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TSWisla

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Hello, I have had tanks in the past, but I have not had one going in a while. Anyway, a friend of mine moved to New Zeland and I was gifted his tank. It is a 30gal with an Eclipse filter (complete and utter PITA, the thing leaks all over the place), the tank has 4 african cichilds (which I feel is overstocked as all 4 are at least 4" long). The substrate is med sized gravel, fake plants and I took out all of the silly decorations that he had in there and put in some caves from an old aquarium.

First problem is the Eclipse condensation and then leaking down the sides of the tank. Then, two of the cichlids are really going after the other two, is there anything that I can do about this? Also, do I need an airstone in this tank? How much do I feed them (they hide when I get anywhere near the tank and do not begin to eat until I have left, so I find it very difficult to gauge how much to give them. I have an issue with algae, I have been changing the water every two weeks to keep the nitrates down. All of the fake plants are covered in algae. It has been a week or so since that last change and today the nitrates are 40-60 ppm. Other parameters, nitrite 0 ppm, hardness 120 ppm, alkalinity 300ppm, pH 8.4. Also, as I mentioned, I put in the three caves and they are (two weeks later) still battling over 1 of them. I am afraid that the two that are really getting picked on will perish soon. One more silly question, is it alright to clean the outside of the tank with windex if I spray the windex into a cloth and then wipe the glass or should I use something else?

I apologize for this long post, but I have not been doing this for some time now and I am not sure that I was caring for my fish properly in the first place. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. The stores near my house are pathetic. When I asked what to do about algae, several people told me to buy the biggest pleco possible, enough said...

Thank you.
 
Alright mate ,I think u need to take a step back and inhale :rolleyes: U didnt say what cichlids they where?They will get used to u just give them time.Water changes, 2 weeks does not seem enough and how much do u take out?I would a least do a weekly water change may be 25-35%. As for algae remove all the things that are coverd in it and use a nylon scruber for glass etc. Hope this helps GOOD LUCK :good:
 
Hello and thank you for the reply. I am not sure what kind of cichlids they are, I have e-mailed my friend to find out. There is one rather large vibrant blue one with long pointed fins (he is the boss of the tank) and there is one smaller yellow bellied with black stripes (2nd in command) and two other pathetic souls that are constantly picked on (one blue and black and the other very dark navy blue with black stripes). Anyway, the first water change that I did was about 50% because I think that I was overfeeding because I had planaria all over the place. So I am not sure still how much to feed them because they are always hiding.
 
Could you get pictures of them and post in the African cichlids forum for identification: it would definitely be worthwhile to have them identified and know what you've got in there.
 
I will get some pics up tomorrow if my friend does not get back to me by then. But in the mean time can someone offer me any advice about some of the other issues that I listed? Particularly about the planaria, water parameters or the silly, leaking Eclipse? Thank you.
 
Ok, first things first. You are overfeeding if you have planaria. For now, I would feed just every other day - they won't starve. Remember fish in the wild, don't always have daily meals! Just a pinch once a day should be fine. 4 fish do not need a ton of food. What are you feeding them? Have you tried changing it up - fish like different things, they may not like what you are feeding them. Alot of people vary the fishes food each day or every other day - flakes, live food, frozen food, freeze dried food ect.
Yes, you can clean the outside of the tank with windex, just be very careful - as you said, spray it into the cloth and then clean with it. Be careful near the openings and take precaution.
As for the filter, you may want to think about upgrading to a better/newer filter - this could stop the condensation.
Take the plants out and rinse them to get rid of the algae - as was already mentioned. Also you should be doing once or twice weekly water changes if you are dealing with a water quality issue.
You may want to try re-arranging the decor, this may help with the aggresion of the 1 cave and the stronger fish. Also you may want to add some high plants or rock shleves so the not so strong fish have hiding spots. HTH and good luck!
 
what are you feeding them is it flake or pellets???

fish don`t need much a small pinch every day will do.

also how do you do your water changed do you "hoover" the substrae? I.E such all the waste up with a siphon?
if not that could be the cause of your planaria..

I`ve never used an eclips filter so cant help you...

40ppm of nitrate is high you should be changing 20% of your water weekly idealy to keep this lower.

By the sounds of itr you have a set of malawi chiclids in there that could be your problem they are very aggressive and you need lots of them in the tank to share the aggression around
 
yup if it's african cichlids it's recommended to have a fairly large tank and lots of them to spread the agression around, this could be a big problem.

get some pics and post in the african cichlid section and they'll let you know what's the best thing to do.

i would do small water changes every couple of days over the next few weeks to get your nitrates down and cut back on feeding
 
I have been feeding them mini pellets that my friend gave me, twice a day and 4 shrimp pellets and a spirunula (sp?) pellet every once in a while. I "hoover" the gravel, but I cannot get in everywhere because I have the rocks (caves) there and they take up a lot of vacuuming space. I am not supposed to remove these large rocks when I vacuum, am I? I just go around them, but like I said, they take up a lot of space and there is not too much to vacuum. Also, should I be removing the plants and vacuuming under them also? Any suggestions on proper photo techniques? Thanks for all of the feedback.
 
They sound like Africans to me but how big is the tank? I'm not very good with gallons sorry!

The yellow one with black stripes I think might be a bumblebee but I'm almost sure the little navy blue one with the dark stripes will be a pseudotropheus of some sort, maybe Demasoni.

If I'm right, you do need to overstock but you need to make sure you have good filtration (that's not a filter I know of but then I am in UK). The tank will need to be at least 2' wide to keep them well,if the tank is smaller than this PLEASE move them to a biger tank or take them back to a local fish shop!
 
TSWisla said:
I have been feeding them mini pellets that my friend gave me, twice a day and 4 shrimp pellets and a spirunula (sp?) pellet every once in a while. I "hoover" the gravel, but I cannot get in everywhere because I have the rocks (caves) there and they take up a lot of vacuuming space. I am not supposed to remove these large rocks when I vacuum, am I? I just go around them, but like I said, they take up a lot of space and there is not too much to vacuum. Also, should I be removing the plants and vacuuming under them also? Any suggestions on proper photo techniques? Thanks for all of the feedback.
Click to expand...


things like rocks and wood you should pick up and vac underneath imagine it's the furniture in your house, it still needs doing!

don't uproot plants though, you'll damage the roots and they like the fishy poo, it's like compost
 
So I should just remove the small rocks and leave the big ones there? I am just curious because I have seen african tanks where people have tons of huge rocks in there and I can not believe that they would remove that entire mountain of rocks everytime. I had a lot going on the past couple of days, but I am going to go and take some pics now.

For loafy: The tank is 12" deep, 30" long and 18" high
 
I just use newspaper on the outside of my tank, works great. A window cleaner friend of mine sugested it.

Just scrunch the newspaper up, wet it a little bit and wipe the glass.

Perfect.
 
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