The plants are artificial. Water changes of 30% are done religiously every week. Ive kept fish over the last 3 years and understand the importance of water changes, if i tought that was the problem i wouldnt have posted the thread its just odd. Nitrates of 30ppm isnt out of control a day and a half before the next water change.
Looking for advice
- Thread starter IrishLad2017
- Start date
The plants are artificial. Water changes of 30% are done religiously every week. Ive kept fish over the last 3 years and understand the importance of water changes, if i tought that was the problem i wouldnt have posted the thread its just odd. Nitrates of 30ppm isnt out of control a day and a half before the next water change.
My Mbunas destroy floaters and will uproot plants. Do your Mbuna do this as well?
I guess not.................................................Also, I'm not sure if the OP is playing with pH or not (many African cichlid keepers do; I do not). If the OP buffering pH, then the plants you've identified would not do as well as you think they would do.
Mbuna will uproot Anubias with their digging, but this won't affect this particular plant much. Yes, they are a slow grower, but they are also tolerant of low light and nearly impossible to kill, making them a good suggestion for an African cichlid keeper who may have not had a live plant before. SMH.
30ppm isn't crazy high. I don't see an obvious reason for slower than normal growth in your fish given what has been said thus far.
30 ppm isn't terrible, 10 range would be ideal. You have African cichlid are tough fish and slow growing once adults which yours appear to be adults. The parrot is a slow growing fish as well ive had mine about 10 months and is only about 4-5 inch
The fish grow slowly once they reach adult size, which they seem to be. Maybe if you upped water changes to twice a week and kept nitrates closer to 10ppm, you would notice a little bit more growth. But I wouldn't expect them to grow very quickly even then, it looks like most are almost fully grown, some may be full size already. Most mbuna only get to around 5". They grow pretty quickly to 3" or so then slow down considerably. I wouldn't worry about it
I agree with Grinch, that a more frequent heavier water change schedule would probably help.
I consider nitrate at 30ppm to be quite high, and consider anything over 20ppm to be stressful.
Most of the OPs cichlids are rift lake type (not large growers), but the rift lakes usually have a nitrate level of less than 5ppm.
If it were my tank, Id do at least 2 water changes of 30 to 40% per week, especially since a 240L tank is only about 60 gallons (in reality I'd probably do 3 or 4 WCs)..
The smaller the tank, the harder it is to keep nitrates down, without more frequent water changes.
I consider nitrate at 30ppm to be quite high, and consider anything over 20ppm to be stressful.
Most of the OPs cichlids are rift lake type (not large growers), but the rift lakes usually have a nitrate level of less than 5ppm.
If it were my tank, Id do at least 2 water changes of 30 to 40% per week, especially since a 240L tank is only about 60 gallons (in reality I'd probably do 3 or 4 WCs)..
The smaller the tank, the harder it is to keep nitrates down, without more frequent water changes.
Do larger ones. I do 2 70% changes a week. But some fish are very slow growers. No matter what you do, you can't change that. But better water conditions and good nutrition, you they will grow as fast as they can.
What foods are you offering? Diet requirements really vary between species.
