8 replies to this topic

[shane78]

Finally took the plunge and upgraded my old 3ft and got a decent setup 4 my cichlids, tank is 4ft x 1.4 x 1.8 so decent area and much neater than previous setup, just finish the scape last night and put the little buggers in only now it looks bare haha next thing i need now is some root looking driftwood or something will get rid of the plants maybe once i get the wood.
Let me know what u guys think.  20140716_062843.jpg   67.47KB   9 downloads
 20140716_062807.jpg   68.98KB   8 downloads

[Craig96]

Looks wicked man, like the pebbly look, but yea definetly need some root like wood hanging in from top

[TheTexasCichlidMasacre]

looks interesting... what would be better then wood is some rock cave hiding spots ...

[malawiman85]

I like the black background and the river pebbles on the sand too. Agree with tcm, rocks/caves will bring out some more natural behaviour. Fish will feel more secure.
Also just be aware that with pebbles you are gonna end up with fish crap building up... Might not be bad but just something to watch out for.

[shane78]

cheers guys i cant stop lookng at it haha, I have found that the less hides they have the less they have to fight over, they seem to fight more when i have caves or hides, will def try to find some wood soon.

[malawiman85]

Thats a pretty fair point, aggression is way lower when there are no territories to establish.
Malawis are very addictive... easy to lose hours just watching them!

[shane78]

ok so i may have started a small cycle I have nitrates at 10 and amonia how long is it likely to last and how can I keep the cichlids happy and not kill em

I should have used more of the old water the canister is from my old setup and was not cleaned hopefully this will help.

[malawiman85]

Water is pretty well irrelevant as far as nitrogen cycle goes.. The old filter should do the job, though its possible its struggling if you have a higher bio load than before. Stop feeding immediately then start again slowly in a couple of days.
The fact that you have nitrates means your filter is working, it might have been set back by chlorine in new water possibly, who knows? If ammonia is super low leave it or do a small water change, either way add an ammonia neutralizing water conditioner and watch very closely.
It could also be crap building up under the pebbles creating a little spike. If thats the case you need to clean the hell out of the substrate under the pebbles.
Whats your filter?

[shane78]

Cf1000 aqua one canister