Welcome to the forum and the hobby :thumb:
With regards to aquascaping, what type of cichlid do you think you are going to get? If you get Mbuna cichlids, which are usually what you get when you by from the 'african' tank at most stores, you want a lot of rockwork. Others don't requires as much.
As far as how long to add fish, you will need to cycle your tank first. Your fish will have waste in the form of Ammonia, which is toxic. Over time you develop bacteria that convert Ammonia to less toxic nitrite and even more bacteria to fairly inert nitrate. You have a few options for how to complete the cycle. First you could get 1 or 2 fish and monitor the ammonia level with a test kit and reduce it with water changes or conditioners. After the ammonia level stabilizes at zero you can add another fish per week or so as the tank develops. Another, better option is to do a fishless cycle. Here is a link to a library article on how to do this.
good luck :thumb:
With regards to aquascaping, what type of cichlid do you think you are going to get? If you get Mbuna cichlids, which are usually what you get when you by from the 'african' tank at most stores, you want a lot of rockwork. Others don't requires as much.
As far as how long to add fish, you will need to cycle your tank first. Your fish will have waste in the form of Ammonia, which is toxic. Over time you develop bacteria that convert Ammonia to less toxic nitrite and even more bacteria to fairly inert nitrate. You have a few options for how to complete the cycle. First you could get 1 or 2 fish and monitor the ammonia level with a test kit and reduce it with water changes or conditioners. After the ammonia level stabilizes at zero you can add another fish per week or so as the tank develops. Another, better option is to do a fishless cycle. Here is a link to a library article on how to do this.
good luck :thumb:
