chris_todd
Members
Well, my wife and I would like to take the plunge and put together our first African cichlid tank. We have a 65g tank (36" x 18" x 25") with a Rena Filstar XP2 (we may need more filtration, we'll see). Our Baltimore City tap water is about pH 7.8, KH 4, GH 8-9, and about 10 ppm Nitrates. The room our tank is in means it's hard for us to keep it less than 80* F in the summer, so the tank will run 78-82* F over the course of the year. This tank has been in constant use for almost a year, is well cycled, but currently has only one inhabitant, a 12" pleco (see my recent post in the Bottom Dwellers forum).
We would like a colorful tank with a good bit of activity (but not too much aggression). To learn more about the multitude of species available, we've spent a lot of time on cichlid-forum.com. We have found their "cookie cutter" setups intruiging, and are particularly interested in the "Blue and Yellow Haplochromine" setup here: http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/cookie_cutter_75g.php (scaling down the numbers somewhat to account for 65g instead of 75g). But we've also been intruiged by Peacocks and Mbuna.
I'm not even sure which questions to ask, so I'll throw it wide open and ask you:
If you were asked to build a cookie-cutter African Cichlid setup for a newbie with a 65g tank and the water parameters listed above, which species would you pick (and in what numbers/ratios)?
Then I would ask whether any of those species is likely to be available in the numbers we require at the September CCA meeting.
Also, I would guess that we would want to add all the fish at the same time, so nobody has much of a chance to establish territories?
For tank decorations, we were thinking ColorQuartz black sand, some texas holey rock, and flower pots or other similar rocky structures.
I realize there are probably many, many ways to do this, so as newbies it's all a little overwhelming, and we don't want to make stupid decisions. Any and all help/advice/shared experience is greatly appreciated.
Chris Todd
We would like a colorful tank with a good bit of activity (but not too much aggression). To learn more about the multitude of species available, we've spent a lot of time on cichlid-forum.com. We have found their "cookie cutter" setups intruiging, and are particularly interested in the "Blue and Yellow Haplochromine" setup here: http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/cookie_cutter_75g.php (scaling down the numbers somewhat to account for 65g instead of 75g). But we've also been intruiged by Peacocks and Mbuna.
I'm not even sure which questions to ask, so I'll throw it wide open and ask you:
If you were asked to build a cookie-cutter African Cichlid setup for a newbie with a 65g tank and the water parameters listed above, which species would you pick (and in what numbers/ratios)?
Then I would ask whether any of those species is likely to be available in the numbers we require at the September CCA meeting.
Also, I would guess that we would want to add all the fish at the same time, so nobody has much of a chance to establish territories?
For tank decorations, we were thinking ColorQuartz black sand, some texas holey rock, and flower pots or other similar rocky structures.
I realize there are probably many, many ways to do this, so as newbies it's all a little overwhelming, and we don't want to make stupid decisions. Any and all help/advice/shared experience is greatly appreciated.
Chris Todd