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I'm happy to report that the Agassizis are doing fine. The female seems a bit timid and spends a lot of time hanging out in a clump of plants, but I've also found her hanging out right in the front of the tank. She is pretty tiny though and may be a bit intimidated by the female cockatoo and...

So, in fact, I now have a trio of dwarf cichlids. My original plan was to have 1 male cockatoo and 2 females. Now I have 1 male agassizi, 1 female and 1 female cockatoo. Is this a good ratio? Am I done?

Please do! The places to buy them online that have been recommended to me seem to have a stiff minimum. Let me know where you get them and how it works out.

Yeah, it looks like he did steer me in the right direction. If I could have a healthy pair of agassizis and a healthy pair of cacatouides I'd be a happy man.

This morning the female agassizi was out of her cave. I threw a little flake in to see if she'd eat and she had no trouble coming out from cover to eat a little bit. Despite my aprehension about raising these fish, I can tell already that they are much more comfortable in the tank than either...

I wasn't planning on breeding the fish, although I certainly won't stop them and would like to observe spawning behavior. I didn't think it was possible for these species to crossbreed. I should be able to tell which are the breeding pair though, right? So I'll know if the fry are full or...

That was a good suggestion, but I didn't read this post until today. (I wonder why I didn't get email notification?) I may have made a bit of a mistake. When I went to the store today, they did not get any cacatouides in. Instead, the store owner put aside a pair of agassizi. I started to...

Actually, one of the first plants I had was anubius, but it died after about 2 weeks. It's the only plant I've had that outright died. I actually do have a java fern in my tank. I didn't buy it but found it attached to something else I bought. It's really small but it keeps growing.

So far, so good. I know you've heard that one before and I hate to get my hopes up, but this time, the male agassizi looks really good. He's not shy at all and is eating quite readily. The female, while timid, does not look too bad. I was worried for a while because I couldn't find her, but...

As far as plants go, I've tried a few of the supposed low light types with varying luck. Anacharis grows like wild in my tank. It's become the dominant plant and is fairly atttractive and makes decent cover for fish. Hornwort is messy and doesn't stay rooted. Actually, it doesn't have any...

That's a good idea but it's too late. I ended up getting replacement fish today. However, instead of cockatoos I got agassizis. I was reluctant but the owner seemed more confident that these fish were of better stock. He did not get any cockatoos in. I started another thread about them...

Today I went to the lfs to get replacement cockatoos for the ones that died on Tuesday. When I got to the store the fish had come in as I was told but there were no cockatoos. Instead, the store owner almost insisted that I take a pair of agassizi. Now, of course I could have said no and I...

There is another store that I don't go to very often. They tell me they can get cockatoos if they special order them. I'm giving the other store one my try because they have offered to replace my fish for free. If these die then I'll try somewhere else.

Thanks for the vote of confidence. I'm pretty sure water quality is OK. At least it's good enough for my other female cockatoo, although she suffered at first, also.

Just yesterday *sniff* I bought a pair of cockatoo cichlids on Saturday and yesterday morning the male died. The female died in the afternoon. All other fish in the tank are fine and the water parameters are perfect. I don't know what caused their death.

Yes, my tank is fully cycled. As a matter of fact, the cockatoos are just about my last addition to the tank. I added fish in the order of my perceived sensitivities thinking that the longer I waited the more stable the tank should be. I first added tetras, then bristlenose, then otos. The...

Perhaps you're right. I'm going to try one more time with this lfs, since he's special ordering the next fish for me free of charge, but if these fish die, then I guess I'll try a different source. All of my other fish from this store are doing fine though, even my otos, which everyone seems...

Mine is a fine gravel mixed with laterite on the bottom with a larger darker gravel on top.

I'm starting to get over my head now in terms of water chemistry but I don't think the absence of ammonia will lower pH, only that excess ammonia will raise it. Pure water is neutral 7.0 so taking out ammonia can't lower the pH of water. There must be another source of acid in the water to...

Unfortunately, the male has now passed on. :rip: On my lunch break I took the fish and some tank water to the lfs. I spoke to one of the owners and explained my situation. He told me that for some reason it seems like the males have a tougher time. He checked my water parameters and said...

Adding bubbles (oxygen) to the tank can raise pH as it can displace CO2. CO2 in water will create a weak carbonic acid (I think) so displacing CO2 will cause pH to go up. Ammonia is a strong base so adding it to the tank should definitely raise pH.

Unfortunately, it's happening again. Over the last day, the male became more and more reclusive and is now struggling to survive. The female is also in hiding but I can't see her right now and I don't want to fool around with the tank too much. I just did a water change and turned off the...

As far as I know most species of ancistrus grow to about six inches. As long as you provide him with suitable hiding spots he will be ok in a 29 gallon. They are territorial though with their own species so I would only have one. This seems to be a pretty informative site...

I will give that a try. This makes a lot of sense but wouldn't it mean that in most aquariums the pH will rise? It may be normal but how do fishkeepers maintain a stable envirnoment for the fish? To be sure, the fluctions in pH are not huge - they go from slightly acidic to slightly basic...

I have 30 gallon and one of my first fish was a bristlenose plec. He's a great fish. He eats lots of algae and although a bit timid he's not afraid to move around the tank during the day.

Nice suggestion but I have three pieces of bogwood in my tank. :o

Yeah, it did suck. I'm glad the female survived anyway. I've been good about keeping the water quality high. I haven't had any problems with any other fish so maybe those two were just overly stressed. I spent more time acclimating them to my tank water too so maybe that will help. I'm...

He's got serious issues. You're too young to be his therapist. I hope the fish pull through.

The funny thing is that the older female won't touch flakes, but both of the new additions were eating them today. Once the male feels more comfortable, I'm sure he's going to demand his bloodworms. I'm not trying to breed them, per se. I'm just going to let nature take its course. If they...

So far, so good. The new female is out and about eating almost as voraciously as the old female. The male is hiding but I caught him nibbling some flakes when I fed them this afternoon. I think he's going to be alright.

My tank seems to fluctuate in pH. Tap water is around 6.8 and I do weekly water changes. However after a week the pH in the tank can rise to as high as 7.6. How can I stabilize this without adding chemicals or spending too much on equipment? Should I just change the water more often?

I saw your post about starting the cichlid tank. I wish I could have a bit larger tank as I'd like to have another pair of cichlids but with a 30 gallon I think one pair is all I can stock. My wife would kill me if I bought a bigger tank. She almost threw me out when I came home with the 30...

Good question. It could be one of two things (OK, it could be anything but anyway). Either she is compensating for her lack of sight or she's dominant because she was there first. She is also bigger than the other female.

About a month ago I bought a pair of cockatoo cichlids. Unfortunately, they didn't do too well. The male died after about 3 days and the female developed some kind of eye trouble. This was very disappointing and I was hesitant to get more fish, especially since I was concerned with the...

The thing is I'm not sure her eye is going to clear up completely. This may leave the fish blind in one eye. It's sad, but otherwise I think she can lead a fairly normal existence. However, I'm concerned that her disability may be a problem if I introduce other fish of her species. Will...

Do you think it's safe to add more fish now considering the eye of the female cockatoo? I don't think what she has is contagious since none of the other fish got it. Should I wait a little longer to see if it clears up? It has been over three weeks though, and there has been little or no...

I currently have the following in my 30 gallon (36 x 18 x 12): 8 Von Rio Tetras 3 Otocinclus 1 Bristlenose Plec 1 Female Apistogramma Cacatoides I want to add a pair of cacatoids so I have 2 females and 1 male. However, I'm a bit concerned because when I bought the last pair, the mail died...

Thanks for your response, but from what I've gathered so far, it might not be popeye. Can popeye effect only one eye? I thought it would effect both eyes. Also, although the eye was bulging at first it is not really swollen. It is cloudy, with a white spot in the middle of it. If it were to...

I have posted a couple of thread regarding a pair of cockatoo cichclids I purchased about 3 1/2 weeks ago. In case you didn't follow those threads, the male died after a few days. The female looked like she was going to go, too, but has survived and now seems quite healthy except for one thing...

OK, you've convinced me. I put the PhosGuard back in the filter. I removed a good bit of hair algae over the weekend. There's still some growing on my vallisneria but I'm trimming off those leaves that are most heavily effected. We'll see in a couple of weeks if the hair algae comes back or not.