lake Tanganyika

[nick.w]

Hey ive chosen this lake becuase of their smaller size and i like their colours. I like these species: lamprologus leleupi, lamprologus calvus and a brichardi are these three ok in a 30 gal, my book says none exeed over 4inch and arnt overly agressive comparred to mbuna. If not any idea of wot lake Tanganyika cichlids i can keep??

 

[thecichlidaddict]

The fish you have chosen will work in that tank, and are generally not very aggressive. However once breeding they can become very aggressive - the brichardi in particular would take over the entire tank and kill all of the other fish when breeding, so it's best to only keep one.

 

[nick.w]

wow cheers i was only planning to get those 3 as singles. I thought 3 africans in a 30 gal would b ok anymore would b a bit dangerous??? O wuld u no wot the pH and hardness is ive read it is 7.3-8.0 and the hardness 10-12 but on the net ive read the ph for this lake is a lot higher???

 

[thecichlidaddict]

PH over 8 is perfect, I would not want it to be any less then 7.5. GH does not matter much, the water in the lake is not as hard as some think.

If you are only keeping those 3 fish you can likely get away with a pair of shelldwellers too to spice up the tank a bit.

 

[nick.w]

what like a pair of julies?? thats the only one i no

 

[thecichlidaddict]

Shelldwellers fall under the neolamprologus. They are good for a tank like yours because they claim a small territory, and while they defend it as eagerly as any Tang, they don't do damgae when they do.

Examples: Neolamprologus Brevis, Occelatus, Multifasciatus...

 

[nick.w]

cool ive always wanted a pair of cichlids just never thought i had enough room. The fry are not likely to survive tho because the lamprologus calvus eats them in the wild. With only a few fish how often whould i change the water??? i no lake.T fish require very regualr water changes.

 

[thecichlidaddict]

lake.T fish require very regualr water changes.

They sure do, and if you can do 20 or 25% every week or so they'll thrive, but the - I upkeep all my tanks like this, no matter how hardy the fish are. If you can only do every other week then that will work as well.

 

[nick.w]

Sorry about al the questions but how hardy are the fish ive choosen are they likely to die if the ph drops a bit?? also the 3 fish are micropreditors wot kind of diet shall i feed them?

 

[thecichlidaddict]

They are unlikely to have trouble with a slight ph drop, but you still need it as stable as possible, as with any fish.

Tangs just tend to be more sensitive to toxins in the water - ammonia, nitrite, notrates, for example, which is why we want to keep the water fresh. In addition the bio-process steadily brings down the ph as well, another good reason for regular water changes.

Feed them a basic cichlid diet, like New Life Spectrum or HBH Attack. As a supplement you can feed brine shrimp, cyclops, mysis, or plankton. Basically any frozen invertabrate. Brine shrimp is good and easy to get.

 

[nick.w]

wot about blood worms instead of brine shrimp?? Can i feed them gupys aswel

 

[thecichlidaddict]

Worms and feeders are not a natural part of the diet of these fish. Feeder fish can increase aggression with the fish. It's best to avoid these foods with the other alternatives readily available.

 

[sunbot]

hi m8 iv got 100 posts now yey my fish died soon as i put it in tank crap fish

tetra is best.

 

[bgraber]

I love my lamp. ocellatus golds.. Very healthy. Wish I had a tad more space for them.. Although now that I've switched them from my 16 gal bow to my 20gal, each one has their own shell now.. Actually a couple have more than one shell they've "prepared" They are pretty fun to watch dig around and they sure don't take no crap I'd definitely recommend Aragonite for your substrate(sand). This will help make sure your PH stays up where it should.. Between this and some limestone or Texas Holey rock, my PH hasn't been a problem..

One question I have is what else I could put in that 20gal now.. I have the ocellatus's, a synodontis eurpterus and an algae eating shrimp.. I'd like to build up the minimal rockwork and add another species.. possibly julidochromis of some sort? The transcriptus? Anything?

I also have the 16gal bowfront empty now.. just water and the aragonite sand.. Hmmmmmm

 

[thecichlidaddict]

bgraber, you can put any smaller tang rock dwller in, but you'd be best to go with a single specimen, there isn't room for so many breeding fish.