Stocking a 55 gallon fish tank

[ConchRepublic]

Quote:
I was setting up an african cichlid tank in my 55, but ran out of funds so had to scratch it. Here some stuff I learned about them:

*there are 2 kinds: South American (Oscar, Angelfish, Jack Dempsies, Rams, and the like) and Africans (usually very bright in color)

*the Africans are dereived into groups, mainly by which lake the come from (Malawi, Tanganyika, and Victoria) but there are also other Africans who don't come from these

*South American Cichlids require low to neutral pH while Africans require higher than 7pH (8.0-8.2 typically)

to set up for Africans, is best to used crushed coral as a substrate and have limestone rocks, most african cichlids come from extremely rocky environments. These 2 things raise the pH of the water as well, so you don't need to alter it as much.

To try to get lower pH for South Americans, you can add drift wood to the tank, and peat moss to the filter. These will lower pH, but also add tannins to the water which will stain it tea color (I like this, but I prefer natural looking environments)

Hope this helps at all

 

[Intheswamp]

Quote:

I found a use for my 30 long with snake lid! (wife HATES snakes)


I good amazon tank is extremely colorful, but pricy. It's a lot cheaper to set up a cichlid tank. If you can find a way to hook up a sump tank you could do saltwater, but that costs more than an amazon tank (the parts alone are in the hundreds, and the fish are not far behind)

Why ya gotta have a sump pump? Years ago I ran a 55T (later downsizing to a 30L) with basic undergravels and basket filter...worked pretty good. Had them full of liverock and all kinds of invertebrates....oh, and some fish!!!

Yelp, cichlids are neat. I kept a pair of Oscars for several years...would eat out of my hand. If you get oscars be sure and have a secure top on the tank that they can't push up. One night a strange slapping noise woke me up. I went into the living room where the fish were and there was one of the oscars laying on the floor flopping around a bit. The other oscar was looking out through the glass like "so what's it like out there?". I reached down to pick the land-lubbing oscar up and it went completely limp...didn't flinch, didn't flip, nothing. I lowered it back into the and it slowly swam off like nothing happened kinda like "see, I told you I could get him to come in here!", as the other oscar looked on.

Africans are pretty, what's been said about their colors are true...some very vivid colors for fresh water fish...can be mean little suckers, though! As I recall the Africans they take a rocky environment.

Whatever the case....have fun!!!!
Ed

 

[Intheswamp]

Quote:
I was setting up an african cichlid tank in my 55, but ran out of funds so had to scratch it. Here some stuff I learned about them:

*there are 2 kinds: South American (Oscar, Angelfish, Jack Dempsies, Rams, and the like) and Africans (usually very bright in color)

*the Africans are dereived into groups, mainly by which lake the come from (Malawi, Tanganyika, and Victoria) but there are also other Africans who don't come from these

*South American Cichlids require low to neutral pH while Africans require higher than 7pH (8.0-8.2 typically)

to set up for Africans, is best to used crushed coral as a substrate and have limestone rocks, most african cichlids come from extremely rocky environments. These 2 things raise the pH of the water as well, so you don't need to alter it as much.

To try to get lower pH for South Americans, you can add drift wood to the tank, and peat moss to the filter. These will lower pH, but also add tannins to the water which will stain it tea color (I like this, but I prefer natural looking environments)

Hope this helps at all

<chuckle> I write to slow. <grin>
Don't the Africans come from mountain lakes?
Ed

 

[gritsar]

Here's a site I used to refer to alot back when I had time for aquariums.
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/

 

[Intheswamp]

Quote:
Your making me feel

, gritstar. When I had cichlids nobody had the internet, mostly just bulletin boards. If you didn't find it in a book, well...you didn't find it.

Ed

 

[ConchRepublic]

Quote:

I found a use for my 30 long with snake lid! (wife HATES snakes)


I good amazon tank is extremely colorful, but pricy. It's a lot cheaper to set up a cichlid tank. If you can find a way to hook up a sump tank you could do saltwater, but that costs more than an amazon tank (the parts alone are in the hundreds, and the fish are not far behind)

Why ya gotta have a sump pump? Years ago I ran a 55T (later downsizing to a 30L) with basic undergravels and basket filter...worked pretty good. Had them full of liverock and all kinds of invertebrates....oh, and some fish!!!

Yelp, cichlids are neat. I kept a pair of Oscars for several years...would eat out of my hand. If you get oscars be sure and have a secure top on the tank that they can't push up. One night a strange slapping noise woke me up. I went into the living room where the fish were and there was one of the oscars laying on the floor flopping around a bit. The other oscar was looking out through the glass like "so what's it like out there?". I reached down to pick the land-lubbing oscar up and it went completely limp...didn't flinch, didn't flip, nothing. I lowered it back into the and it slowly swam off like nothing happened kinda like "see, I told you I could get him to come in here!", as the other oscar looked on.

Africans are pretty, what's been said about their colors are true...some very vivid colors for fresh water fish...can be mean little suckers, though! As I recall the Africans they take a rocky environment.

Whatever the case....have fun!!!!
Ed

I don't like undergravels, they actually make it worse to clean the tank. I always used skimmers and a 3 layer filter on saltwater tanks. Normally, on standard 55 gallon tanks there isn't enough room for all that along with the lights, might be just mine though.

 

[bagendhens]

most aficans prefer rocky tanks (you can set it up to look like a reef for a cheaper salt water effect) however the peackocks (who are a little more peacefull) will do well in a mix of "rock" and plants.
generally cichlids are territorial...

for my tank i simply stopped at a craft store and "bought" some terracotta pots and the terracotta drip trays for the pottoms of the pots of various sizes big enough for my cichlids, i choose the ones that were damaged, some were simply chipped, others were well cracked with peices out of them and then asked the manager if i could have a discount on the broken ones..., i got 7 pots and 2 drip ones for free!, i then took alook at the silk plants section where i found some realy cool looking plants, (check for wires as any metal will eventually rust) these were on clearance...i had to be creative in weighing them down as unlike silks designed for tanks these didnt have based, but i simply wedged them well between the pots as i was stacking things.
i spent $1 total on the plants., they too were steralized in the dishwasher.

once clean i took the pots carefully cracked some larger holes, arragned by stacking them in various ways untill i found something i like...
i didnt use crushed coral as my water is rather hard naturally and didnt need any adjusting, so instead just a black sand (I love the bright colors of the fish against the black substrait
a simple HOB filter thats rated for larger than the tank (I alwsya go a little bigger on the filter, standard lighting a heater and tada im done...

point being you dont have to spend a fortune on the fancy rocks in the fish store to set up a good looking cichlid tank, i couldnt belive how much per lb some of them were going for...

 

[MomtoSyd&Emma]

We have Parrot Fish in our tank and its very nice looking! I use this link alot to sorta get an idea of what I like

http://www.elmersaquarium.com/c106communityinfo.htm

 

[PeepsInc]

I use my 55 gallion as a chick brooder.

...What else would you put in it?

 

[duckluck]

Quote:
Gotta have a pleco, whatever else you get!