6ft tank for cichlid.

[dom]

Tearing down my 6ft terrarium. Planning to up it as the cichlid tank. coz watching the Amazing Amazon and Africa documentary...made me itchy hands again.

Planning to have the fine sand as gravel. River rocks + drift woods (have few big pieces of drift wood and dont know where to keep. So planning to throw inside the tank.) Filteration is 2 power heads and filter boxes.

So, any experts in here can suggest what should i keep? Can't effort the wild type. Love the Fresh water Baracula or Haps...those fierce look cichlids.

[dom]

CC..i need yr input.

[standoyo]

frontosa not wild looking enough but affordable...

forgot the one mel has. the red one. quite happening...

[Cichlid Connections]

Dom,

Are you looking at South Americans or Malawian Haps? 'coz u mentioned that u watched some documentary depicting South America and Africa. In any case with driftwoods within, it would compliment a South American tank rather than a Malawian Hap tank. Not that its impossible to mess with water parameters of a Hap tank with treated driftwood, just that it looks kinda out of place.

Well in any community of cichlids there aren't guarantees 'coz in a way fishes themselves are individuals and if some decide to take a chomp out of the other there's not much we can do about it. On a general standpoint if you are going South American I'd suggest a few:-

Mid Size
1) Geophagines - Sand sifters... Available and rather cheap ones include :-
Surinamensis, Balzani, Steindachneri, Jurupari. Other exotic ones would be Geophagus Labiatus, Geophagus Meridionalsis, Geophagus sp Red Head Tapajos. Acarichthys Heckelli is also cool and often overlooked in the hobby. Its a close relative to Geophagine species. Cheap like chips in the hobby, just that no one appreciates them for their drab colors when they are small... the large adults are really impressive.

http://www.tangledupincichlids.com/images/g.labiat.jpg

2) Heros species - Your everyday Green/Gold Severums. More exotic ones include Heros Efasciatus, Heros Rotkeil

http://www.tangledupincichlids.com/images/efasc3.jpg
http://www.tangledupincichlids.com/images/rotkeil7.jpg

Large
3) Uarus - Uaru Amphiacanthoides...... cheap like chips too..... large ones going for RM30 or so... very mild temperament cichlid but not showy in terms of coloration.See: http://www.gcca.net/fom/Uaru_amphiacanthoides.htm
Uaru Fernendezpeyi - Rare and Cites control soon. Expensive. Prepared to pay a few hundred of mid size ones. They breed like Discus too with fries actually pecking off the slime off the body.

http://www.gcca.net/fom/Uaru_amphiacanthoides.htm


4) Crenicichla - Pikes - Rare in the hobby around here. Your everyday ones include Crenichla Saxatilis. Cool ones that might be available are Crenicichla sp Cobra.

http://www.cichlidnews.com/issues/20...images/37d.jpg
http://www.tangledupincichlids.com/images/cobrakp.jpg

5) Cichla. sps. - Peacock Bass - U can see how beautiful they get in Xian Lengs corridor of display. Cichla Temensis is nicer and looks damn cool.

http://www.goslinea.com/Gallerie/Cic...20temensis.htm

U could dwell in some plecos too if you dwell in South Americans.

[kevkoi]

Dom, wanna impress the girls with blood and gore?

Cichla temensis..... river sand, driftwood on one side together with some large river rocks, maybe a few amazon swords but a lot of open cruising space, some large pleco like a panaque? L330, L27a,b or c, L90/L91, L24/25, L14 or L114 and the biotope is complete.

C.temensis could take a full grown mouse in one swoop.... Your neighbour's cat better be wary. LOL!!! U'd likely only be able to house one mated pair in your 6ft tank and would likely need a bigger tank in 5years time. These fish grow to 2ft plus long!! Arguably the LARGEST cichlid in the world.

[kevkoi]

Alternatively, try your hand at Altums again.... (except this time, get your water correct and a UV steriliser put on).... and aim for a tank like this one.

This tank is at my friend's shop in Melbourne. It's a 10ft tank with over a dozen full grown altums!

[standoyo]

fooi yor...but what's with the spray bars in planted? erm...the fish looks nice...adult? a bit stocky...

[standoyo]

got bga also! aiyoh...

[Cichlid Connections]

Stan u really have an eye for detail hor !! I was wondering where u saw them spray bars? Oh BTW, Red Fronts aren't cool, they are depressing, but that's another matter altogether.

Dom,

On the other hand some Haplochromines for your consideration. Your typical Malawi biotope... sandy substrate, some boulders would be nice. Haps aren't exactly rock dwellers but rather open swimmers so more swimming space would be better.

Large Haps

1) Champsochromis caeruleus a.k.a Malawi Trout - My personal favourite, can't find them yet. They are pricey too. Here's a pic:



2) Tyrannochromis macrostoma - You have seen these before.... I sold quite a few some years back. Can get these - Mid range price .. not extremely expensive.



3) Nimbochromis Fuscotaeniatus - Similiar to Macrostoma but different species.
Used to be plenty with heavy hormones in the past few years but have not seen any recently. Small ones are cheap too.


4) Fossochromis Rostratus - Widely available..... AI sells juveniles at RM4.00
Large adults are stunning but hard to come by. Large ones go for about RM60-RM80.

5) Nimbochromis Linni - Rare in the hobby. I can get these.... but they are expensive. These fish plays dead and captures its prey when other fishes swim by, similiar to the traits of Livingstoni. Not extremely pretty though.


6) Nimbochromis Livingstoni - Quite Cheap and abundant....

7) Nimbochromis Venustus a.k.a Combat - Cheap like chips ..... adult fishes are just stunning.... also known as the Giraffe Hap. Nasty bugger.

Will continue with smaller Haps later................. con'td......

[dom]

Thank you guys for the input.

Kev, altum...my nightmare. I can't even control the PH in 2ft...and how to control it well in 6ft? Since the PH drop liquid is not the permanent solution. As you know the PH will still raise after days of PH drop liquid. Unless i have a PH controller in my 6ft.
I think standy said the spraybar..is the output of the filter. You can see how strong is the flow with so many bubbles.

Joe, SA or CA still not my taste yet. Perhaps i have a pond like in kev house. Then only will house in few pairs of them. Ya...the drift wood with rock n sand bed look kinda weird for malawi. So, no drift wood. Malawi still my cup of tea.

The haps...damn.. they are beautiful. For a 6ft, how many pieces do you guys recommend? Saw Fossochromis Rostratus, Prtomelas spilonotus Tanzania, Nimbochromis Linni and Aulonocara Stuartgranti "Mbamba" in petfrd.com. They are another beautiful too.
I don't mind to get all of them...but each species with 2 pairs. So, what species you can get nowadays? Please pm me the price for pair. thx dude.