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55 gallon African cichlid tank

8K views 28 replies 17 participants last post by  herc 
#1 ·
Hi all, this is one of my two freshwaters, set up to be an AC tank. It's been up and running for about 5 months, though I only have two inhabitants.
I've got two AquaClear 110's working on it, with sponge and carbon (no ceramic rings). I built a DIY background around the back and sides, so it's like a 3-D rock wall.

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I've only got two inhabitants for far, a Julidochromis, and another unknown (unreliable LFS mis-labeles a bunch of their tanks :redmad:.
I'd really like to get more though, but I need to know what I have to be sure I get compatible tank mates.
These two get along just fine... once in a while the Julie will snap at the other, but they co-exist fairly peacefully considering that they are cichlids!

The Julie:
Fish Fish Organism Tail Wrasses


And the unknown (anyone have any clue what specific species this is, so I can be sure I'm caring for it properly?):
Fish Fish Pink Marine biology Organism

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#2 ·
Very cool DIY background. I swear I see a face in it!

I'm not too good with Africans but I'm guessing maybe an albino peacock?
 
#3 ·
That is a VERY nice looking tank! Be sure to post more pictures when it has more fish ;)
 
#5 ·
Thanks a bunch guys. I've considered putting up a thread in the DIY forum explaining how I did it, but I just followed a DIY page on another site, so I felt like that would be copying. I guess as long as I give credit to where the info came from, it would be OK!

I let the tank cycle for a couple of months with some neon tetras. Since then, I've really stayed on top of water changes, I'm trying to keep my nitrates under 5 ppm. However, despite my really low nitrates, I keep having to battle red algae... it will start to grow like crazy and I'll have to scrub it all off :(. My other FW tank stays around 10-20ppm nitrates, and there's hardly any algae in it! Doesn't make sense :dunno:. Is it possible that large, frequent water changes might have something to do with it? I currently do about 50% change every weekend, and swish the filter media around in the water I just removed to reduce gunk build-up.

Part of me thinks it has something to do with the background, since my other tank doesn't have it, but I did a decent amount of research before starting to make sure I wasn't putting something dangerous in my tank, and saw no mention anywhere of it feeding algae growth... Oh well, I'll just keep scrubbing when it gets bad.
 
#7 ·
Ha - now that you mention it I can see a couple of faces! What did you make the background with? And you should definitely post up a DIY thread, I'd love to see how you made it.

Great looking tank! :-D
 
#12 ·
thanks adrenln! I checked out some photos of albino zebras online, and they look almost identical (down to the spots on the anal fin). Thanks again :-D
 
#14 ·
thanks tmz! it was surprisingly easy to put together (just had to be willing to risk messing up a tank :shock:). I've got a friend in town who wants to get a really big tank and do something similar, I'll help him out with it and we'll make caves and overhangs and all kinds of stuff on it!
 
#16 ·
figured I'd update the thread. Not much new, no new fish yet, but I did put a new light on this tank (CoraLife Lunar Aqualight). It was taken from my saltwater tank, which also got a new light today :-D. The CoraLife is a bit overkill for this 55, but I only use half the lights (130 W of 10000K), plus it will give me lunar LEDs at night which will be cool. Here's a FTS that I just took today:

Freshwater aquarium Aquarium decor Aquarium Aquarium lighting Apple pie


I want to add more cichlids, its still just the Julidochromis and the Albino Zebra. Any suggestions on good additions?
 
#17 ·
I don't know much about cichlids but are multiple Julidochromis possible? Since they are not polygamous probably not but can you keep single individuals from the differing species of the Julidochromis family? They are such cool looking fish. Your tank looks great. I can't wait to see some more fish in there :-D
 
#23 ·
long overdue for an update. I got some new decorations for the tank, to redo the aquascaping a bit! Two pics, one with the dawn/dusk lights only, the other with full day lights on:

Freshwater aquarium Aquarium Aquarium lighting Organism Aquarium decor


Freshwater aquarium Aquarium Aquarium lighting Aquarium decor Organism
 
#26 ·
Thanks guys! I wasn't 100% on these decorations for an African Cichlid tank, I mean everything I've read says they love rocks and caves, but I really wanted to give it a try and the fish really seem to enjoy it so far. It does plenty to break the tank up, and provides lots of things for them to swim in and through. Maybe the rock background combined with the new decorations is good enough to make them comfortable :)
 
#27 ·
they look like they're enjoying themselves to me :)
as they mature more perhaps you may need to add more rock workfor them,
just see how they get on.
 
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