Just Thinking About

[poo-tang]

i have a 40 gallon tank...48 inches. been thinking about making it a mbuna tank. have a saltwater in there right now and once that is re-homed in its new tank i'm gonna need to put something in this tank. so i decided on cichlids. i have as couple quick questions.
1. are these tanks brackish at all?
2. what is the best substrate...i think i decided on sand...does it matter which kind(i want the best and easiest)
3. i want this tank to be planted, is that a possibility
4. i have an aquatic turtle, about the size of a half dollar, he never ever uses his land zone so i know he doesn't have to have one. can i put him in this tank? seems like it could work?

thanks.

 

[mrssittingduck]

got to say an aquatic turtle never uses land??

are you sure he isnt sneaking into it at night time or even while you are not in

turtles can only spen around an hour under water before they have to come up for air and they do like to come out and rest or bask in the heat, assuming you do have a heat station on their ,
if you havnt consider getting one and putting it over the land area ..

cichlids are brackish which means you will need to also add a little salt and in which case your turtle i dont think will fare to good in their ...

the turtle also bieng a fish eater will nip at any fish that swims past it... also eat the smaller fish...

as you prob know by now turtles can be brougth very cheap at the size of a £ coin but they grow , and jeeze they grow big....
so if you do decide to keep the turtle in their i would recommend big fish in with him, but the cichlids you may find when they are big will bully and bite at it

i hope this helps you and in my oppinion it will not be worth it to keep the turtle in with cichlids but that is just my oppinion..

katie

 

[Ferris]

cichlids are brackish which means you will need to also add a little salt

African cichlids are not brackish fish - some people add mineral compounds in an attempt to emulate the natural environment of Lakes Malawi and Tanganyika - these are often referred to as african lake salts hence the confusion. These products are not neccessary at all to keep african cichlids.

 

[fishfishfish]

i agree with ferris.definetly not brackish.the water is just hard & alkaline

 

[mrssittingduck]

i agree with your post but i got to say i had best breeding results and best temprements when i have salt in my tank ,, only a slight bit of salt though

african cichlids also vary very much in their hardness that they require, so is a thing to research into

 

[poo-tang]

i'm a little confused as to whether or not to add salt. is this an ongoing debate between cichlid keepers or what? and if i add a little salt then no, i can't keep the turtle in there.
the reason for the turtle in this ytank is because he's boring and his ten gallon is a ***** to clean...once a week. getting sick of it...and yes he has a land zone with heat lamp,, i just have never caught him on it, and i've had the thing for like 6 months.
anyways its prolly a bad idea all around, i think i found a friend who will take him...has a lonely turtle.
but what about the brackish?

 

[fish_r_great]

Here since nobody else could answer your questions I will...

1. are these tanks brackish at all? No they have special mineral compounds as Ferris said but they're not brackish and you don't have to add salts or any special mineral compounds to the set-up.
2. what is the best substrate...i think i decided on sand...does it matter which kind(i want the best and easiest) This doesn't really matter, sand works well because they can play in it but is hazardous because if you stack rocks like many people do they can dig under them and topple the stacks. Best substrate is probably crushed coral as its normally cheap and buffers the pH.
3. i want this tank to be planted, is that a possibility. You could but this is pretty hard to do. Mbuna are herbivores and many plants that you attempt to grow will end up as lunch.
4. i have an aquatic turtle, about the size of a half dollar, he never ever uses his land zone so i know he doesn't have to have one. can i put him in this tank? seems like it could work? I'm guessing he could end up growing big and it would proablt be easier not keeping them in the same tank because he will proably just make the tank more stressful and cause more problems than hes worth.

IMO have fun!!!