New Pic's Of My 125g Cichlid Tank!

[Sym]

1st the big ones, sort of the centerpieces of the community, the red devil:

And the black shark:

Here is a shot of em togeather:

The electric blue:

The cobalt blue:

The electric yellow and jack dempsey:

The zebra:

the lerperinus:

Not pictured here:
green severum
jewel cichlid
CAE
RTBS
green terror
albino zebra

 

[paul_219]

Very nice tank. Wonderful.

 

[randallhart]

Beautiful fish.
But if I may I have a suggestion.
Darker gravel or more natural gravel will make your fish color up nicely. And it also makes the fish stand out.
And I have a question? Why did you mix new world cichlids with old world. Don't they prefer different ph's?
Just my opinion
But lovely fish.
Keep up the good work.

 

[jayjay]

Did you not used to come on to this forum under the name "Garbage" Sym?

 

[fry_lover]

lovely looking fish, LOVELY!!!dont worry too much about mixing cichlids, fish keeping is often abot trial and error, my only concern would be meeting their dietary requirements, as the Red Devil will relish lots of protein but the Malawi would prefer more veg based,but it isnt rocket science to find a compromise and watch out for the "purists" who might not like this combinationlooks nice, good luckPS - whats the "garbage" situation? LOL, who knows?

Beautiful fish. But if I may I have a suggestion.Darker gravel or more natural gravel will make your fish color up nicely. And it also makes the fish stand out.And I have a question? Why did you mix new world cichlids with old world. Don't they prefer different ph's?Just my opinionBut lovely fish. Keep up the good work.

decent point, but a Red Devil and Jack Dempsey will be fine in hard water with a higher pH, for an RD and a JD if all other requirements are met, pH and hardness isnt really an issue

 

[treelo]

is it just me, or does the very firstr pic look like its got an evil plec in the background

 

[fry_lover]

is it just me, or does the very firstr pic look like its got an evil plec in the background

LOL - p*ssing myself here, you are correct, two evil eyes LOL

 

[Sym]

Beautiful fish.
But if I may I have a suggestion.
Darker gravel or more natural gravel will make your fish color up nicely. And it also makes the fish stand out.
And I have a question? Why did you mix new world cichlids with old world. Don't they prefer different ph's?
Just my opinion
But lovely fish.
Keep up the good work.

Well, speaking for only myself. In my experience Ive found the ph level concerns to be way overblown and very much all to do about nothing. I know some fish keepers would agree with me and others would most certainly disagree. Fish adapt to different ph levels extremly well. And its not like we are talking about dropping a saltwater fish into fresh water. I believe that water parameters, temperature, proper filteration, and routine weekly water changes/cleaning are the keys to a healthy thriving community. Ive never had any fish go into stress or contract disease or for that matter die due to the ph level being off. Like I said, its only my opinion, and its been years and years since the last time I lost a fish, its working for me so Ive got nothing to complain about
Likewise I definantly agree with you about the darker gravel! If I had it to do over Id go darker, its just such a pain and an expense with an already established tank to mess with

Did you not used to come on to this forum under the name "Garbage" Sym?

No sir, I go by Sym at all the forums that I belong to.

 

[Sym]

lovely looking fish, LOVELY!!!dont worry too much about mixing cichlids, fish keeping is often abot trial and error, my only concern would be meeting their dietary requirements, as the Red Devil will relish lots of protein but the Malawi would prefer more veg based,but it isnt rocket science to find a compromise and watch out for the "purists" who might not like this combinationlooks nice, good luckPS - whats the "garbage" situation? LOL, who knows?

Beautiful fish. But if I may I have a suggestion.Darker gravel or more natural gravel will make your fish color up nicely. And it also makes the fish stand out.And I have a question? Why did you mix new world cichlids with old world. Don't they prefer different ph's?Just my opinionBut lovely fish. Keep up the good work.

decent point, but a Red Devil and Jack Dempsey will be fine in hard water with a higher pH, for an RD and a JD if all other requirements are met, pH and hardness isnt really an issue

I agree, I also agree that purists can certainly be a militant bunch cant they Ive always mixed and never run into trouble. No reason to change the way I keep fish now. My biggest concern in the very beginning was agression but the Devil and Black shark are so big all the africans just avoid them and wisley so The africans get along well amongst each other and the leperinus fits in like he was simply born to do so Diversity is wonderful!

is it just me, or does the very firstr pic look like its got an evil plec in the background

Funny, lol

 

[randallhart]

Beautiful fish.
But if I may I have a suggestion.
Darker gravel or more natural gravel will make your fish color up nicely. And it also makes the fish stand out.
And I have a question? Why did you mix new world cichlids with old world. Don't they prefer different ph's?
Just my opinion
But lovely fish.
Keep up the good work.

Well, speaking for only myself. In my experience Ive found the ph level concerns to be way overblown and very much all to do about nothing. I know some fish keepers would agree with me and others would most certainly disagree. Fish adapt to different ph levels extremly well. And its not like we are talking about dropping a saltwater fish into fresh water. I believe that water parameters, temperature, proper filteration, and routine weekly water changes/cleaning are the keys to a healthy thriving community. Ive never had any fish go into stress or contract disease or for that matter die due to the ph level being off. Like I said, its only my opinion, and its been years and years since the last time I lost a fish, its working for me so Ive got nothing to complain about
Likewise I definantly agree with you about the darker gravel! If I had it to do over Id go darker, its just such a pain and an expense with an already established tank to mess with

Did you not used to come on to this forum under the name "Garbage" Sym?

No sir, I go by Sym at all the forums that I belong to.

Don't get me wrong. I'm down for the diversity I just thought that the africans and the new worlds needed different requirements. And it's a wonderful thing you haven't lost any fish in a good while.
If I were you I would just go through the gravel change. It would be well worth it and you and your fish will enjoy it in the long run.

 

[Sym]

Beautiful fish.
But if I may I have a suggestion.
Darker gravel or more natural gravel will make your fish color up nicely. And it also makes the fish stand out.
And I have a question? Why did you mix new world cichlids with old world. Don't they prefer different ph's?
Just my opinion
But lovely fish.
Keep up the good work.

Well, speaking for only myself. In my experience Ive found the ph level concerns to be way overblown and very much all to do about nothing. I know some fish keepers would agree with me and others would most certainly disagree. Fish adapt to different ph levels extremly well. And its not like we are talking about dropping a saltwater fish into fresh water. I believe that water parameters, temperature, proper filteration, and routine weekly water changes/cleaning are the keys to a healthy thriving community. Ive never had any fish go into stress or contract disease or for that matter die due to the ph level being off. Like I said, its only my opinion, and its been years and years since the last time I lost a fish, its working for me so Ive got nothing to complain about
Likewise I definantly agree with you about the darker gravel! If I had it to do over Id go darker, its just such a pain and an expense with an already established tank to mess with

Did you not used to come on to this forum under the name "Garbage" Sym?

No sir, I go by Sym at all the forums that I belong to.

Don't get me wrong. I'm down for the diversity I just thought that the africans and the new worlds needed different requirements. And it's a wonderful thing you haven't lost any fish in a good while.
If I were you I would just go through the gravel change. It would be well worth it and you and your fish will enjoy it in the long run.

Would a darker gravel be beneficial to the fish health wise in any way? Aditionally, what would be the best way you think to replace that much gravel in a 125G tank with minimal disturbance to the fish?

 

[randallhart]

Wow that's a toughy.
Do you have anywhere you could put the fish while you change out the gravel?
I doubt the fish health would change in any way.
The fish would probably be stressed a little, but nothing permanetly damaging.

 

[stang1]

We changed all the substrate in one of our tanks and found the easiest way was to siphon it out. after we filled a bucket, we used a sieve for the substrate and poured the water back into the tank. It is quite time consuming but probably one of the easiest ways of doing it.
To put the new substrate in we use a long, thick tube and held it near the bottom of the tank. Pour your sand/gravel down the tube and it shouldn't cloud the water too much.
Hope that helps!

 

[randallhart]

We changed all the substrate in one of our tanks and found the easiest way was to siphon it out. after we filled a bucket, we used a sieve for the substrate and poured the water back into the tank. It is quite time consuming but probably one of the easiest ways of doing it.
To put the new substrate in we use a long, thick tube and held it near the bottom of the tank. Pour your sand/gravel down the tube and it shouldn't cloud the water too much.
Hope that helps!

Oh my....Thank you Stang1.
Apparently I had no idea what I was even talking about.

 

[stang1]

We changed all the substrate in one of our tanks and found the easiest way was to siphon it out. after we filled a bucket, we used a sieve for the substrate and poured the water back into the tank. It is quite time consuming but probably one of the easiest ways of doing it.
To put the new substrate in we use a long, thick tube and held it near the bottom of the tank. Pour your sand/gravel down the tube and it shouldn't cloud the water too much.
Hope that helps!

Oh my....Thank you Stang1.
Apparently I had no idea what I was even talking about.

We only chose this option as we wanted to cause as little stress as possible to our Plecos and we didn't want to keep them in a container while we did it. There's no reason people couldn't do it the way you suggested.