Looking At Swapping To Cichlids

[spongy]

I currently have a south american themed tropical set up, but having moved house in June I'm really struggling, the move really upset my fish and I lost a few, which is understandable but still annoying.
 
The main reason I'm looking at swapping is that my water has gone from reasonably soft to hard. 7.9ph to be exact, and I believe its the main contributing factor in my fish losses and plants dying off.  Ive been doing quite a lot of reading up on it and am of the understanding that this is pretty damn good for cichlids.
 
What also doesn't help is that I now have a 2 month old daughter so I have been having trouble spending as much time as I used to looking after plants, trimming etc so its starting to become a bit of a headache, Cichlids seem like a good idea as the tanks are just rock work and easy to maintain with a regular syphon to get rid of poo, no dosing ferts or topiary required. She is beginning to take an interest in the tank and lays there watching it when getting sleepy so the stronger colours of cichlids seem like a good idea.
 
I have a 3' Juwel Vision 180 aquarium, I've been to my LFS which is a Maidenhead Aquatics and they have agreed to take back my remaining tropical stock so I can replace with cichlids, but how do I go about this?
 
I am in the process of buying rocks and other decoration to go in but its the substrate that is proving a bit tricky, I currently have a small grain black gravel and was wondering whether I should swap it out for a coarse sand as cichlids like to have a dig around.  I cant do everything in a day so how can I keep my filter alive whilst I do a swap? which would be done over the course of a week or so so I can change substrate and scape it properly without rushing and doing a poor job.
 
Will I have to re cycle the tank if the filter lays idle for that period of time? Is there a way to keep my bacterial colony alive?
 
And what species should I go for? I'm after some bright fish so yellow labs are on the list and another type Ive seen that are bluey/purple with black stripes, the guy at the LFS suggested stocking about 12 fish, is that too many for the tank size? I wont be able to stock fully straight away if I need to cycle and I have read that new additions can be bullied so whats the best way to stock?

 

[Jesse]

If it were me, I would use 100% ammonia. Just a little bit every other day or so will keep your bacteria happy!

 

[Fishmanic]

if dosing with ammonia (3ppm)   be sure ammonia levels are back to 0 before adding fish and do a  90% water change to remove nitrates

 

[RRaquariums]

Ok so I do have a few suggestions hopefully they will be helpful and sorry for the long read this will be

As for the current substrate you have in there should be fine if you give it a good cleaning I'm assuming you are going to tear the tank down to get all the plants out and get new rocks and decore in so that's when you should give it a good cleaning.

Let's talk stocking numbers this is a subject a lot of people disagree on so all I can give you is my personal experience and what worked for me. How many cichlids you have will greatly depend on what ones you get and what there adult size will be. You mentioned yellow lab cichlids and I greatly recommend you get some of them as they are an amazing looking fish and very well tempered as African cichlids go if you stick with cichlids that are about the same size as the yellow lab that being about 4-5 inches full grown you should be fine in that tank and I'd say 12-15 fish total depending on what kinds you get.

Now the fun part aquascaping once again what you do here will depend a lot on the cichlids you get the yellow lab for example really dose best with lots of rocks arranged in a way as to make the most caves and nooks as posable since these fish come from a very rocky lake they really need lots of places to hide and feel safe another great thing about the rocks if you set them up right is it can help break up line of site and that will help keep aggression down.
You asked how to deal with adding different fish at different times since these fish get territorial well it's rather simple set your tank up and arrange the rocks how you like however do not arrange them the way you want them permanently because when you add your first fish they will emedatly start picking areas of the tank as there's and this is good it helps them stay calm and know there place but when you go to add a new fish or several new fish move the rocks around into a new formation mix it up as much as you can then add the new fish this makes everyone think they are in a new area and it not only gives the new fish a chance to get some turf it also gives the old fish something else to think about instead of picking on the new fish.

Another thing you will have to decide is are you going to do an all male tank or a mixed male femal tank each has it's ups and downs so I'd do some research on it and see what sounds like it will work best for you.

Last thing is you are probably used to a little bit of fighting and chassing between your fish now well that's all going to go up a notch because even the most peaceful African cichlids can be little terrors so just don't freak out to much if they start fighting or chassing each other around right away it takes some time for everyone to find there place in the tank and until they do they will fight over space food and everything else lol.

If you have more questions pm me any time and I will try to help with it as best I can

 

[spongy]

Thanks for the replies people. Very helpful indeed

This is my current substrate, it's a black Quartz that was quite pricey, you can see the grain size, is this suitable for allowing cichlids to dig a little?



All I have to do then is get hold of some ammonia to keep my bacteria happy. Wait for my rocks and decide on my stock.....

Not a lot then considering as I'm at the football every Saturday, looking after a 2 month old, tending to visitors constantly and working 12 hours a day!

 

[NickBFC]

I see you support Brighton, are you local? If so you're welcome to look at my tank (I'm near Worthing).
 
I have a Juwel 125 with Pseudotropheus Saulosi dwarf Mbuna. I currently have 11 (4 males) and find this number about right for my tank. Ideally you usually need 2-3 females per male to keep aggression down although my tank runs pretty well. The Saulosi are bright yellow (female) and blue/black (male). Obviously these are smaller than regular Mbuna thus you can have more of them. As for substrate I use regular play sand, they do like to shift it about!
 

 

[spongy]

I am pretty local, Brighton boy since birth and just moved to Hassocks in June so you're really not far away

I'll quite happily pop down and have a look, I'm undecided on what rock work to really go with, the Vision 180 is actually quite tall so I don't want to go too high with them, but I need plenty of hiding spaces

Where is the best place to buy rock work? My LFS is expensive. Are garden centres a better bet?

 

[NickBFC]

I bought my rocks from Maidenhead at Hickstead, can't remember how much it was but it wasn't expensive. Just give it a good clean etc before putting in the tank. My rock goes about 1/3rd of the height of tank so it doesn't need loads. I'm not around an awful lot at the moment because of work, but should be around later in the month if you want to pop down and look.
 
I was thinking of changing my rock to slate at some point, this below looks good IMO.
 

 

[spongy]

That does look pretty good. I popped in to the Hassocks garden centre on the way home today and saw quite a good set up in there but it was in a live tank so not for sale. It was white rock that looked all weird shapes and had holes in it, think it would look good against my black gravel.

 

[l_l_l]

Well, you could always go with a very low maintenance planted tank!
I rarely dose ferts in my tank, maybe once every month or so, for my rooted stuff..

 

[spongy]

I was already pretty low maintenance, no co2 or anything, it was flourishing but since the house move everything has died bar one plant that looks impossible to kill. I think the change to a higher pH is taking its toll on everything and everyone. A move to fish who suit my water is better than trying to stabilise and work on keeping what I have.

 

[Alasse]

The white weird shaped rock with the holes in it is Texas holey rock, very popular in cichlid tanks

 

[nut4clife]

I was already pretty low maintenance, no co2 or anything, it was flourishing but since the house move everything has died bar one plant that looks impossible to kill. I think the change to a higher pH is taking its toll on everything and everyone. A move to fish who suit my water is better than trying to stabilise and work on keeping what I have.

You've gotten quite a few good suggestions.  You have yet to state that you've done any type of water testing (regent testing is best i.e. API Freshwater Master Test Kit) which should be done on a weekly basis.  Now that you don't have fish and you are hardscaping your tank be prepared to take a break.  Before acquiring your needed hard scape items take a minute to review the thread on here "How To Fishless Cycle Your Tank".   Please, please, please choose to do the fishless cycling of your tank.  It may take a while (two months!).  Unless you can have NickBFC provide you with a cycled filter from his tank you'll have to go the long road, but cycle your tank before you add fish.
In your opening thread you DON'T state that you did any type of Nitrite, Ammonia or Nitrate testing yet you've concluded that it's solely the PH that did your pets in, including the plants (you've tested for PH level at 7.9).
With cichlids you have to regularly (minimum once a week) test the big three Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate and do a 25% water change weekly and a 50 to 60% water change with substrate cleaning once a month.  The chores change but there is still a workload in caring for cichlids.  The enjoyment is truly amazing as they tend to become as attached to you as you will be to them.
Just make sure as stated you have plenty of "caves" but be prepared to move them once a month to clean in and around them.  GL!
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[spongy]

I was already pretty low maintenance, no co2 or anything, it was flourishing but since the house move everything has died bar one plant that looks impossible to kill. I think the change to a higher pH is taking its toll on everything and everyone. A move to fish who suit my water is better than trying to stabilise and work on keeping what I have.

You've gotten quite a few good suggestions.  You have yet to state that you've done any type of water testing (regent testing is best i.e. API Freshwater Master Test Kit) which should be done on a weekly basis.  Now that you don't have fish and you are hardscaping your tank be prepared to take a break.  Before acquiring your needed hard scape items take a minute to review the thread on here "How To Fishless Cycle Your Tank".   Please, please, please choose to do the fishless cycling of your tank.  It may take a while (two months!).  Unless you can have NickBFC provide you with a cycled filter from his tank you'll have to go the long road, but cycle your tank before you add fish.
In your opening thread you DON'T state that you did any type of Nitrite, Ammonia or Nitrate testing yet you've concluded that it's solely the PH that did your pets in, including the plants (you've tested for PH level at 7.9).
With cichlids you have to regularly (minimum once a week) test the big three Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate and do a 25% water change weekly and a 50 to 60% water change with substrate cleaning once a month.  The chores change but there is still a workload in caring for cichlids.  The enjoyment is truly amazing as they tend to become as attached to you as you will be to them.
Just make sure as stated you have plenty of "caves" but be prepared to move them once a month to clean in and around them.  GL!

Sorry, I didn't state that earlier, I thought everyone would take it as I a given that I do that. I have the Api master kit and the only change in my water has been the pH level. Had a slight fluctuation after the move but the only significant change that has persisted is the the pH.

I still have my tank running with current stock, I'm just getting everything together so I can change everything in one hit so I don't have to re cycle unless I absolutely have to. I have friends not on here who have tanks as well so a media change is not a problem really, just trying to work everything out so its a seamless transition if you understand me?

 

[nut4clife]

 

 

I was already pretty low maintenance, no co2 or anything, it was flourishing but since the house move everything has died bar one plant that looks impossible to kill. I think the change to a higher pH is taking its toll on everything and everyone. A move to fish who suit my water is better than trying to stabilise and work on keeping what I have.

You've gotten quite a few good suggestions.  You have yet to state that you've done any type of water testing (regent testing is best i.e. API Freshwater Master Test Kit) which should be done on a weekly basis.  Now that you don't have fish and you are hardscaping your tank be prepared to take a break.  Before acquiring your needed hard scape items take a minute to review the thread on here "How To Fishless Cycle Your Tank".   Please, please, please choose to do the fishless cycling of your tank.  It may take a while (two months!).  Unless you can have NickBFC provide you with a cycled filter from his tank you'll have to go the long road, but cycle your tank before you add fish.
In your opening thread you DON'T state that you did any type of Nitrite, Ammonia or Nitrate testing yet you've concluded that it's solely the PH that did your pets in, including the plants (you've tested for PH level at 7.9).
With cichlids you have to regularly (minimum once a week) test the big three Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate and do a 25% water change weekly and a 50 to 60% water change with substrate cleaning once a month.  The chores change but there is still a workload in caring for cichlids.  The enjoyment is truly amazing as they tend to become as attached to you as you will be to them.
Just make sure as stated you have plenty of "caves" but be prepared to move them once a month to clean in and around them.  GL!

Sorry, I didn't state that earlier, I thought everyone would take it as I a given that I do that. I have the Api master kit and the only change in my water has been the pH level. Had a slight fluctuation after the move but the only significant change that has persisted is the the pH.

I still have my tank running with current stock, I'm just getting everything together so I can change everything in one hit so I don't have to re cycle unless I absolutely have to. I have friends not on here who have tanks as well so a media change is not a problem really, just trying to work everything out so its a seamless transition if you understand me?
 


LOL MY BAD IF I OFFENDED YOU!  You stated you were having a problem with your pets dying...with that being said you leave nothing to chance especially interpretations!  I'm not going to assume you did water changes as there was nothing to clue me in that you were doing that!  Also you might want to consider a longer and larger tank for Cichlids than the Juwel 180 but I'm sure you already know that.  GL with that "seamless transition" and I do understand you quite well.