[Flippercon]

I am new to Africans so wanted some good input before purchasing fish. I have an empty 29 gallon cycled for about six months. I rehomed the fish that were in it and now would like to stock for a permanent home. I have raised many Ca cichlids but never Africans. My readings in the tank are ph 7.4,ammonia 0,nitrite 0,nitrates 10ppm. Is there fish I could keep in this setup permanently? I don't have much experience with raising ph and maintaining ph past what comes out the tap. I have two HOBs on the tank,black sand and rocks. Any and all help is appreciated.

 

[DJRansome]

I'd consider brichardi.
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/s ... hp?id=1601

 

[Flippercon]

I'd consider brichardi.
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/s ... hp?id=1601

How many of these would I be able to house in the 29? I am experimenting with marine buffer in an 10 gallon . I dosed the recommended amount and test ph. Before the buffer it was a 7.4 and after I got 8.4-8.6. I am gonna test it daily for a week to see if I can accommodate Africans with the low ph. The gh is 7 drops and kh is 5 drops. I want this to be right, so any other ideas/options you have to make the water parameters as close as possible please tell.

 

[Anthraxx8500]

in my experience fish just like clean stable conditions. if you do choose to alter ph and all that jazz make sure you follow a regiment of some kind. you could also consider a small julie pair and some shellies. its what i did with my 30 long

 

[24Tropheus]

Why not use safe and cheap baking soda each waterchange?
You could just use this calculator.
http://dataguru.org/misc/aquarium/calKH.asp
But yes a stable reading for KH and thus pH is what you want to maintain rather than a fluctuating one at about pH 7.4. That kind of shows your KH is low and a pH crash likely as the filter bacteria use up the little KH you have.

All the best James

 

[Flippercon]

Why not use safe and cheap baking soda each waterchange?
You could just use this calculator.
http://dataguru.org/misc/aquarium/calKH.asp
But yes a stable reading for KH and thus pH is what you want to maintain rather than a fluctuating one at about pH 7.4. That kind of shows your KH is low and a pH crash likely as the filter bacteria use up the little KH you have.

All the best James

That's some good info there . Thanks for the link James. My kh out the tap is super low. I have had ph crashes in the past with bare bottom tanks. The baking soda should do the trick. I'm in no rush to stock the tank. I just want to make sure I don't kill any fish in this process. I have another empty 10 gallon I can test the baking soda thing on. Again thanks everyone for the helpful tips.

 

[DJRansome]

I'd use the baking soda and nudge it up just a little...7.8 is fine. And focus on your KH...mine is 7 and that seems to keep things absolutely stable in my tanks.

With brichardi you buy six unsexed juveniles and wait for a pair to form. The pair will become aggressive when ready to spawn and reject the other four. You remove the other four before they are killed. Then the pair spawns and they tolerate generations of their own fry and fill the tank for you.

 

[Flippercon]

I'd use the baking soda and nudge it up just a little...7.8 is fine. And focus on your KH...mine is 7 and that seems to keep things absolutely stable in my tanks.

With brichardi you buy six unsexed juveniles and wait for a pair to form. The pair will become aggressive when ready to spawn and reject the other four. You remove the other four before they are killed. Then the pair spawns and they tolerate generations of their own fry and fill the tank for you.

Sounds like the plan. I have Ca tanks at 7.6 just from rocks . This is gonna be easier then I thought. What about diet. I do have many pellets and flake but what do they thrive on?
Oh and when you say juvies what size are you referring too.1-2",2-3"? How big do they get? I'm guessing around 4-6?

 

[DJRansome]

Four inches at maturity according to the profile. Juveniles are probably routinely sold at 1" or 1.5". They are a carnivore. I have had success with New Life Spectrum Cichlid Formula with all my African carnivores. Look for a balanced staple food with good quality ingredients like krill or other aquatic sources of protein.

 

[Flippercon]

Four inches at maturity according to the profile. Juveniles are probably routinely sold at 1" or 1.5". They are a carnivore. I have had success with New Life Spectrum Cichlid Formula with all my African carnivores. Look for a balanced staple food with good quality ingredients like krill or other aquatic sources of protein.

Thanks a bunch DJRansome. I'm gonna wait a week to see if I can keep the levels stable in the tank and start looking for some. Maybe even two weeks. Who knows I might end up rehoming the fish in one of my 55s to start an African tank. Again you guys have helped to get this seed growing.

 

[DJRansome]

With a 55G you have a lot more options (there are even other options for a 29G) but keep one thing in mind. Brichardi when spawning will try to kill tankmates.

So if you go with a 55G and would like two other species...then I would NOT consider brichardi. :thumb:

 

[Flippercon]

My plan is to start with the 29 and see if I can keep Africans and how big the differences between Ca and African cichlids. I know I should start bigger but the Africans are gonna have to impress me a lot to rehome some of my Ca cichlids .

 

[Anthraxx8500]

lol well to be honest your not giving them much of a shot. ur pretty much limited to a lot of the dwarf species. just my humble opinion here but go big or go home.

 

[shellies215]

My plan is to start with the 29 and see if I can keep Africans and how big the differences between Ca and African cichlids. I know I should start bigger but the Africans are gonna have to impress me a lot to rehome some of my Ca cichlids .

If it turns out the Brichardi are not your thing, there are plenty of other fish from tanganyika that can live out a happy life in a 29.

 

[Flippercon]

Well let here some others. I'm open to anything at the moment. The tank is basically black on black except the rock. So colors will pop. By the way I have sen pictures on here of some of these fish but really don't know what they look like. I hear there are a lot of hybrids out there so maybe some pics. If not I can always Google them.

 

[shellies215]

For a 29, you could do pretty much any of the shell dweller species, some of the julidochromis species, possibly gobies, you could get some altolamps, but as they grow, they could use a bigger tank. Lots of possibilites, check the profiles and tell us what you like, obviously you couldn't put all of these in together, but there are alot of two-species combos that could work out.

 

[Flippercon]

I really like the fins and body of the altolamps. The julidochromis is also a pretty fish. I would lean towards the altolamps a little more. Maybe its just the fins. So if I were to purchase these altolamps how many can be stored in the 29? Can it be a permanent setting for them? I'm guessing lots of shells and rock?

 

[shellies215]

They are usually sold at about 1.5in., at that size I would say you could put about 6 in a 29g with lots of rocks, and some shells. They are slow growers, but at some point, it may be necessary to remove extra males when pairing behavior starts.

I think it would even be possible to put one of the smaller shell dwellers in with the altos(multies, brevis, occies...) but the altolamps would be pretty effective fry predators, if you wanted to save any babies, they have to be removed the day they leave the shell, or even before that. I have seen mine snatch them right out of the mouth of the shell, but they won't really bother the adult shell dwellers IME.

 

[Flippercon]

Ok so altos are baby snatchers :lol: we will have to see. I would like more of a community type but I know the space I have is limited. So is there any out there that can live together and respectively leave the others alone while spawning? I know that is a long shot but I figured I would ask.

 

[Frazee86]

Multi colony will protect there shell bed so some will make it