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Stocking Levels And Food Types

food types

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#1 stewie17

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Posted 07 May 2017 - 05:00 PM

Looking for advice please

 

I currently have a 900mm , 220Lt planted tank, stocked with the following 8 electric yellow cichlids, 1 black ghost knife, 2 gourami, 2 tetra black widows, 2 platy, several tiger barb and 1 bristle nose. I dont seem to be able to keep more than 1 bristle nose at a time for unknown reasons. My question is this stocking levels to much as i just saw 3 benga peacock cichlids for sale locally and was thinking they maybe to much for my tank.

Secondly was reading someware on the net that i shouldnt be using bloodworms in with my cichlids as this can harm them ( they seem to be going ok up untill now) but these are mainly food scource for my ghost knife.

Any opinion or advice appreciated



#2 Cawdor

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Posted 07 May 2017 - 06:14 PM

It's not ideal to mix African cichlids with other types of fish like south americans, as their diet and water requirements are different. Africans like high pH, hard water. Your tetra and other south american fish like soft neutral pH water.

Most definitely stop feeding bloodworms, the cichlids will get bloat sooner rather than later.

So my suggestion is to sort out which type of fish you want to keep or get a second tank and split the fish up. It may "work" for now, but longterm you are not doing the fish or yourself any favour by keeping a mix like this.



#3 stewie17

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Posted 07 May 2017 - 08:03 PM

Thanks for the reply Cawdor, i never realized i could be harming the cichlids, fairly new to the fish keeping hobby and certanly the welfare of cichlids. Have been seriously considering another tank so this has probably speed the idea up a bit. I do enjoy DIY projects and was planning on doing most of the cabinet stand etc myself. Have been considering a 6" tank. Any suggestions on filtration for a 6x2x2 tank, i  know a lot of people lean towards canister filters but i have no experience with these, only sumps as my existing tank has a sump. Recomendations on sump size for a 6" tank appreciated.



#4 Chopstick_mike

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Posted 08 May 2017 - 09:37 PM

If you are comfortable using sumps use them I've done canisters and sumps and in my opinion you get more for your buck using sumps I run a 3x2x2 3 chamber sump in my 7x2x2 and my nitrates never go past 20ppm and I only do 1/3 WC every two weeks with my tangs

#5 bigjohnnofish

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  • Location: Banjo Country aka just past Mundaring

Posted 09 May 2017 - 01:06 AM

just wanna throw a spanner in the works in regards to ph... a lot of the aquarium fish in our hobby arent wild caught fish... a lot of these fish adapt to different ph's.... i have personally bred electric yellows in a ph of 6.5 just to see if i could.... also bred a lot of catfish in varying ph from 6.5 to close to 8ph just to see if it could be done... havent kept cichlids for years apart from using them for feeders..... but a lot of whats available is bred in this country and are not so dependant on high ph.... you may get better results with them in higher ph levels and they are actually easier to keep in higher ph levels as a lot of bacterias and fungus find it hard to get a foothold when your aquariums ph is in the higher range 7.5 upwards... also your beneficial bacteria has more carbonates present in higher ph levels which help them in the consumption of ammonia into nitrite into nitrate....

 

maybe a little too advanced but you can keep fish together successfully from high and low ph values from their native environment... above rule of thumb given to keep africans and americans seperate is the correct advice but have seen quite a few display tanks now that have both types of cichlids in them... 

 

problems may arise if your fish are wild caught and they are accustomed to their native ph... may take some time for them to adapt to different ph... and you may find it will take 1 or 2 generations of this species to adapt better to different ph values and become easier to breed....






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