billyh

hi I am just starting a big cichlid tank..have eheim 2215 and AC 100..used an active filter and sand and put in 8 yellows right away it was good for a week after tesitng then added 4 more yellows and 6 cyaneorhabdos/maingano..so far all well .....i am going to wait a bit then retest.i also have some bigger live pants and hoping they do well as they were from a tank full of cichlids....question is i am thinking of adding more fish when i build up rocks more and retest water
woudl accei or demasoni or cobalts be ok to add to the mix maybe 6 of each
adding one species at a time?
i know as a general rule no peackocks but is there anything i coudl add with some size etc as my are all still juevenilles
thanks

x leper x

hi billyh

Demasoni are agressive and should be kept in higher numbers - at least 12 i think.
you need to be careful about cross breeding too.

steveangela is the cichlid expert, she should be along soon.

lew2000

billyh - i would recomend that you up the amount of fitration you currently have IMHO. The 2215 - once you add media and then factor in the deivery head(tubing system) you might only have about 90-100gph turnover; which means that you are turning the voulme of water in your tank over maybe once an hour. Never having kept cichlids - but i understand (maybe incorrectly) that they are somewhat messy fish, heavy eaters - which means alot comes out the other end as well as diggers, you will need additional filtration. imho, you should at least have filtration that turns over the mean tank volume approx. eight times to ten times, with the more the better. You probably will require filtration (bio and mechanical) somewhere around 900gph or more to have adequate filtration.

If i am not mistaken - the ac100 is a 65w bulb system. Even for low light plants you will need approx. 2-3w per gallon, as a rule of thumb. for mid light plants you will need approx. 3-5/6w per gallon. Just a rule of thumb, because depending upon depth of tank, etc., you get into this issue of lumens, wavelengths of the spectrum, etc.

billyh

doesnt the ac 110 filter on top of that?

lew2000

sorry i was thinking of the ac lighting system. what type of filter is that? Do you know what the GPH is rated at? when mfgr rate their filters they are at optimum operation so you are always going to less then stated gph.

billyh

its aqua clear
its rated to 110 gallons and i knwo that is high as they exagerate
not srue wht it is per hour so not overly worried the guy i bought them from runs the same on his tanks which is same size
between the two i think they total rate for 190 gallon tank or so gallons so 135 should be ok i hope

lew2000

I hope you are right; probably a little less than than 190gph; your 2215 is probably about 90gph, and your AC is about 75gph. Just a thought, i can't help but be curiuos with this - was his tank stocked the way you are going to stock yours - with cichlids etc., and the same numbers of fish? Even though his tank looks fine - are his values: ammonia/nitrite etc. as they should be? 0/0ppm. Interesting if they are.

billyh

his was stocked much much more heavily
ihave jevenilles he told me that he has around 40 2-4 inch ones and when i saw it when i bought my tank i would guess at least 30 that day adn much larger than mine
time will tell
his was very very heavily planted too liek 4 timees what i have adn he has had them for some time so assume he knew what he was doing as he had tanks everywhere in the room including sting rays which looked pretty cool in a huge tank
thanks for the help
cant say i know what his levels were as i jsut looked t tanked and asked a few questions when i bought his tank

Angela_96

I would advise against plants with mbuna they are awlful with plants as they are herbivores and they dig a lot.

Aboud 6+ demonsoni would be good, you could also ad 6 cobalts and get by with it. Thats 4 groups of mbuna and for a 125g tank that is a good stock.
Try to limit your males to 1 per group, with the exception of the labs you co uld have 3 and the rest female with 12 of them in the group.

I do advise heavy filitrtation, I would ad a spray bar to the canister and another HOB filter, I use the 350 biowheels on my larger tanks along with eheims and my largest one is a 58g. I would do some twice weekly waterchanges as well. Stack lots of rocks for hiding spots so they have their little "caves".

billyh

tahnks i have some rocks adn adding more as i add fish too

i am nervous bout plants and puttng rocks at base but who knows cant hurt to try
when i hae all the fish i will do lots of changes