[mzamzam123]

Hello everyone. I have been keeping fish for a while but just started to my first African cichlid tank. I have a 75 gallon tank that has been cycled for months and my water parameters are good ( i tested with API masterkit). I just bough 13 African cichlids that are about 2" to 2.5" from an online fish store (5 peacocks, 3 taiwan reef, 1 blue moorri, 1 venustus, 1 livingstoni, 1 electric blue ahli, and 1 yellow lab). I acclimated them to my tank and they seem to be doing fine other then that they are always hiding behind the rocks and in the caves. They have only been in there for a full day now so I am not sure if they just need more time to get used to the new surroundings or if there is something else I should be doing. Any advice would be appreciated as well on maintaining a healthy tank for them.

 

[tywhitt20]

hey man sounds like you have a nice setup going on there some beautiful fish you choose they should do perfectly fine together as far as keeping them its no to hard make sure you dont over feed as they can get malawi bloat from over feeding also make sure you have a good filter for them as peacocks are heavy in the waste department but other than that lookin good m8!

 

[mzamzam123]

Thanks, I appreciate that. I have the fluval FX4 canister filter set up in that tank right now which I think should be good enough for that size tank. Do you have any advice on them always hiding right now. I'm not sure if that is normal or not. Most of the other fish that I kept would hid for a few hours and then were out in the open.

 

[ken31cay]

What are your pH, GH, and KH readings, and water temperature? Please post a clear picture of your tank from the front if you can.

 

[Deeda]

Also post your test results for ammonia, nitrite and nitrate.

Welcome to C-F!

 

[mzamzam123]

I'm not at home right now but I will post a picture once I get back. Last time I checked my ammonia was 0, PH is 7.8, Nitrate is 0, Nitrite is 0, GH was in the HARD reading so (+ or -) 150ish, and i dont remember what my KH reading was. I have CaribSea Coraline gravel in my tank though which is supposed to help increase alkalinity and maintain a higher PH.

 

[DJRansome]

You should have nitrate if your tank is cycled. Beneficial bacteria produce nitrate.

In a 48" tank with the variety you list it seems you are going for all-male?

I would rehome the fish that mature > six inches like venustus and livingstonii as these are 10 inch fish.

Give them a couple of months to come out of hiding.

You may also have problems if you have any females in the tank or with multiple individuals that look alike like the 3 Taiwan reefs. But that may not show up for six months to a year.

 

[mzamzam123]

Got it. I will have to re-test my water then when I get home. I was told that I should overstock the tank to keep aggression down. Is that true? And if so than to do that I would have to get multiple fish of the same kind in order to get the numbers up. Is there any of the fish that I have that wouldnt give me any issues if I have multiples of?

 

[DJRansome]

Shoot for 12 individuals (male) that mature <= six inches and look nothing alike. That is the proper level of overstocking.

It is possible to find 12 haps and peacocks that look nothing alike, but you could do multiples of yellow labs if you want, and for those they could also be mixed gender.

 

[mzamzam123]

I tested the water in my tank again this morning and my tap and the results were as follows:

In the tank:
Ammonia- 0 to .5ppm
Nitrate- around 10 ppm
Nitrite- 0 ppm
GH- 150 ppm
Chlorine- 0 ppm
KH- 80 ppm
PH- 7.4

From the Tap:
Ammonia- 0 to .5ppm
Nitrate- 0 ppm
Nitrite- 0 ppm
GH- 50 ppm
Chlorine- 0 ppm
KH- 20 ppm
PH- 6.8

 

[Deeda]

What substrate are you using in this tank?

Are you adding any buffers or products to alter water chemistry?

 

[mzamzam123]

I have CaribSea Coraline gravel in the tank. Before getting my fish I added API PH up to get the PH up to a level i thought would be good for them.

 

[mzamzam123]

BTW this is what my tank looks like now. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[punman]

Looks nice. I would suggest a background for the back glass. If you are not sure about design or colour, just tape on some construction paper or poster board in a colour of your liking for a few weeks. Really cheap but will give you an idea what you like and then you can paint the back or buy formal plasticized background in a colour or pattern you are happy with.

 

[Brian2020]

Nice ! But me personally I love the tubes and filters showing kind of looks industrial. I would add more rocks and add plants such as Nubias and java fern . I even glued black pvc piping to the tank looks awesome. I'm not a fan of just showing the fish with nothing but a background! I would rather have it look more like there environment rather than just to see the fish.