starting an african chiclids tank

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KILLERKOI

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Jan 6, 2006
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Hey guys what up. im looking into turning a 55g into a crazy af. chiclid tank but ive never had them. all i know is what iver heard from ppl. so i was just wondering how important do i have to watch the PH lvl for them just wondering cause ive heard it has to be high lvled but i c alot of times in pet store they have them in any old tank and i ve asked and they never have issues, also what type aquascape do they need? and is there any tank mates that do good with these guys. cause as ive seen they are badass glass nippers any help is greatly needed thanx p.s. dam i feel like such a :newbie:
 
Keep their PH round the 7 mark if you need buffers then get bog wood etc..
i found that if i kept their water temp between 24-25'c (which is at the colder end of the scale of what they prefer) it made them more active.
Also make sure you move their decorations, rocks etc... around every few weeks to drop aggression levels. They also like pebbles to dig in and spit at other fish... lol not sandy substrate.
I also used a daylight tube which i found really brought out their colours. Try Improvit for cichlids if you can get it, it has ALL the vitamins they need and really enhances colour.
For aquascape you want lots of rocks, pots and things to make hiding places and territories. They will rearrange it if they dont like it tho...lol
 
RonTheRHOM;1261602; said:
Keep their PH round the 7 mark if you need buffers then get bog wood etc..
i found that if i kept their water temp between 24-25'c (which is at the colder end of the scale of what they prefer) it made them more active.
Also make sure you move their decorations, rocks etc... around every few weeks to drop aggression levels. They also like pebbles to dig in and spit at other fish... lol not sandy substrate.
I also used a daylight tube which i found really brought out their colours. Try Improvit for cichlids if you can get it, it has ALL the vitamins they need and really enhances colour.
For aquascape you want lots of rocks, pots and things to make hiding places and territories. They will rearrange it if they dont like it tho...lol
Click to expand...

ph is better at 8+
 
Mine were fine at 7 which is our actual water PH where i am, all it needed was dechlorinating. also kind of depends on whether were talking Malawi's or Tang's.
 
RonTheRHOM;1261602; said:
Keep their PH round the 7 mark if you need buffers then get bog wood etc..
i found that if i kept their water temp between 24-25'c (which is at the colder end of the scale of what they prefer) it made them more active.
Also make sure you move their decorations, rocks etc... around every few weeks to drop aggression levels. They also like pebbles to dig in and spit at other fish... lol not sandy substrate.
I also used a daylight tube which i found really brought out their colours. Try Improvit for cichlids if you can get it, it has ALL the vitamins they need and really enhances colour.
For aquascape you want lots of rocks, pots and things to make hiding places and territories. They will rearrange it if they dont like it tho...lol
Click to expand...
Yea, pH should be around 8. I keep my temp around 80F. For natural aquascape, you should use rocks of your choice. You could keep about 10-15 mbuna in a 55 gallon.
 
The sad truth is, if you get them from a LFS they could probably do fine in a Ph of 7.0. They would do better higher, but you are right, most of these fish are kept in the same water as everything else. I keep mine at 7.5. It should be higher.

As far as aquascape, they love places to hide. Nice rocky layouts are good. Take a look at my avatar. That is one of my African tanks.
 
ziggy2;1264067; said:
The sad truth is, if you get them from a LFS they could probably do fine in a Ph of 7.0. They would do better higher, but you are right, most of these fish are kept in the same water as everything else. I keep mine at 7.5. It should be higher.

As far as aquascape, they love places to hide. Nice rocky layouts are good. Take a look at my avatar. That is one of my African tanks.
Click to expand...

Ive always kept mine at the 7-7.5ph mark and had plenty of success with them. Ive even successfully bred them, so i must have been doing something right
 
Some people are the in the hobby to breed and some people just like to see cool fish.

If you just want them to swim around and entertain you with their wacky African antics then 7-9 will work. The best thing with any fish is to make sure that the water is stable and no drastic changes in PH or hardness.

If you want them to breed and have eggs that will successfully hatch on a regular basis then you should try to get as close as possible to their natural environment with temp, PH, and hardness. Most Africans are in the 8s somewhere. Alot of people like 8.2-8.4 for mixing fish of different lakes.

If you want to buffer you can use aragonite or crushed coral in the tank or you can mix up some African cichlid buffer. You could always do both.
 
Long term, African cichlids kept in a lower pH can be more suceptible to diseases and parasites. True they can live with it, but it's not good for them.

I bet if you raised your pH up to at least 8.0, you would also see a magnificent improvement in color.
 
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