containers, with mainly filter floss/padding, and gets good results.
It may be worth your time to see what you can find on this. You may even want to consider buying the book, as it is a very good book for cichlid fans in general.
 
One word:

Eheim


HarleyK
 
y not use Overhead Filtration.
 
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