I've always had an odd experience when bringing cichlids home with me. I bring home a little baby, (I've never brought home a full grown or anything) acclimatize it, introduce it, and over the course of a day or two, it becomes somewhat less colorful than it was in store. My tetras and schoolers and stuff always color up nicely, but the cichlids always seem to kind of bland out a bit.
Water stats are always pretty dang close to perfect. 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, usually less than 20 nitrate, but never ever above 30. I do 20% or more water changes a week depending on how much I can get away with draining without the parents noticing
(my dad is a little anal about water usage) I dose with either stress coat+ or Seachem Prime.
I feed my cichlids "omega one super color cichlid pellets" and they occasionally get frozen blood worms, brine shrimp, and unsalted defrosted peas at least once a week.
they don't seem to act stressed, in fact they tend to be pretty active, no signs of disease or anything. Their immune systems never seem at all lowered, in fact, they've never been sick, at least not in my possession.
These are the cichlids I have now
2 convicts (glory is a beautiful female, so I guess I may be doing something right with her, and the male seems to change in coloration depending on the mood)
1 firemouth (bland as can be, sometimes you can barely see the fire of his mouth, but he's hardy as hell and has quite the temper when somebody is bugging him. I've had this guy the longest, and he's always been a tad dull in comparison to some I see online)
1 green terror (just got him a couple days ago)
1 jewel (adopted with the 75 gallon tank, its so shy, I can't really tell whether or not it has lost color as well)
right now I've got the convict and GT in a 75 gallon tank, the firemouth and the jewel in the 37 gallon tank (temporary, I'm gonna rehome the jewel and add the firemouth back in the 75 when the GT heals up and the convict recovers from a little malnourishment caused from it cowering in the corner for a month while trying to pair it with the female.)
My pH is somewhere around 7.6-7.8 (a tad high, i know, but I also know I'm not the only one who keeps fish like this alright in such conditions) I keep the water at 77-78 degrees F.
These are the hunches I have:
1. Improper diet, are the omega one pellets junk? What should I feed instead?
2. Not enough decorations, if you guys have seen my tanks, they don't tend to be the most decorated things ever, I recall one of you guys saying my 37 was so "clean looking"
I've been trying to add more and more over time, though.
3. No competition, maybe since in the LFS tanks, they're with loads of their own species, male and female, bickering with each other over mates and such. But when I bring them home with me, they're the only of their kind (in most cases the only cichlid in the tank) so they relax the bright colorations and kinda cool off.
4. Different lighting, I've noticed some light bulbs around that supposedly "enhance" the color of plants and fish. I don't have these bulbs.
all of these are hunches, and I have no idea if they're good hunches or not, but I try to be a little logical.
Any info and advice on this is appreciated. Thanks much
Water stats are always pretty dang close to perfect. 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, usually less than 20 nitrate, but never ever above 30. I do 20% or more water changes a week depending on how much I can get away with draining without the parents noticing
(my dad is a little anal about water usage) I dose with either stress coat+ or Seachem Prime. I feed my cichlids "omega one super color cichlid pellets" and they occasionally get frozen blood worms, brine shrimp, and unsalted defrosted peas at least once a week.
they don't seem to act stressed, in fact they tend to be pretty active, no signs of disease or anything. Their immune systems never seem at all lowered, in fact, they've never been sick, at least not in my possession.
These are the cichlids I have now
2 convicts (glory is a beautiful female, so I guess I may be doing something right with her, and the male seems to change in coloration depending on the mood)
1 firemouth (bland as can be, sometimes you can barely see the fire of his mouth, but he's hardy as hell and has quite the temper when somebody is bugging him. I've had this guy the longest, and he's always been a tad dull in comparison to some I see online)
1 green terror (just got him a couple days ago)
1 jewel (adopted with the 75 gallon tank, its so shy, I can't really tell whether or not it has lost color as well)
right now I've got the convict and GT in a 75 gallon tank, the firemouth and the jewel in the 37 gallon tank (temporary, I'm gonna rehome the jewel and add the firemouth back in the 75 when the GT heals up and the convict recovers from a little malnourishment caused from it cowering in the corner for a month while trying to pair it with the female.)
My pH is somewhere around 7.6-7.8 (a tad high, i know, but I also know I'm not the only one who keeps fish like this alright in such conditions) I keep the water at 77-78 degrees F.
These are the hunches I have:
1. Improper diet, are the omega one pellets junk? What should I feed instead?
2. Not enough decorations, if you guys have seen my tanks, they don't tend to be the most decorated things ever, I recall one of you guys saying my 37 was so "clean looking"
I've been trying to add more and more over time, though. 3. No competition, maybe since in the LFS tanks, they're with loads of their own species, male and female, bickering with each other over mates and such. But when I bring them home with me, they're the only of their kind (in most cases the only cichlid in the tank) so they relax the bright colorations and kinda cool off.
4. Different lighting, I've noticed some light bulbs around that supposedly "enhance" the color of plants and fish. I don't have these bulbs.
all of these are hunches, and I have no idea if they're good hunches or not, but I try to be a little logical.
Any info and advice on this is appreciated. Thanks much
