What To Do?

[pauldredge]

I've been keeping Tropical fish for about 15 years. I've always kept community fish but I'm wanting a change.

Was thinking of going salt water with marine but the cost of the setup is putting me off.

Always fancied discus fish but will they be to similar to what I've always kept.

Should I go for a malawi cichlid tank setup. Just a little put off as I'll be limited to only sticking to Malawi cichlids.

Heeeellppp me with some ideas of something different and exciting.

 

[Ch4rlie]

Some information would be good, this will help determine what is suitable.
 
Tank size?
Include dimensions of tank.
 
What kind of water do you have, hard or soft?
pH, gH and kH may help also if you have these readings, you can get them from your local water board online.
 
What kind of fish species do you like best?
A few large showy fish or small species in large shoals for example.
 
Sand or gravel substrate?
 
And lastly, do you plan to have a planted tank, if so, low or higher tech type of set up?

 

[pauldredge]

I'm open to what ever. I have a Roma 240 tank which is 3ft but not sure on what by.

Watersays hard when checking online but am from the UK so dont know if that makes any difference.

Currently have larger size gravel but can change that to sand if needs be. Currently fake plants but can go for real plants.

Like said I'm open minded. Just want something different and interesting. I've kept all sorts from guppies, mollies, sharks, Angels, gourimis, dragon goby and your usual community fish. Enjoyed keeping shrimps but they never last long in my experience

 

[CSnyder00]

Discus like heavily planted tanks, which would be a bit tough if you've never done live plants. If you want to try live plants, you can do that, but you would be committing yourself to a lot of work. Africans can be fun, but you need other tanks to rehome someone if they get beat up. And finding the right number of cichlids for a tank can be a delicate balance. What about dwarf cichlids like Apistos or Kribs? Maybe some Shell Dwellers? You can have most of that shipped in if you don't have them readily available. They typically like sand substrate.

 

[pauldredge]

Have kept live plants before so having them again isn't going to be a problem.

Seems to be alot of cichlids for sale around my area so swaying towards them.

 

[Baccus]

A lot of cichlids for sale in your area could mean bad news for you, namely that the fish have been ready breeders and the sellers are now having trouble off loading the excess stock, which in turn could be a problem for you unless you went with an all male display.
 
If previously you have kept commuity type fish, what if you went with a biotype say Asian or South American, making the tank as close to the fishes natural habitat as possible.
 
Or you could go with odd ball fish that arent necessarily community, like African Butterfly, Leaf fish, Golden Panchax and something really odd like spiney eel.
 
Or go along another line entirely and have a go a Killifish.

 

[Akasha72]

Hi Paul ... firstly I'd agree with ch4rlie, you need to know what the water is like in your area as it does matter. Where I am in the U.K the water is naturally very soft and acidic so I keep South American cichlids, tetra's, harlequins and cories (mostly, you can see my full stock in my sig) They thrive in the water I have. 
 
If your water company are saying the water in your area is 'hard' then look towards fish that prefer hard water.
 
There are tricks to soften hard water for soft water loving fish but it often means making things hard on yourself but getting into RO water etc.
 
Can I also say that a 3ft tank is a bit small for Discus. They get big and are better kept in a larger tank. I had a pair of breeding angels in a 3ft tank for a while and it really was pushing the limits. The reason they didn't stay in the 3ft was it just wasn't big enough for them once they got into full breeding mode. They kept bouncing off the tank walls and it didn't feel right to keep them in there.  

 

[Essjay]

 I have a Roma 240 tank which is 3ft but not sure on what by.
 

 
 
If the tank actually is a Fluval Roma 240 it is bigger than 3ft. Looking on-line, the measurements are 120cm long (47 inches) x 40cm wide (15.7 inches) x 55cm tall (21.7 inches).
 
The Roma 200 is 100cm long, a bit over 3ft.

 

[Chad]

I suggest you go for marine. Just don't buy into the gadgets and high end equipment that isn't really required for a fish only tank. If you don't plan on keeping reef, then a marine set up can be quite affordable, at least on par with cichlid or discus. 

 

[RobRocksFishTank]

African cichlids are a fine choice. Not much interest at this site but they are quite popular and that may explain the abundance. On store I worked at devoted about 1/4 of their 700+ tanks to African lake cichlids. There are few diseases that affect them. Some have vibrant colors not usually found in freshwater fish. Although biotype tanks are popular, you do not have to stick with just one lake but compatibility must be kept in check.

 

[CSnyder00]

I do like African set-ups if they are done right. A lot of them are not and turn out to be nightmares because the keepers are id-10-ts and end up with non-compatible take mates or with cichlids that have different hiding needs and different space requirements. Not all africans would be suitable to just throw together. Much planning needs to be done.

 

[RobRocksFishTank]

I do like African set-ups if they are done right. A lot of them are not and turn out to be nightmares because the keepers are id-10-ts and end up with non-compatible take mates or with cichlids that have different hiding needs and different space requirements. Not all africans would be suitable to just throw together. Much planning needs to be done.

 
The same thing could be said for any type of set-up. I've seen more than my fair share of nightmare set-ups and Africans do not have a monopoly on them. In fact it has nothing to do with the type of fish. It has to do with the fish keeper.
 
Generalities suck. They are usually too general or not general enough. This one was the later.

 

[pauldredge]

Agree with marine setup but the though if spending about £200 on live rocks and £60 on water just makes me think against it. The live sand, skimmer and t5 lights as the Roma tank has t8 fitted.

Where as discus or cichlids I can use my exact same setup with maybe spending a little bit on some changes or live plants.

 

[Baccus]

There is a world renound discus breeder in the UK he has won all sorts of awards for his fish, and he doesnt even use RO water.  Might be worth looking him up. His  company name is Chen's Discus http/www.chensdiscus.co.uk/ .