Cichlid hiding!?!?!?

[Ericag90]

Okay so the water test is as follows:
Ph:8.0
Alk ppm:80
Hard:75
No2: 0.5
No3: 20

 

[Ericag90]

I believe you are right on my one yellow one Collin.....he sure does resemble a mbuna cichlid!!!! The others had the black on their backs and he doesn’t!

 

[seangee]

The Nitrite (NO2) is the cause of the distress. This should always be 0 and you should continue with frequent water changes until it gets to 0 and stays that way. Whatever they say at the shop that level is poisonous to fish.

The good news is that it does prove that your cycle is underway as growth if the bacteria that turn nitrite into nitrate is the final part of the process. Adding plants will help but for now you should do water changes of 50% or more at least every other day. Feed sparingly every other day and try to do the water change 4-6 hours after feeding.

It would be really useful to have a test kit to monitor this until it stabilises. Most say the liquid tests are better (and I agree) but for nitrites I do find the strips ok because on my strips any colour change means there is nitrite so a water change is needed.

 

[Colin_T]

The fish in the picture is a Bolivian Butterfly cichlid, or Bolivian Ram. They are peaceful, grow to 3 inches and like soft acid water. They should be fine with the blue rams.

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A 15 watt globe is not enough for that height of tank. You can try but you really want 40-80 watts of light, preferably with a Kelvin rating around 6500K.

You can get cheap LED spotlights from hardware stores and they just plug into a power point. If you can find one to fit above the tank it will give you more light.

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Did the shop test for Ammonia?

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You have soft alkaline water, a bit like Perth water, where I am. The pH is a bit high for rams but is fine for Rift Lake cichlids. But the hardness is nice for rams but not good for the Rift Lake cichlids.

 

[Ericag90]

Okay I did the 75% water change Wednesday which consisted of removing all gravel and cleaning it as well...shall I do a 50% today??!

 

[Ericag90]

Ammonia was low

 

[Colin_T]

Yes do another water change today if you can, but don't remove the gravel. Just use a gravel cleaner to clean the gravel and drain the tank at the same time.

 

[Ericag90]

Thank you!!! I’m sure I’ll have more questions soon

 

[Ericag90]

Have I mentioned how after a day of being gone when I come home my fish greet me!!! My husband says I’m weird but I swear they all come to the front of the tank and swim so pretty and look at me lmao!!! I’m not crazy I wish I could show you all a video I got yesterday

 

[Demeter32]

The yellow fish you have is probably a electric yellow labs. You should look into fixing your stocking once the tank has finally settled down. African cichlids should never be mixed with non African species. Rams are peaceful, African cichlids (especially mbuna) are not peaceful in the slightest. The general rule is to only keep African cichlids with other Africans.

Another thing, mbuna are known plant eaters. I tried it once with my African cichlid tank and they torn the most hardy plants (anubias and java fern) to shreds. Once they figure out plants taste good they will munch on them till they're gone.

Based on your water parameters (hardness mainly) I'd stick to soft water fish like the rams. You can easily add more fish to the tank (tetras, barbs, angels, corydoras etc) that will get on wonderfully with rams but I would rehome the Africans if possible. Keeping them in soft water will eventually lead to illness. They simply need hard water.

 

[Demeter32]

I had Demeter32 come over to your thread to offer his help to you because he is an expert in Africans, please use him as a reference and follow his advice.
You're worrying about the wrong things right now, or well, at least worrying about things in the wrong order.

Forgot to add that I am a woman

 

[Ericag90]

Lol your a smart woman

 

[thrujenseyes]

Forgot to add that I am a woman

OOmmmmgoodness I'm sorry!! Hahaha...the name just made me assume (quite wrongly) that you were a guy! Not that I even know what Demeter means but in my mind it sounded manly I suppose!
Goodness!

 

[Demeter32]

@thrujenseyes Well, you're not the only one who thought I was a dude. On another forum I have the same name minus the "32" and apparently no one is familiar with Greek mythology, Demeter is a goddess Demeter is also the alias of an artist I favored in my early teen years, so I borrowed it

 

[Colin_T]

Have I mentioned how after a day of being gone when I come home my fish greet me!!! My husband says I’m weird but I swear they all come to the front of the tank and swim so pretty and look at me lmao!!! I’m not crazy I wish I could show you all a video I got yesterday

That is quite common for fish to recognise those that feed them. I had tanks in the lounge room and whenever the fish saw my bedroom door open they swam to the side of the tank closest to my room. They would then follow me as I walked past their tank. They ignored everyone else.

We had a guy in fish club who said he kept fish. Well he had fish tanks that he bought, but his wife maintained and fed the fish. So when we went to visit, the fish would follow his wife around and ignore him

If you post a video on youtube you can put the web address here and we can click the link and view the fish that way