question on african cichlids

SiNiStEr NaTiOn

SiNiStEr NaTiOn

Member
I'm still doing my research on the rift lake cichlids., Majority of the african cichlid my lfs has is Malawi (mbuna). Apparently thats the most common african cichlid in this area, beside a few south american and american variety.

But I want to get away from the common cichlid in this area, So I'm thinking about Lake Tanganyika or Lake Victoria. The problem I see here is, I know one of these lake, the price of the particuliar cichlids is out of my price range, I think it's Victoria if I'm not mistaken.

The problem I'm having is the aquascaping of the tank, I know malawi (mbuna) is sand substrate with rock formation. So what type of aquascaping would need to be done for Tanganyika Cichlid and Victorian Cichlids. If anyone knows that could be helpful please let me know. Or if you know links to aquascaping for these type of tanks that could be useful also.

So far everything I been reading dealt more to Malawi (Mbuna) cichlids than the other lake aquascaping.
 
Frankie

Frankie

Well-Known Member
RS STAFF
You could build it like a reef with big hunks and slab like pieces of dry base rock. The fish would love the hiding places also helping to start a spawning event.
 
SiNiStEr NaTiOn

SiNiStEr NaTiOn

Member
Thanxs Frankie, This could give me a little practice in the aquascape, so when I build my reef I would have a good idea how to build the rock structure that I want for it.
 
Frankie

Frankie

Well-Known Member
RS STAFF
Just build it strong. These fish are aggressive and will knock rocks over.
I still tend to build my reefs as if I am doing it for cichlids. This one I had to redo because it was not suitable as a reef design but would have done well with Rift Lake fish:
032-6.jpg
 
SiNiStEr NaTiOn

SiNiStEr NaTiOn

Member
would texas holey rock be a good rock to build the rock scape with? also as I'm still deciding on which of the 3 rift lake to go with, that filtration is important. So would a marine land C-360 that is rated up to 100 gallon tank, be big enough or should I add a second canister or a hob filter, if hob then what type of hob?
 
minicrazy592

minicrazy592

Member
SiNiStEr NaTiOn said:
would texas holey rock be a good rock to build the rock scape with? also as I'm still deciding on which of the 3 rift lake to go with, that filtration is important. So would a marine land C-360 that is rated up to 100 gallon tank, be big enough or should I add a second canister or a hob filter, if hob then what type of hob?
Click to expand...

Holey rock would be perfect for Cichlids lots of holes for them to hide in and it's cheap. If you are going with the 55g the Marine Land should be just fine. If you go bigger it couldn't hurt to put a HOB on the tank just to get whatever the canister might have missed. If you do go that route I recommend you get an Aqua Clear HOB. I use them in my marine tanks and I would use them in my FW if they made one small enough. I think they are the best HOB's I've ever used. :)
 
SiNiStEr NaTiOn

SiNiStEr NaTiOn

Member
ok i need to ask. with a rift lake cichlid tank, can I do a Deep bed of combination of sand and fine pebbles?

I like to have a 4" bed, say like about 3" sand with 1" fine gravel? Is this possible.

The only reason I ask, is because I never been one for a shallow bed in a FW tank. I know if I do a community type of tank or a live bearer tank I would run a 4" bed.
 
minicrazy592

minicrazy592

Member
I would go with a small fine pebble as to avoid the sand because I feel that with them digging constantly you won't be able to see the tank because of the stirred up sand.:dunno:
 
R

RachShaffy

Member
Minicrazy, I have a cichlid tank with sand substrate and although the fish dig, the sand doesn't get stirred up enough to cause a problem. The only time that their digging would cause a problem is if the sand hadn't been washed enough beforehand.

ALWAYS put any large rocks into your tank BEFORE the substrate. Cichlids will dig and if they move enough sand to dislodge a rock, the whole thing can crash down on them!
Use a fine substrate as well because they can harm themselves if digging in anything to rough.

Be wary of things that have a nasty conspecific temperament. You don't have to avoid these fish but put them in in as big a group as you can (or create a speicies specific tank). Putting them in in a large group means that they will pester each other and not your other fish!

Be careful if you buy any fish classified as peacocks. Although these can be great looking fish in the store, a lot of the time they will be hormone fed and will lose their colouring quite quickly.

Personally, I would go with Malawi Mbuna. They are the better looking fish (IMO) and a lot of them have great personalities! Currently the stock list in our tank is 4 yellow labs, 5 white tailed acei, 4 red peacocks (which we regret buying!), 4 Rusties (amazing colouring) and 5 blue afra (not sure what type ATM).

Anyway...there are some great sites out there for profiles...not sure if I can add links to other sites/forums but there are several that focus on african cichlids
 
A

aliciacrawford

New Member
Tanganyika cichlids require many breathing spaces in spite of its somewhat small utmost size (16 cm) and it is recommended to dwelling this type in large community tanks of not below 600 liters (150 g). In such a situation they should be kept as a pair.

Victoria cichlids are not really suggested in a tank which houses Malawi Haps. This tank gives the option to contain sufficient lively species devoid of the kills which will unavoidably happen in a smaller tank.
 
P

pdawg

Member
Before switching over to saltwater, my 130 gallon tank was a cichlid tank for over 7 years. Throughout this time I also ended up setting up a 75 cichlid. I love cichlids with a passion. I strongly recommend not buying from a LFS and going to a forum. I used to buy all my cichlids at swaps, the swap I went to was gcca.net because im in chicago. I strongly recommend not housing any mbuna besides the common labs as mbuna are the most aggresive of the cichlids. I would only house africans together also although you can mix it up, africans are usually prettier and arent as predatorial. I would go with tangs and victorians and some happs. Victorians are jumpers though so make sure you have a lid. I would go with strictly sand, I bought 50 pounds for 5 dollars of playsand from home depot, rinsed it and its was good. I also used tons of holey rock, which is pretty expensive, due to shipping. I turned all of my holey rock to live rock. Peacocks and calvus are my favorite cichlids due to looks and colors. Look up the peacocks and calvus. Although some peacocks are fed hormones, as long as you get from a fish breeder or wild caught you'll be fine, and the female peacocks are silver and ugly, but males are beautiful, and every male peacock has the chance to be pretty, but if threatened by another fish, it will turn ugly, so as long as it isnt bullied it will be fine. I wouldnt use any rock because they do build burrows and spawn in them and sand is easier to move. Any more questions just ask. I used 2 aquaclear 110's and 2 XP3 filters on my 130, but I over did it. Most cichlids can endure poor water condition.
 
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