Where are you located? If in the Austin area, I'd be happy to come by and share what I know. I used to do the FW thing then went full ****** and got into reef tanks.
Fresh Water Aquarium Advice
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Last: 6 yr ago by MandoArms
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I have a 75g all male hap/peacock cichlid tank. Its HEAVILY overstocked, but I HEAVILY over-filtered it.
A word to the wise on African cichlids - they are very aggressive and must be overstocked to do well IMO. Especially if you keep any females with your males. If you understock, you end up with an alpha that will destroy any other males in his way. Overstocking keeps the aggression way down because there are way too many fish to have one be singled out.
Also, if you do African cichlids, add them in small batches, but never one at a time. There is a hierarchy set up in tanks and adding one makes all of them aggressive to the new guy.
It's a fun and relaxing hobby!
A word to the wise on African cichlids - they are very aggressive and must be overstocked to do well IMO. Especially if you keep any females with your males. If you understock, you end up with an alpha that will destroy any other males in his way. Overstocking keeps the aggression way down because there are way too many fish to have one be singled out.
Also, if you do African cichlids, add them in small batches, but never one at a time. There is a hierarchy set up in tanks and adding one makes all of them aggressive to the new guy.
It's a fun and relaxing hobby!
You can mix native fish (sun fish) with South American cichlids. I've done it several times while at A&M - but had larger tanks with plenty of hiding places. Bala sharks, iridescent sharks, and tinfoil barbs also work fine in this setup. Smaller Texas cichlids would do fine too.
In. I had a 20 gallon FW from the time I was 14-21 or so. Miss having it around, more so now that I've seen this thread. Reminded me of how much of a relaxing hobby it is.
Have a 200g African Cichlid tank and love it. Cichlids have "personality" that other fish don't. They are fascinating mouth brooders and are hardy. They are hard to kill. Most of my fish are 5 to 8 years old. They may kill each other if poorly chosen however. You can go a month between water changes in a pinch. Compared to salt water fish they are very easy to maintain.TKEAg04 said:
I have a 75g all male hap/peacock cichlid tank. Its HEAVILY overstocked, but I HEAVILY over-filtered it.
A word to the wise on African cichlids - they are very aggressive and must be overstocked to do well IMO. Especially if you keep any females with your males. If you understock, you end up with an alpha that will destroy any other males in his way. Overstocking keeps the aggression way down because there are way too many fish to have one be singled out.
Also, if you do African cichlids, add them in small batches, but never one at a time. There is a hierarchy set up in tanks and adding one makes all of them aggressive to the new guy.
It's a fun and relaxing hobby!
They have a reputation for aggression but only when you put the wrong fish together. For instance male Peacocks are some of the most beautiful and colorful cichlids (females have no color). You can put 5 different species of full grown colorful males together and they will live happily together. Add one female Peacock to the mix and the males will fight to the death until only one male remains. But if you have one male and one female
Peacock mixed with other species they will do fine.
You need a good aquarium store to help with fish selection. Don't buy from Petsmart.
More people should post pics of their tanks
Mine is nothing special... I'm working tonight, I'll post tomorrow if I get a chance.
CM
No material on this site is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. See full Medical Disclaimer.
Neither is mine, but it is fun to see what other setups and stock people have
Why only 4 fish in 36 gal? Iirc, I had almost a dozen yellow labs in a 20 g long with plenty of texas rock and they spawned like crazy.
I've got pictures somewhere. It was one of my early early projects. Ill find and post them when I can.
Back before I had kids and when I was very in to my aquariums I kept a separate 20g tank to pull out mouth brooding mothers so they could safely raise their young. Then would sell the young back to the fish store. It was a ton a work but fascinating to watch.
JonSnow said:
Back before I had kids and when I was very in to my aquariums I kept a separate 20g tank to pull out mouth brooding mothers so they could safely raise their young. Then would sell the young back to the fish store. It was a ton a work but fascinating to watch.
LOL, I did that in college. Probably had 10-15 aquariums in my room in my apt. Had S American and African cichlids. Would cross similar species (I.e. Different convict species). Would make up a name for the cross, and sell them to the pet shop in Bryan at the crappy "mall". Good times.
Wow this thread blew up over night!
I am located in Buckeye AZ (West Valley Phoenix area), so if anyone in the area wants to help out let me know!
And I agree we need more pictures!
I am located in Buckeye AZ (West Valley Phoenix area), so if anyone in the area wants to help out let me know!
And I agree we need more pictures!
I used to go to the Houston aquarium society auctions and spend hundreds on rare Africans and catfish.
I had 5 originally, the clown pleco got stuck between a rock and the tank wall, and I havent gotten around to getting a new algae/wood eater yet.
I purposely started with fewer fish so I wouldn't necessarily have to be as strict about weekly water changes. I usually change about 10 gallons out every two weeks, and that seems to work out for the fish and for me (because I have a very inquisitive 19 month old who likes to splash around in the 5 gallon bucket while I am vacuuming out the tank)
I will wait and see if my 2 little fry survive to adolescence before I add any new cichlids most likely.
I purposely started with fewer fish so I wouldn't necessarily have to be as strict about weekly water changes. I usually change about 10 gallons out every two weeks, and that seems to work out for the fish and for me (because I have a very inquisitive 19 month old who likes to splash around in the 5 gallon bucket while I am vacuuming out the tank)
I will wait and see if my 2 little fry survive to adolescence before I add any new cichlids most likely.
A little late, but my underwhelming tank as promised:
CM
No material on this site is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. See full Medical Disclaimer.
Well here are a few photos of where I started and where I am. Going to fill it tomorrow and start cycling the water. Oh and get some plants in.
Start. You can tell it hasn't been well cared for since my uncle passed in 2016.
Tank cleaned out
Cabinet refinished to match my furniture.
Current layout.
Start. You can tell it hasn't been well cared for since my uncle passed in 2016.
Tank cleaned out
Cabinet refinished to match my furniture.
Current layout.
IG: mando_arms
This is why I enjoy watching African cichlids. Even the Congo river cichlids.Quote:
Cichlids have "personality" that other fish don't.
I wish I'd taken pictures of my old 55 gallon fishtank, it sold with the house that I had at the time and was set up well and very healthy. Like, vacuum 5 gallons and replace every weekend or two and feed the fish inside, low maintenance. To set it up I threw in a few pieces of honeycombed edwards limestone and an old shorty beer bottle, put in a few plants and let them do their thing for a couple of weeks and it was good to go!
There were a few live plants, some giant zebrafish, a couple or three bala sharks, a clown pleco, and a few other random fish that I forget about since it's been a decade ago. Now that we have a 21 month old he would probably have fun looking at a fishtank but I have no clue where we'd put one. The people I bought my first house from had it sort of built in to an entertainment center they added to the living room so it worked great there. Maybe something could be worked out here since we're getting ready to add on.
There were a few live plants, some giant zebrafish, a couple or three bala sharks, a clown pleco, and a few other random fish that I forget about since it's been a decade ago. Now that we have a 21 month old he would probably have fun looking at a fishtank but I have no clue where we'd put one. The people I bought my first house from had it sort of built in to an entertainment center they added to the living room so it worked great there. Maybe something could be worked out here since we're getting ready to add on.
My tank is pretty boring right now. All you'd see is one big humpheaded convict about 6" long. Everyone else is hiding.
Change your html tags from url to img
Well I guess photobucket isn't free anymore...who has free 3rd party hosting these days?
IG: mando_arms
imgur
I had to dig up some old pics. The stand was curly maple and koa. I had the light off on the tank while taking pictures because it is a pain to get good light with a really bright tank when you also want to get a good picture of the stand.
The front of the top flipped up and the bottom two end sections with doors were open on the back so you could route all hoses/cords/etc.
In that setup I had 3 loaches, 2 species of haplachromis ciclids (the rock color one and the blue head/horizontal stiped style, each with 1 male, 2-3 females, and yellow lab cichlids and cobalt blue cichlids. I never had issues with aggression. The yellow labs and cobalt blues were fine with one another and some of the more moderate mbuna (rock) style cichlids. The mbuna hung out in the rocks, the haps at mid/upper level.
I did as another poster mentioned and used pool filter sand. You just have to wash it very well to remove all clays/soluble sediment before you introduce it to the tank.
The front of the top flipped up and the bottom two end sections with doors were open on the back so you could route all hoses/cords/etc.
In that setup I had 3 loaches, 2 species of haplachromis ciclids (the rock color one and the blue head/horizontal stiped style, each with 1 male, 2-3 females, and yellow lab cichlids and cobalt blue cichlids. I never had issues with aggression. The yellow labs and cobalt blues were fine with one another and some of the more moderate mbuna (rock) style cichlids. The mbuna hung out in the rocks, the haps at mid/upper level.
I did as another poster mentioned and used pool filter sand. You just have to wash it very well to remove all clays/soluble sediment before you introduce it to the tank.
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Hard to get pictures with the blue LEDs and I'm too lazy to turn them off right now. This is a side view of the tank.
Current stocking list fish and anemone wise:
Joculator Angel
Five year old ORA gold nugget clownfish pair
Zebra dartfish x 2
Exquisite firefish x 2
Sunburst anemone
red haddoni anemone (not pictured - she is the size of a dinner plate, and lives in the. sump under the tank. if she ate my joculator angel I'd be pretty upset)
Plenty of different corals.
Current stocking list fish and anemone wise:
Joculator Angel
Five year old ORA gold nugget clownfish pair
Zebra dartfish x 2
Exquisite firefish x 2
Sunburst anemone
red haddoni anemone (not pictured - she is the size of a dinner plate, and lives in the. sump under the tank. if she ate my joculator angel I'd be pretty upset)
Plenty of different corals.
Nice, love the dinosaur skull. I have a Rex skull in my tank with an oxygen stone inside of, it looks pretty cool now with a little algae growing on it and bubbles streaming out of the eye sockets
Edit: at first I only saw the triceratops skull, upon second viewing I see you have the same rex skull that I do
Edit: at first I only saw the triceratops skull, upon second viewing I see you have the same rex skull that I do
Glad you like the skull Thunder! Those are the only new pieces I have added to it, everything else is what my uncle had in it originally. I did remove a few rocks and plants he had to open it up a bit.
IG: mando_arms
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