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my first 50g cichlid tank..

3K views 8 replies 2 participants last post by  habitual 
#1 ·
hello, im new to the forums and to the fishes. this is my 50g cichlid tank, and i already cycled it for 15 and 1/2 days and the readings i get is ammon. = 0 nitrites = 0 and nitrates = 11 ppm. i followed the fishless cycle before i put some fishes, it undergone the aquatan and nitrevec solutions. So my problem is, what fish could i add to make my cichlid tank beautiful? because the fishes i bought yesterday is only small fishes and they dont show themselves when im infront of the aquarium, there a six small cichlids in it, i dont know the names but it has beautiful colors. btw, do i have to buy heater for my aquarium? because im from philippines and it's not that cold in here. please give advice to me the names of the cichlids that i can add 2-4 inch :) thank you all.

 
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#3 ·
BTW, the tank is used by my brother but he sold his fishes already so he gave it to me, before, the tank has 1 aligator gar, malaysian arowana, and a red tail catfish, which they came to the point that they cannot move anymore because of their huge sizes. so my brother sold the fishes. i just renovate it, i put decorations driftwoods and rocks and i put a thermometer in it. but the overhead filter box is still the old one. i just bought a new powerhead because the old powerhead is not working anymore, after that i cycled the tank again to test it using a liquid tester api 5-1 solutions. i am sure that the tank is cycled and very clean. i followed what i read in this forums and it was very informative. people here are so good in taking care of their hobbies! :)
 
#4 ·
Those look like different types of peacock cichlid to me. The fish are probably being shy because they are still young and because they have just recently been added to the tank. I would add more rocks to the tank, like big piles of slate or limestone to form a lot of caves. This will provide the fish with added security which could make them more confident. I would also add a filter media bag full of crushed coral to your filter, as these fish do best in hard, alkaline water. African cichlids also do best in water that's about 79-80*F, so adding a heater would probably be helpful if you keep your house cooler than this. Also, even though it's warm during the day the water may cool off significantly at night, which can be bad for the fish.

Hope that helped!
 
#5 ·
ok, i'll get a heater right away and some rocks too, thank you sir! btw i saw a cool fish at the lfs its a clown loach, can i add this cuties along with my small cichlids? and if, how many loaches should i add to make them happy? i like weird looking fishes hehe
 
#6 · (Edited)
Don't get clown loaches. These guys grow to a foot or more in length, and since they like being in schools of at least six, that's definitely way too much fish for your tank.

There are other types of loach, but, as pointed out in another thread by our member Lupin, loaches generally do not make good tank mates for African cichlids. First of all, the loaches generally prefer softer, acidic water while the cichlids like hard, alkaline water. Secondly, they have very different diets. Most African cichlids are omnivores but need a staple diet that's high in vegetable matter. The loaches, on the other hand, need more meaty foods. Since both types of fish are eager eaters, both types of fish would eat both foods so you wouldn't really be feeding an ideal diet to either type of fish.

Better tankmates are the species of synodontis catfish that can live in the same conditions as the cichlids. This particular syno is native to Lake Malawi and should work well: Synodontis njassae • Mochokidae • Cat-eLog • PlanetCatfish
 
#8 ·
hello, again i need help regarding decorations. im planning to remove all driftwoods because i saw some topics that it is not advisable to put dw in cichlid tanks, intead i'll be using rocks, i will change my substrates also to a white fine sand to make my tank brighter, my problem is, can i do this even the fishes had adapted their tank? how can i redecorate? can i put them in drum with air stones for a while to decorate my tank? and can i keep the white rock as seen above and mix it with the rock that you mentioned above? do i have to put something before the substrate to protect my tank in disaster like eggcrates? can i do this w/o removing too much water? i'm sorry for many questions. but i need a fast accurate reply from you masters. thank you in advance! i want to have a very simple rock setups. any advise how to do it? any picture is appreciated.
 
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