New to African Cichlids
- Thread starter Rayfishowner
- Start date
What pH are they being kept at? You should match it in your quarantine tank. Crushed coral will take time to work, you need an instant fix to avoid pH shock when you put them in the new tank?
As said above, crushed coral (aragonite) or crushed oyster shell are long term solutions, they do not change pH overnight.
And just because pH is 6.8 right from the tap, doesn't mean it will stay that way 10 minutes later.
It could be the pH is low because of trapped gases (temporary) and could rise after off gassing, or...... if the water has low alkalinity (low buffering capacity) it could drop even more after being in a tank.
For my tanks, I try to determine the type species I keep, matching their needs, and my tap water.
When in Wisconsin my tap water was just the opposite of yours, pH near 8, high alkalinity and mineral content, so perfect for rift lake Africans, and Central Americans, not so good for Amazonian or Asian soft water species.
One of my holy grail fish was Uaru fernandezyepezi, but they require very soft, low pH (5-6) water parameters to remain healthy, and at $60 a pop (I usually try to acquire groups at least 6), not a realistic venture for me. I find subjecting soft water species to hard water creates chronic health problems down the road like HLLE, and digestive tract diseases.
The same may be expected subjecting hard water species to soft water. These are not always immediately apparent, but maladies like Malawi bloat come to mind.
Of course I could have invested in an RO system for Panda Uaru, but I consider those type systems wasteful (about 2/3 or more of the water that enters, becomes waste) expensive, and fiddly, even though I worked with them daily in the lab as an analyst.
Since there are over 3000 species of cichlids, evolved to living in all different water types from around the world, finding something to match my water, was the better path for me than messing with water chemistry.
And just because pH is 6.8 right from the tap, doesn't mean it will stay that way 10 minutes later.
It could be the pH is low because of trapped gases (temporary) and could rise after off gassing, or...... if the water has low alkalinity (low buffering capacity) it could drop even more after being in a tank.
For my tanks, I try to determine the type species I keep, matching their needs, and my tap water.
When in Wisconsin my tap water was just the opposite of yours, pH near 8, high alkalinity and mineral content, so perfect for rift lake Africans, and Central Americans, not so good for Amazonian or Asian soft water species.
One of my holy grail fish was Uaru fernandezyepezi, but they require very soft, low pH (5-6) water parameters to remain healthy, and at $60 a pop (I usually try to acquire groups at least 6), not a realistic venture for me. I find subjecting soft water species to hard water creates chronic health problems down the road like HLLE, and digestive tract diseases.
The same may be expected subjecting hard water species to soft water. These are not always immediately apparent, but maladies like Malawi bloat come to mind.
Of course I could have invested in an RO system for Panda Uaru, but I consider those type systems wasteful (about 2/3 or more of the water that enters, becomes waste) expensive, and fiddly, even though I worked with them daily in the lab as an analyst.
Since there are over 3000 species of cichlids, evolved to living in all different water types from around the world, finding something to match my water, was the better path for me than messing with water chemistry.
Okay so I got the cichlids and also my ph is around 7.4-8.2 now with the crushed coral. One of the females is holding around 20 eggs. The guy who sold it to me said she’s been holding for 1 week so I made a divider to keep her by herself in quarantine. I’ll send pics in a bit. Any advice to raising the fry and making sure they survive?
Here are some pics (they are acclimating so sorry for the bad photos, didn’t want to disturb them too much). The speckled looking fish on the left side of the divider is the holding female.
ok here.
1. those are not pure breed yellow labs, don't disturbed the fry unless you advertise them as hybrids.
2. 30 gallons is way to small long term
3. peacocks and mbuna together is iffy.
4. ask the person who you are getting them from about the ph. Some that have been bred in captivity have been acclimated to lower PH
1. those are not pure breed yellow labs, don't disturbed the fry unless you advertise them as hybrids.
2. 30 gallons is way to small long term
3. peacocks and mbuna together is iffy.
4. ask the person who you are getting them from about the ph. Some that have been bred in captivity have been acclimated to lower PH
So they are hybrid yellow labs and ob peacocks and I am planning on upgrading. Also the ph is under control so we are good with that.
