Anyone ever had African Cichlids?

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marie-p

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Unfortunately, the last of my goldfish died recently. I have had goldfish dying of mysterious causes once in a while, but finally, when I introduced the last two, I ended up with an outbreak of ich which ended up killing them all.


So now I'm gonna take the opportunity to start everything over and go with a different kind of fish. I think first I will disinfect everything, set up the tank again and cycle the tank again. That will give me a few weeks to figure out what I want to put in my tank.

Right now, I'm thinking of setting up a single-species tank with African Cichlids. I only have a 30g tank so I am planning on sticking with fairly small fish and getting maybe one male and two females, or something like that.

My favorite one so far (as far as looks go) is the Demasoni Cichlid but it might be too aggressive. Unless I only had one in the tank.
I also like the yellow tail acei, which might be a better choice (less agressive)
I've also had the electric yellow lab suggested to me, but I'm not that crazy about the yellow color. I know that's kind of shallow, but I would prefer to have a blue fish (or purple, or multi-color)

Does anyone have any experience with African Cichlids? I've been reading up on them but I would love to hear about your personal experiences.
What species did you have? Were they aggressive towards other fish of the same species?
 
sharky

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You should go to a GOOD fish store and talk with them... as none that you listed were recommended for a beginner in the cichlids ....

Shellies are good if you have the right PH

One lab is good in a ten alone
 
katachtig

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My husband has a tank of African Chiclids and we've had limited success. About 3 years ago we restocked the tank with 10 fish. We are down to four because the blue one has bullied most of them to death.

They can be very aggressive and the best success we've had has been picking several of different colors. My husband would like to switch out the tank but we don't know what to do with our remaining fish.
 
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marie-p

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Originally Posted by sharky

You should go to a GOOD fish store and talk with them... as none that you listed were recommended for a beginner in the cichlids ....

Shellies are good if you have the right PH

One lab is good in a ten alone
Click to expand...
Yeah, I found a fish store that seems very good. Unfortunately it's at the other end of town so it's not really easy to get to.

Actually, both the Acei and the Yellow lab are rated as "easy" by the Cichlid-Forum website. But that seems to differ from one website to another. It seems to really depend on the setup of the tank too... I know that some are "difficult" because they are agressive towards other fish, not necessarily because they are fragile.
From what I've read so far, it seems that there's rarely issues of fish being sick... the problems usually come from aggressive fish.

I've tried a fish forum but I haven't had much luck getting real advice. I'll see if I can go to the fish store soon.
 
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marie-p

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Originally Posted by katachtig

My husband has a tank of African Chiclids and we've had limited success. About 3 years ago we restocked the tank with 10 fish. We are down to four because the blue one has bullied most of them to death.

They can be very aggressive and the best success we've had has been picking several of different colors. My husband would like to switch out the tank but we don't know what to do with our remaining fish.
Click to expand...
Most fish stores will take your fish back if you don't want them anymore.
 
katachtig

katachtig

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Originally Posted by marie-p

Most fish stores will take your fish back if you don't want them anymore.
Click to expand...
Unfortunately, most of the fish stores in our area are getting out of African Chiclids. We did find one that is about an hour away so it is up to hubby to decide what he wants to do.
 
godiva

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I used to have two Oscars when I was young... when one died, the other ate it. They lived to get about 6 inches long, which is pretty good for a kids' fish.
I would go with my dad to buy minnows, and eventually goldfish to feed them... and they were pretty smart for fish. And they were agressive to ALL other kinds of fish I put in there with them. I even tried some of the species that they said would be okay, but if one is smaller than the other, the Oscar will try to eat it.
 
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I haven't had any, but I like them. I haven't had any because they're mean little suckers! You can't have other kinds of fish with them or they'll kill them. But I do like them, they're pretty. I don't have the patience for a fish tank....I hate cleaning it and taking care of it. But I would like to have one again someday, if I find a man that wants to take care of it for me!
 
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marie-p

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I've done some more research and I found information on the website of a local fish store (seems to be a great store)

Here's the species I'm now leaning towards:
http://www.aquariusweb.qc.ca/docs/re...42&fiche_id=50

From what I've read so far it seems to be pretty hardy, not too aggressive (for cichlids) and quite small (grow to around 4" max). I really like that the males and females are completely different colors... that means that even if I only have one species, I'll still have a colorful tank.

As far as aquarium size goes, the store recommends 30-36" minimum (mine is 30"). Other places recommend 100L (25g) and others 55g. Since my fish wont have to deal with other species, I think I'll be fine with 30g. I'll probably get 1 male and 2-3 females.
(I'll check with the people at the fish store first, of course)

And the tap water around here has a pH of around 7.7, which is ideal for them. I just have to check the hardness (I know the water here is pretty hard... but probably not hard enough... fortunately it's pretty easy to make water harder)

Now I have to finish setting up the tank and wait for it to cycle.
 
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marie-p

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Here's what my tank looks like so far:



I still haven't decided if I'm gonna keep the plastic plants.

And here's someone else's fish tank, with the same species I want. His is also 30g but it's longer than mine. Still, he has 16 fish in there... 4 males and 12 females.
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/tanks/d....php?tank=2205

I can't wait to get my fish!!!!
 
sharky

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I would live in your tank it look great
 
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