Help With New Cichlid Tank

[_bsafarijoe]

Five days ago I took my previously unused but full of water and bio medium 55 gallon fish tank and did a whole rehaul on it. I left in the original substrate and bio medium after cleaning out the filter and I set it up for African cichlids, I have not added any fish to it yet but I was wondering if somebody could help me with a few pieces of it? Since this fish tank had been running two years without a ton of maintenance done on it and no fish in it, I did a complete re-haul and cleaned almost everything, I did a 90% water change and cleaned the filter thoroughly. I was wondering how long I have to wait before introducing the fish that I already have for it and going out and buying new fish? I am also looking at some specific species, I already have a red zebra Cichlid male and want to get 7 females for him (I have wanted to do a breeding group for a while and this was the suggestion that people gave to me) this will also be in multiple months as my red zebra cichlid male is very small. I am looking at getting a regular bristle nose pleco as well, and I have had multiple people suggest I get a small group of synodontis catfish but I have no clue what species specifically, it helps if you give me scientific names. I also want to add a species of snail to keep the glass more clean so I don’t have to wipe down algae as much, but I don’t know what species for that either. Any help is severely appreciated.

 

[_bsafarijoe]

Five days ago I took my previously unused but full of water and bio medium 55 gallon fish tank and did a whole rehaul on it. I left in the original substrate and bio medium after cleaning out the filter and I set it up for African cichlids, I have not added any fish to it yet but I was wondering if somebody could help me with a few pieces of it? Since this fish tank had been running two years without a ton of maintenance done on it and no fish in it, I did a complete re-haul and cleaned almost everything, I did a 90% water change and cleaned the filter thoroughly. I was wondering how long I have to wait before introducing the fish that I already have for it and going out and buying new fish? I am also looking at some specific species, I already have a red zebra Cichlid male and want to get 7 females for him (I have wanted to do a breeding group for a while and this was the suggestion that people gave to me) this will also be in multiple months as my red zebra cichlid male is very small. I am looking at getting a regular bristle nose pleco as well, and I have had multiple people suggest I get a small group of synodontis catfish but I have no clue what species specifically, it helps if you give me scientific names. I also want to add a species of snail to keep the glass more clean so I don’t have to wipe down algae as much, but I don’t know what species for that either. Any help is severely appreciated.View attachment 1451798View attachment 1451799

By the way, the African Cichlid in the second picture is in a separate tank.

 

[dr exum]

my africans eat snails

you test the water? ph ? nitrates ?

 

[DJRansome]

What is the length of the tank?

If it was running for 2 years with no fish it is not cycled. Allow about six weeks before adding fish for the tank to cycle. In order to grow beneficial organisms in the filters to handle toxins that are not safe for your fish...add ammonia (pure without surfectants or fragrances) to get the ammonia test up to about 2ppm and then test daily. The ammonia should eventually decrease which shows your bacteria are growing and increasing as they "consume" the ammonia.

When the ammonia test goes to zero, add ammonia again to get the water to 2ppm.

Repeat as required until ammonia is zero after 24 hours. Then start testing for nitrite and nitrate.

Keep dosing until ammonia and nitrite are zero after 24 hours and nitrate is increasing.

 

[_bsafarijoe]

my africans eat snails

you test the water? ph ? nitrates ?

Yep, nitrates are at zero, Nitrites are at zero, ammonia is zero, and PH is 7.5.

 

[_bsafarijoe]

What is the length of the tank?

If it was running for 2 years with no fish it is not cycled. Allow about six weeks before adding fish for the tank to cycle. In order to grow beneficial organisms in the filters to handle toxins that are not safe for your fish...add ammonia (pure without surfectants or fragrances) to get the ammonia test up to about 2ppm and then test daily. The ammonia should eventually decrease which shows your bacteria are growing and increasing as they "consume" the ammonia.

When the ammonia test goes to zero, add ammonia again to get the water to 2ppm.

Repeat as required until ammonia is zero after 24 hours. Then start testing for nitrite and nitrate.

Keep dosing until ammonia and nitrite are zero after 24 hours and nitrate is increasing.

I made that confusing, it had fish, but hasn't in like 2, I had a super good amount of beneficial bacteria and regularly took out media and water for new tanks.

 

[_bsafarijoe]

What is the length of the tank?

If it was running for 2 years with no fish it is not cycled. Allow about six weeks before adding fish for the tank to cycle. In order to grow beneficial organisms in the filters to handle toxins that are not safe for your fish...add ammonia (pure without surfectants or fragrances) to get the ammonia test up to about 2ppm and then test daily. The ammonia should eventually decrease which shows your bacteria are growing and increasing as they "consume" the ammonia.

When the ammonia test goes to zero, add ammonia again to get the water to 2ppm.

Repeat as required until ammonia is zero after 24 hours. Then start testing for nitrite and nitrate.

Keep dosing until ammonia and nitrite are zero after 24 hours and nitrate is increasing.

I have done that and all the ammonia is gone after 2ppm in less than 24 hours. nitrate and nitrite are almost always at zero except for after the dosing. The parameters are as my local fish store says "perfect to start adding fish", the only fish I'm going to add next week is a BN pleco. Then once my current cichlid puts on the size I'll add him.