5Ft Seabray Dolphin Tank With Sa/ca Cichlids

[bullit]

I have sand you see and i didnt have to clean it. It was bought from the local fish shop. Ive read pool sand is meant to be good though. Yeah i know what you mean about the stocking, it would be nice to have a couple of groups but then its nice to have a few diff species. You cant really win. Now you have a bigger tank though and if you add a load more rocks etc then im sure they will calm down a bit. Ive got two male firemouths and not sure just to have one though. Like i said you cant win because when you do swap them about, the pecking order changes and then they end up chasing someone else lol. Then your tank could get boring with no chasing lol.

As for a tank, i think ill be buying second sand. This fish keeping is on a budget at the moment.

 

[kaivalagi]

I have sand you see and i didnt have to clean it. It was bought from the local fish shop. Ive read pool sand is meant to be good though.

I did find a local source of pool filter sand but they only had the orange colour one, not lighter more natural shades...it would have been better in terms of bigger grains but I am happy with the finer stuff I have, although it is a bit messier the fish really do like it.



A friend nearly got a Cutter's Cichlid today for my recent birthday, same size more or less as the cichlids I have now so it would have worked well...the LFS she was at (not all that local really though) also had some EBJD's...about 10 very small Juvi's for under £9 each! I really want to wait for a few weeks before adding anything else though, take my time with it all a bit and make sure all is fine with the new setup.


Question time...

I am wondering whether to get the old tank (125L) ready so I can use it as a quarantine/grow out tank...just not sure how any new fish would fare in that big tank...I guess I should just try it and see as I would sooner the old tank is a breeding one which then can't really take on juvi bigger cichlids for growing? If I had the space and money I would have a show, quarantine/hospital and breeding tank...I just can't see a way that I could use the old tank for breeding AND quarantine...

What are all of your opinions on adding small fish into a big tank tank with adult cichlids? Do you think I'd get away with it, based on the space and the fact that the existing cichlids might not take it as a threat when adding smaller fish? When they are bigger I am not so worried as they'll be able to fend for themselves...I was also wondering if by adding a severum next it would fix the pecking order a little and bring a bit of calm to the tank, which could help with the existing stock and any new Juvi's added...thoughts?

 

[kaivalagi]

I think I shall setup the old tank to be a CA breeding tank longer term, shorter term a quarantine/grow out...and will only add SA cichlids to the big tank long term too. I am thinking of just adding 2 x Rotkeil Severums and 4 x geo' redheads...
I think the current aggression issues are coming from the CA cichlids, the HRP thinks he's a lot bigger than he is...right now he is trying to claim pretty much all of a 5ft tank!
I'm Now filling the old tank with sand and water and will remove my old internal media from my external filter and use it as it was designed for again. I think I should be able to add fish (my cory's first I think just to keep some fish load in there) to the tank as soon as the filter is running in there. I'll start with new fish by adding 4 redheads shortly followed by 2 rotkeil severums all being well, once a little bigger they can go into the main tank and I can then think about a getting a female HRP and move the male HRP in a month after she has settled and grown a little....sound like a good plan?

 

[bullit]

I didnt think yours were adults? Out of my short term experiance, whatever size the the fish you add will get chased. My geo is the biggest fish in mine and he got chased by everyone. Also i used to have a krib kept with my chromide and it went berserk at him all day long. I then added some firemouths to try calm the krib down but the it didnt work and he went nuts at them too. It was that bad i had to get rid of him. At the moment in my tank, my blue eyed is top dog. Your thinking breeding the HRP? Thats something i cant be bothered with lol

 

[kaivalagi]

No they aren't quite adult more like later teens, they're a lot bigger than typical juvis in the LFS...the HRP is about 4" at the mo and the others only a little smaller with the Tapajos being the smallest at around 2.5-3".

I want to have a breeding cichlid pair at some point in my old tank, my son would be really interested in the behaviour as well as me, and I figured the easiest to breed would be a CA of some sort. I was toying with yellow convict breeding before now but I can't find one anywhere as they're on a care list so hard to get other than through breeders. Then I thought the HRP is being a complete git with all the others in the main tank so why not try and breed with him, you never know a bit of the good stuff might calm him down longer term...I could breed him with another HRP or if not possible or I get mis-sold it would be a blue convict...to be honest my HRP could be a blue convict anyway...or somewhere in between.

 

[bullit]

I saw loads of yellow convicts the other day. Im positive it was them. They were at leicester in leicester aquatics.

 

[kaivalagi]

I saw loads of yellow convicts the other day. Im positive it was them. They were at leicester in leicester aquatics.

mmmmm, there are none listed in the stocking list on their site....I just emailed the shop in the hope that if they have any they can post them to me or pass on details of thier supplier for a LFS my way to get hold of some for me. Thanks for letting me know even if it ends nowhere


Plans might be changing

This is a yellow convict, they are quite small:

 

[PDSimon]

They look really nice

my LFS said they can virtually order any fish in

 

[bullit]

That does look smart. Is there other convicts, they looked more albino than yellow, but they definatley had some different ones.

 

[kaivalagi]

That does look smart. Is there other convicts, they looked more albino than yellow, but they definatley had some different ones.

They probably saw pink convicts, search google images for "pink convict" and you'll soon know, they're not all "pink" ...to be honest normal convicts can come in quite a few variations of colour, with blue/grey/pink hues etc...

I am still thinking HRP breeding, which probably means HRP/Convict cross breeding has occured in the past anyway...which will mean I may get quite a variety of offspring turn up, i.e. some blue, some normal etc.

These are the best pics I have of my HRP right now, it is from over one month back but you get the idea:

 

[kaivalagi]

They look really nice

my LFS said they can virtually order any fish in

Try for a yellow convict, they would go nicely as a pair into your tank and would live your natural water stats

I bet your LFS can't get them though....anything is a bit of an exaggeration I think

 

[PDSimon]

They look really nice

my LFS said they can virtually order any fish in

Try for a yellow convict, they would go nicely as a pair into your tank and would live your natural water stats

I bet your LFS can't get them though....anything is a bit of an exaggeration I think

I'd love to breed a pair but I'd miss all the other types of fish you can get!

 

[kaivalagi]

I'd love to breed a pair but I'd miss all the other types of fish you can get!

I keep forgetting you want a community tank...how many types of cichlid are you planning? Some community fish would stay away from eggs etc and others would have much choice
I'll post the same question in YOUR topic, best to answer there...

 

[kaivalagi]

Here's my grow out / quarantine (and then eventually breeding) tank in the bedroom, this was the tank that everything was in, it now seems so small...

When I want to start adding fish it just needs the mature media put back into the filter which came from it in the first place. I'll also add a few rocks soon, I think the old ones will go back in here once I get "boulders" for the main tank

 

[kaivalagi]

I've decided to change the stocking for the main tank, I am now going to add 4 more red head tapajos, and 2 rotkeil severum all being well. I will also be moving the HRP longer term into the old tank and giving him a female companion (he wont reject hopefully) and also potentially be rehoming the Firemouth (my first cichlid

) depending on how things go in the main tank. I've updated the first post to highlight the stocking I intend on going with.

Went and spent over £20 today on rocks at the garden centre today, 7 rather big pieces I hope I can make 2 nice natural looking rocky areas from. I'll also be using some of the other smaller rock pieces I have in the tank already if they'll help get something sorted out nice. All those unnatural granite blocks are going going gone

I may get more Vallis (the spirally one that grows slower though) and Java Fern on Saturday, we'll see...

Quick question: I think my BN plec is making serious sand disturbance during the night as he's rearranging some of the sand to make lots of nooks and crannies for himself, the sand is then finally settling on the plants, wood and rocks. Will the sand affect the plant growth if left? There is not a strong enough current to push all the sand off the leaves...I got a Turkey Baster today which helps clean this away but it is rather tedious and I am not sure I need to do it....? Any guidance on this please?