Cichlid Help [Archive] - Aquarium Forum

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Jakaris

03-27-2007, 12:53 AM

My community tank suffered a bout of ich, since I had removed much of the salt in the tank (my general ich repellant). All the fish died >.< I already did the cleaning, at the moment the tank is cycling. Once thats done, I would love some ideas for a cichlid tank. I have a 26 gallon tank, so I'm guessing some dwarf cichlids, but what types?
Any help would be appreciated.

Severus

03-27-2007, 03:14 AM

I would go with an African Lake themed tank. Peacocks or Mbunas.

Jakaris

03-27-2007, 11:49 PM

Drumachine09

03-28-2007, 12:35 AM

Thats sounds like a great idea, but are you sure they would so well in such a small aquarium? Thats why I was thinking dwarfs. However, if they WOULD fit in there, I would love some Electric Yellows :D

I would go with some of the less agressive cichlids, like the yellow labs you mentioned. Also, keep to mbunas, if you want the yellow labs.

2x Yellow Labs
2x Red (or albino) Zebras
2x Powder Blue Cichlids (psuedotropheus socolofis)
1x Featherfin Squeaker
or
1x Upside Down Catfish

Make sure you get PLENTY of rock structures (ie. Slate) to keep the agression down. Try to buy them as young as possible, and try to get them the same size, because if one gets bigger than the others, he will pick on the smaller ones, i have experience with that. When you buy food, get new life spectrum (should be your first choice), or hikari cichlid biogold (second choice). Make sure you have a PH of 7.8-8.4 or so, as the cichlids will thrive in these conditions.

Goodluck!

Jakaris

03-28-2007, 01:24 AM

Err, hold on, I PROBABLY should have mentioned this before. My tank is taller than it is wide, heres a pic when it was all set up for my community:
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Will it still be okay for that many fish? Especially if I stack some slate in, almost like a house formation, so it goes upward? Thanks for the help, and if it wil lstill work, then thanks for that list :D

Jakaris

03-28-2007, 01:29 AM

Oh and would some smaller gravel do well? The gravel in there atm is pretty large and I'm not loving it, so would some smaller gravel be good for them, since I read they liek to rearange the gravel. And if so, any color they seem to prefer?

Now all I have to do is start saving some cash for all this >.< Those yellow's are EXPENSIVE here.

Drumachine09

03-28-2007, 02:02 AM

Hmmm, it is a tall tank, and this sounds like a question for cichlidman/reptileguy2727.

You could go with smaller more natural looking gravel too. It wont hurt them, but as for helping them, i dont know.

Fishguy2727

03-29-2007, 12:50 AM

I would go with peacocks, much less aggressive and one of the if not the most colorful freshwater fish (only competition is discus). It is about the smallest tank I would do peacocks or mbunas in, but it could be done. If it is tall you just have to make sure you have a lot of surface agitation, you can easily compensate for smaller surface area. If the LFS in your area or within a reasonable drive are into africans, see if they have Lake Tanganyikans. Many of them are smaller and therefore would be more suited for the tank. What filtration do you have on it now?

Lady Hobbs

03-29-2007, 02:26 AM

That seems like an awfully small tank for cichlids that get 5- 6 inches. Reptileguys the cichlid expert, tho, so if he says it's OK then guess it's OK. I "think" you can only have one male tho.

I was checking out the dwarf, Apistograma species.......mainly the borellii.

Jakaris

03-29-2007, 08:38 PM

I have a Penguin Biowheel 150, for 30 gallons, but I'm adding my old filter, which is suited to 20 gallons. It's a Biowheel too, I just can't think of the name. Probably a 100 or something. Plenty of surface agitation, believe me, lol. Keeps me up at night sometimes >.>

Drumachine09

03-29-2007, 08:42 PM