Total noob

[Fish Eat Fish]

What I would do is right now setup the tank, fill it, run the filter, add ammonia (or throw in a piece of shrimp or somthing to decay) and then research. I hate waiting for a cycle so I would start ASAP. Do you know anyone with a *nice* fish tank? If you do see if you can get some of their filter media so you can boost your cycle. But make sure its a *nice* tank because if its not you might be adding stuff your tank doesnt want.

 

[scubasteve06]

I would go ahead and get your setup up and running for now withouth fish. Like other's said its a pain to have to wait a long time for your tank to cycle as you are wanting fish to put in it! Thanks for joing MFK by the way and for doing your homework first!!! That's always a good sign in this hobby for years to come. You will find great advice and plenty of ideas from this site. I wish you good luck and welcome!!!

 

[MHcblues119]

Dude i also like Exodens.......They are like mini P's Just in tetra form....And will rip the crap out of almost anything

In a 55g u could keep 15-20 of these babies

 

[fishnoob]

i have 3 tanks of mbuna (180 gallons, 90 and 47 "grow out" tank) and i can tell you that 55 gallons is the smallest you can go for lake malawi mbuna. they like big (long) tanks. however, you can go with a mix of a few species like yellow labs (they are not that aggressive compared to most mbuna) rusties are beautiful, and saulosi's come in pale blue and yellow/orangish. Or you could go with a large group of demasonis mixed with another type of dwarf or docile african species.

if i had a 55 gallon i would go with a group of rusties and yellow labs together.. you would have lots of color and they would get along fine. throw in crushed coral and some river rock and fake plants and you are set.

stay away from haps from lake malawi-they get huge (like a Venustus) and wont fit in a 55 gallon. welcome to MFK! youll get lots of good info here and the ppl here are great.

Ok thanks for the info.

Here's a good site that shows a lot of fish and great info on them, it should be able to guide you on what you may want and how to care for them.

http://www.aqualandpetsplus.com/Cichlid, Oscar.htm If you look to the right youll see hundreds of different fish listed.

Jimmy

Thank you

First thing is to get your tank set up and to start cycling it. You can read this info on cycling below(from MFK sister site Aquaria Central). What brand and type filter do you have, it is very important to start off with the correct filtration.

live feeding also carries the risk of transmitting disease and parasites but those can be reduced. a good place to start right now is- http://wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwestcycling.htm
some good articles in general
http://wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwsetupindex.htm

What I would do is right now setup the tank, fill it, run the filter, add ammonia (or throw in a piece of shrimp or somthing to decay) and then research. I hate waiting for a cycle so I would start ASAP. Do you know anyone with a *nice* fish tank? If you do see if you can get some of their filter media so you can boost your cycle. But make sure its a *nice* tank because if its not you might be adding stuff your tank doesnt want.

I would go ahead and get your setup up and running for now withouth fish. Like other's said its a pain to have to wait a long time for your tank to cycle as you are wanting fish to put in it! Thanks for joing MFK by the way and for doing your homework first!!! That's always a good sign in this hobby for years to come. You will find great advice and plenty of ideas from this site. I wish you good luck and welcome!!!

Thank you that is helping a lot.

Dude i also like Exodens.......They are like mini P's Just in tetra form....And will rip the crap out of almost anything

In a 55g u could keep 15-20 of these babies

I will look them up thanks.

 

[fishnoob]

i have 3 tanks of mbuna (180 gallons, 90 and 47 "grow out" tank) and i can tell you that 55 gallons is the smallest you can go for lake malawi mbuna. they like big (long) tanks. however, you can go with a mix of a few species like yellow labs (they are not that aggressive compared to most mbuna) rusties are beautiful, and saulosi's come in pale blue and yellow/orangish. Or you could go with a large group of demasonis mixed with another type of dwarf or docile african species.

if i had a 55 gallon i would go with a group of rusties and yellow labs together.. you would have lots of color and they would get along fine. throw in crushed coral and some river rock and fake plants and you are set.

stay away from haps from lake malawi-they get huge (like a Venustus) and wont fit in a 55 gallon. welcome to MFK! youll get lots of good info here and the ppl here are great.

Ok thanks for the info.

Here's a good site that shows a lot of fish and great info on them, it should be able to guide you on what you may want and how to care for them.

http://www.aqualandpetsplus.com/Cichlid, Oscar.htm If you look to the right youll see hundreds of different fish listed.

Jimmy

Thank you

First thing is to get your tank set up and to start cycling it. You can read this info on cycling below(from MFK sister site Aquaria Central). What brand and type filter do you have, it is very important to start off with the correct filtration.

live feeding also carries the risk of transmitting disease and parasites but those can be reduced. a good place to start right now is- http://wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwestcycling.htm
some good articles in general
http://wetwebmedia.com/FWSubWebIndex/fwsetupindex.htm

What I would do is right now setup the tank, fill it, run the filter, add ammonia (or throw in a piece of shrimp or somthing to decay) and then research. I hate waiting for a cycle so I would start ASAP. Do you know anyone with a *nice* fish tank? If you do see if you can get some of their filter media so you can boost your cycle. But make sure its a *nice* tank because if its not you might be adding stuff your tank doesnt want.

I would go ahead and get your setup up and running for now withouth fish. Like other's said its a pain to have to wait a long time for your tank to cycle as you are wanting fish to put in it! Thanks for joing MFK by the way and for doing your homework first!!! That's always a good sign in this hobby for years to come. You will find great advice and plenty of ideas from this site. I wish you good luck and welcome!!!

Thank you that is helping a lot.

Dude i also like Exodens.......They are like mini P's Just in tetra form....And will rip the crap out of almost anything

In a 55g u could keep 15-20 of these babies

I will look them up thanks.

 

[scubasteve06]

You know he might be able to keep A female Midas or Red Devil, as they dont get more than 8-9". They are pretty mean if you look at some of the owners of larger males on this site, they can't even hardly put thier hand in the tank because of their fish, and they would put on a great show for live feedings to impress your friends.

 

[fishnoob]

Ok all today it kept telling me mfk was down. Was it just me? Ok and also I have my tank running and I put sand in it after reading a article on it and cleaning it real good, my tank isn't even cloudy. I have 2 filters on it but I think 1 is way to powerful. Not sure how I can tell though. Also how do I edit posts?

 

[Danyal]

not just you, i was getting the same message for the last 2 days. you know your filter is too powerful when you fish are plastered against the opposite side of the tank along with all your sand and decorations seriously though it is very hard to have a filter that is too powerful, i wouldn't worry about it. if you look at the bottom right-hand corner of your post there should be an edit/delete message button, just click on that, edit what you want and click save.

 

[fishnoob]

not just you, i was getting the same message for the last 2 days. you know your filter is too powerful when you fish are plastered against the opposite side of the tank along with all your sand and decorations seriously though it is very hard to have a filter that is too powerful, i wouldn't worry about it. if you look at the bottom right-hand corner of your post there should be an edit/delete message button, just click on that, edit what you want and click save.

the filter is blowing all my sand on the other side of the tank one side is bare glass now