South American Cichlids • 125g JD+GT tank

[TomTheCichlid]

One more question.

I have my filter for the 125 running in my 90 gallon Malawi tank. I have taken some of the media out the established filter (sponges) and put them in the new filter for the 125. Roughly how long will this take to seed the new filter? It’s been 6 days so far.

[Auballagh]

That's definitely a very good technique to speed things up. And honestly, outside of just, "Faster" - I really don't know.
You're gonna want to get things really going by performing a modified 'fish-less cycling' process. The site has a great recipe for doing this, using doses of ammonia to simulate tank occupancy by fish.
You keep checking with those trusty test kits. Got ammonia in the test?
Still cycling.
Rinse (water change) and repeat. It'll get there.
"Faster".

[TomTheCichlid]

I’ve done fish keeping for over 5 years. This part always confuses me.

The Beneficial bacteria from the established sponges, should start seeding the new filter right? And as long as I give the new filter, which is running in an established tank enough time. I will have a fully seeded filter within a couple of weeks? Probably?

Switch that filter over to the new tank. And I’d be good to go? The tank it is running on has quite a large bioload. There are over 35 Malawi in it. Ranging from .1 inch babies to 8 inch blue dolphins!

[Auballagh]

Well, yes. You already have the species of beneficial bacteria you want in the established media you have placed in the new filtration system.
- That's good -
The problem is that there aren't very many of them.
- That's bad -
So, you need to grow out your filtration bacteria colony!

https://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/ ... _cycle.php

And, in order to do this successfully? Your gonna need to feed those little guys! Hence, the small doses of ammonia you put in the aquarium, followed by testing to see if they are fully eating all of the ammonia 'treats' you are feeding them with.

[fishboy75]

Check out Rhoadsia altipinna for a not so dither, dither fish. Not sure what their availability is in the UK. Dont think its an easy fish to come by in the States either but one I will be looking for when I eventually set up a Central/ South American community. Never heard of them until a recent article of Amazonas listed them as a great, robust characin for cichlid tanks. Males get to about 6 inches, females about 4. Apparently, they have no problem handling themselves with larger cichlids and come from the same waters as the Green and Red Terrors.

[Auballagh]

Oh my ' fishboy75'.... that is quite a brute.
Looks like a good one!

Here's ol' 'Nasty, the Astyanax fasciatus 'mexicanus' (AFM) tetra:



And that is the just the 'regular' size of those mean little gits. NOT a little species - they ALL wind up growing out at least that big!

[TomTheCichlid]

Both are really quite beautiful!

[TomTheCichlid]

My new JD!

[Auballagh]

Oh yeah..... there's a reason why the Jack Dempsey has remained so popular in the aquarium hobby, for so long. They're awesome looking!
And that one you have shown in the photo, is very nice indeed.
-
Ummmm... but, wasn''t there supposed to be a pair of JD's? Kinda thought you would probably go the - somewhat - traditional route and get 5 or so babies. Then, waitaminnit.... and finally see who winds up pairing off together in the tank. The rest of the JD's usually then get sold, or possibly returned to the LFS.

Have you gone a different route?

[TomTheCichlid]

I have gone a different route. There is just the 1 JD in there. The fish shops in the UK are awfully funny about taking fish back. They make it as hard as possible to do so... and the nearest fish store that stocks NW cichlids is over 50 minute drive from me.

He is in there with a green terror and some SD. They were actually cohabiting in the tank in the LFS.

[Auballagh]

Hmmmmm.... well, good luck with that. It's possible the JD will get along with your Green Terror in there, and I hope when some size is attained after a year or two they are still dealing with each other peacefully. The experience 'Oscar6' told you earlier though about keeping those two species together, is more typical unfortunately of how it usually works out. It's possible the SD's you stocked with will provide enough distraction and interest for your cichlids, and they will mostly just ignore each other.
And, any JD aggression towards the Green Terror will probably ramp up slowly enough for you to intervene before it gets too serious. But, if things are allowed to persist and go very badly? It will almost certainly be the Green Terror that gets the worst of it.

[TomTheCichlid]

Yes indeed! Fingers crossed on that one. They have already claimed seperate ends of the tank. And rarely stray into each other’s territory! I have a very close eye on them, and like you said will end up with time to react to any problems. The silver dollars are a perfect distraction at the moment and hopefully that is maintained.

I don’t even think JD and GT have met yet! They take social distancing very seriously indeed!