Hey everyone,
I'm new on the boards, and I'm getting back into the love of messing with my aquarium. I have a 55 Gallon tank with gravel filler, standard filtering (i'll post brand/etc if needed) and heater. I had some rocks we were going to use in our flower gardens, but I acquired them and my wife agreed to allow me to use them I think they look ok, but I am open to any suggestions.
I only have one fish now, which is a Jack Dempsey Cichlid named Dude (my wife named him). I only have one lighting ballast working now, which is why it's centered. I have ordered some new lighting, it will be in tomorrow...i'm very excited to get it installed. (I went with Current USA Satellite Freshwater LED Plus) and I also bought two wavemakers to hopefully help keep the junk out of the rocks and add a little movement (I went with 2 of Hydor Koralia Nano 425 Aquarium Circulation Pump). I am very anxious to get a lot more fish in, but I wanted to post a few questions that some of you might be able to help with.
1) I have posted a previous question about this, but given the size of my Jack Dempsey what other breeds of cichlids do you feel would be a good fit for him?)
2) I have lucked out and a friend of mine has a 12in pleco he's wanting to get rid of, so i'm going to pick him up today. This should not be a problem with a JD, would it?
3) I've heard a lot say to create hiding places, and i've heard creating hiding places causes aggression/makes them territorial. What is best practice for a 55 gallon community cichlid tank? I really would like to start quite a collection of Cichlids, but I want to be careful and not jump in too $fast and waste a lot.
4) My water is fairly clear, but it still has a light haze to it as you can see from the picture below. I just did a water change this past Sunday. Any pointers?
5) Any pointers / gotchas / for someone starting a tank this size with Cichlids, or resources to point me in, i'm all ears/eyes
I appreciate any input, here's a couple of pics of my tank and my first Cichlid, Dude the Jack Dempsey
Thanks for your time!
I'm new on the boards, and I'm getting back into the love of messing with my aquarium. I have a 55 Gallon tank with gravel filler, standard filtering (i'll post brand/etc if needed) and heater. I had some rocks we were going to use in our flower gardens, but I acquired them and my wife agreed to allow me to use them I think they look ok, but I am open to any suggestions.
I only have one fish now, which is a Jack Dempsey Cichlid named Dude (my wife named him). I only have one lighting ballast working now, which is why it's centered. I have ordered some new lighting, it will be in tomorrow...i'm very excited to get it installed. (I went with Current USA Satellite Freshwater LED Plus) and I also bought two wavemakers to hopefully help keep the junk out of the rocks and add a little movement (I went with 2 of Hydor Koralia Nano 425 Aquarium Circulation Pump). I am very anxious to get a lot more fish in, but I wanted to post a few questions that some of you might be able to help with.
1) I have posted a previous question about this, but given the size of my Jack Dempsey what other breeds of cichlids do you feel would be a good fit for him?)
2) I have lucked out and a friend of mine has a 12in pleco he's wanting to get rid of, so i'm going to pick him up today. This should not be a problem with a JD, would it?
3) I've heard a lot say to create hiding places, and i've heard creating hiding places causes aggression/makes them territorial. What is best practice for a 55 gallon community cichlid tank? I really would like to start quite a collection of Cichlids, but I want to be careful and not jump in too $fast and waste a lot.
4) My water is fairly clear, but it still has a light haze to it as you can see from the picture below. I just did a water change this past Sunday. Any pointers?
5) Any pointers / gotchas / for someone starting a tank this size with Cichlids, or resources to point me in, i'm all ears/eyes
I appreciate any input, here's a couple of pics of my tank and my first Cichlid, Dude the Jack Dempsey
Thanks for your time!