please help lol

brandi77

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Sep 23, 2005
31
0
0
46
ohio
i posted a question and havent gotten any replies yet. I really need help. I have 2 kenyis and 1 lemon severums(i think). what fish can i put in with them in a fifty five gallon. i tried to upload of pic of it, but was told the file was to big. sorry
 

spryandspringy

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jul 7, 2005
271
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0
The Lone Star State!
It really depends on your decor what you can add and how many. Do you have a lot of rock and hiding places? If so, you could probably add several other mbuna-type African cichlids. If you have wide open spaces, then utaka (like peacocks) might be a better match. Not knowing for sure the identity of fish number three makes it tough to make recommendations, though. How big are your current fish? What are your water parameters like? What decor do you have? What kind of filtration do you have? Do you want live plants or is that not a consideration? Anything else you can tell us?
 

brandi77

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Sep 23, 2005
31
0
0
46
ohio
i have alot of black slate for caves. i dont think that i am ready for live plants yet. i have an aquaclear 50, and a whisper 10.
 

guppy

Small Squiggly Thing
Apr 15, 2005
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confused, lost, and lonely
Hiya brandi77, if you want to try simple plants try a couple bunches of elodea, it is cheap and prolific so even if it dies you are only out a couple bucks. I don't know a thing about the kenyis so I can't help you there, but if it tells you your file is to big just open your pic and use any paint or photo editor to resize it to around 400 pixels or so across and then when you click "save as" make sure you save it as a jpeg file instead of a bitmap. that should solve your problem.
By the way, Welcome to MFK and I look forward to seeing your pictures.
 

spryandspringy

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jul 7, 2005
271
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The Lone Star State!
African cichlids have one mission in life: to destroy live plants. Well, maybe that's an exaggeration, but I wouldn't recommend putting any plants in there with them. Assuming your current fish are of a very juvenille size, you might try some "Electric Yellow" Labs, one of the zebra varieties (Cobalt Blue Zebra or Red Zebra) or other, less aggressive species first. (Each of these three I mentioned are quite common at most LFS. You'll need to make sure that your decor is set up with lots of caves and hiding places, and that these are stable; cichlids of most every kind will dig in the substrate and cause avalanches if you're not careful. You could also try some of the many species of catfish and/or plecos that can tolerate, or even prefer, the high pH that African cichlids require. That brings up anopther question, as I assumed that you already have the correct tank parameters for your current fish. What temperature do you keep your tank at? What's your pH? What do you feed? Keep the questions coming, because this is definitely the place to get the answers. :)
 

brandi77

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Sep 23, 2005
31
0
0
46
ohio
thank you so much for the advice. my water temp is at 78. i had the lfs check my ph and they said it was ok. i just got home from the lfs cuz i wanted to get another severum, and i found out that they have ich. i think mine does too cuz i just got it yesterday. any suggestions? I bought 1 socolofi blue and 1 snowhite. does anyone know the latin name for the snowhite? thank you
 

spryandspringy

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jul 7, 2005
271
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The Lone Star State!
brandi77 said:
thank you so much for the advice. my water temp is at 78.
That's fine for most all cichlids.

brandi77 said:
i had the lfs check my ph and they said it was ok.
Did they give you a number that corrolates to your pH? "O.K." for one fish may mean stress for another. I'd suggest the purchase of an all purpose test kit to monitor your water quality.

brandi77 said:
i just got home from the lfs cuz i wanted to get another severum, and i found out that they have ich. i think mine does too cuz i just got it yesterday. any suggestions?
First, stop adding fish until all of those in your tank are cured. Are your fish showing any symptoms of ich, such as small white marks that look like grains of sand or salt, or are they rubbing against objects in the tank? There are many ich treatments commercially available. Get one right away, and make sure you follow the directions; some ich treatments require raising the water temperature and/or removing the filter carbon. You can also dose your tank with aquarium salt, which is less harsh than the chemical ich treatments. Unfortunately, "less harsh" also means "less effective", so it really depends how bad things are which you should choose.

brandi77 said:
I bought 1 socolofi blue and 1 snowhite. does anyone know the latin name for the snowhite? thank you
"Snowhite" in African cichlids is often a catch-all for any albinos. Most often they'll be labs or zebras, though.

Again, stop adding fish for now. Is this a new tank? You need to give the essential bacteria in the system a chance to catch up with the bioload. (read: Let the microscopic creepie-crawlies in your filter and gravel bed grow and multiply to keep up with the poop and pee and extra food.) It doesn't take forever, and it will be worth it. Use the test kit I suggested to know when it's time to add more fish.

Believe me, I am the WORST when it comes to being patient with these things, but I only break the rules when my water parameters continue to look good.
 
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