Moving Over To African Chiclids.

HI all, I’m a long way off this but looking to do as much reasearch as I can before jumping in. I’ve been keeping freshwater tropicals for a couple or years now and would love to move over to African chiclids from Malawi. (Stunning colours). very active fish from what I have seen so far. First question is will I regrets this, is it more difficultt?

My plan is to upgrade my exciting 125 litre tank to a 496 litre (109 UK gallon) tank measuring 60 x 24 x 24.
Filtration. I’ve had good experience with fluval so was looking along the fx6 range.
Would this be adequate? Would you recommend something else? Substrate would be coral sand with plenty of rocks for hiding places etc. Lighting I’m still undecided on so any advise would be appreciated. also is it a good idea to have some sort of power head in there?

So through the reasearch I’ve been doing there are 3 types that intrigue me and that’s mbuna haps and peacocks.
Are they best to kept in there own so types? Would they all work in a tank of my proposed size?

I’m mainly looking for an explosion of colour! in everyone’s experiences what works the best? are there any fish I should avoid any that are a must. And if you had a tank of this size what would you do? And stocking sounds a bit different to what I’m used to with freshwater. You over stock? Is that right?

Apologies to go on and on but would like to know as much as I can before jumping in and getting a new tank. If there is anything I’ve missed off or you think I should be aware of I’d love to know.

Thanks

 

Hello. Let’s get some peeps in here. cichlid4life BringKermitBack Dave125g max h any thoughts you’d love to share? Please?

 

African cichlids are not really my thing I'm into the more peacfull south Americans.
Africans are quite beautiful but can be tough to stock.

 

African cichlids are not really my thing I'm into the more peacfull south Americans.
Africans are quite beautiful but can be tough to stock.

You are awesome. Thank you.

TexasDomer I’ve missed you. Can you help here? Please?

 

One Fx6 should be fine with a few 110 tidal wave HOB filters, for your lighting I would first talk plants, the only plants that won't completely get devoured would be the anubias nana or anubias coffeefolia, if you don't want these plants, then you MUST get fake plants, because if you get any other plant, you might as well say that you threw away 17 dollars into a trash can. Anubias is a great and easy begginner plant that can grow well with some of the most low tech lights that are out there, so the lighting is what ever you want it to be. All lake MalawI cichlids are classified into one of the three main groups: Mbunas, Peacocks (Alonocara), and Haps (Haplochromis). Each should be kept with others of its type: whether it is Haps, Mbunas, or Peacocks. The generally bigger sized fish and the generally more colorful cichlids from lake MalawI are the Haps and the Peacocks. for an explosion of color I would recommend a male only tank of either the Peacocks or of the Haps because when a female is present one will be every colorful while all of the rest are either ratty looking and/or not as colorful as they should be. For the safest posiblilty I would recommend the Haps because unlike some Peacocks, they are all equally aggressive and they are all naturally from the lake and none of them are lab bred fish at all. With Peacocks, some like the Blotch cichlids are lab bred, meaning that humans created them and tht they are much more aggressive than the rest of the Peacock cichlids that exist in the wild.

 

One Fx6 should be fine with a few 110 tidal wave HOB filters, for your lighting I would first talk plants, the only plants that won't completely get devoured would be the anubias nana or anubias coffeefolia, if you don't want these plants, then you MUST get fake plants, because if you get any other plant, you might as well say that you threw away 17 dollars into a trash can. Anubias is a great and easy begginner plant that can grow well with some of the most low tech lights that are out there, so the lighting is what ever you want it to be. All lake MalawI cichlids are classified into one of the three main groups: Mbunas, Peacocks (Alonocara), and Haps (Haplochromis). Each should be kept with others of its type: whether it is Haps, Mbunas, or Peacocks. The generally bigger sized fish and the generally more colorful cichlids from lake MalawI are the Haps and the Peacocks. for an explosion of color I would recommend a male only tank of either the Peacocks or of the Haps because when a female is present one will be every colorful while all of the rest are either ratty looking and/or not as colorful as they should be. For the safest posiblilty I would recommend the Haps because unlike some Peacocks, they are all equally aggressive and they are all naturally from the lake and none of them are lab bred fish at all. With Peacocks, some like the Blotch cichlids are lab bred, meaning that humans created them and tht they are much more aggressive than the rest of the Peacock cichlids that exist in the wild.

Thank you! Awesomeness.

 

Thank you! Awesomeness.

Thank you, but I don't think awesomeness is a word though.

 

Thank you, but I don't think awesomeness is a word though.

I’m an old blind woman. I can make them up as I go along. Don’t you feel awesomely awesome? That’s got to be the definition of awesomeness.

 

Please don't start saying awsominglyness next... LOL!

 

Please don't start saying awsominglyness next... LOL!

Oh, but I like it.
James 333 what do you think?

 

Just be ready for your tank to be torn apart lol Definitely go with a rock scape. Um... I’ve even had my anubias and all that ripped out. Only thing that wasn’t torn up were my java ferns.

 

I'd do an LED light of some kind for the shimmer effect. Something with colored nodes, not just white and blue. Some come with remotes so you can find the best color. Mixing or not mixing might get you different opinions. I think all 3 can be done, but it might be easier stocking wise to do one or two kinds. Are you doing an all-male display tank or are we getting into gender ratios and breeding?

 

I don't have any experience with African Cichlids, but I do have experience with your tank size. I have a 150 US gallon, I don't remember the conversion between US and Imperal gallons off the top of my head. But my tank is 60x24x24 and you'll love the room. I went with a pair of FX 4's for filtration, since one of those can support the tank on it's own, the other filter is there for emergency backup just in case Murphy wants to come in and start playing with his law. On tanks bigger then about 30 gallons I prefer canister filters over HOB's period, just the shear amount of media that can be used in a canister is a big benefit.

 

Just be ready for your tank to be torn apart lol Definitely go with a rock scape. Um... I’ve even had my anubias and all that ripped out. Only thing that wasn’t torn up were my java ferns.

Well in my tank the opposite happens, the anubias is barely touched and the java fern is in chunks in my filter intakes.

I don't have any experience with African Cichlids, but I do have experience with your tank size. I have a 150 US gallon, I don't remember the conversion between US and Imperal gallons off the top of my head. But my tank is 60x24x24 and you'll love the room. I went with a pair of FX 4's for filtration, since one of those can support the tank on it's own, the other filter is there for emergency backup just in case Murphy wants to come in and start playing with his law. On tanks bigger then about 30 gallons I prefer canister filters over HOB's period, just the shear amount of media that can be used in a canister is a big benefit.

Although canisters hold way more media, African cichlids live where currents are consantly in the water, so at least one HOB filter should be used to create the "current" in the tank (IMO tidal wave HOB filters are better at creating a current than any of the aquaclear HOB filters can).

 

Thanks for all you’re advice people. Fish wise I am sway towards either haps or peacocks (all male) after speaking with a few people. Is there any you’d strongly recommend or not recommend?
I also don’t plan on having any plants in the tank so I guess lighting will be down to what I prefer the look of leds probably.
I’m not a fan of the hang on back filters so was think maybe two fx4’s as with wave maker power head to create the current .

 

Thanks for all you’re advice people. Fish wise I am sway towards either haps or peacocks (all male) after speaking with a few people. Is there any you’d strongly recommend or not recommend?
I also don’t plan on having any plants in the tank so I guess lighting will be down to what I prefer the look of leds probably.
I’m not a fan of the hang on back filters so was think maybe two fx4’s as with wave maker power head to create the current .

Sorry that I wasn't specific enough, you need a surface current, not just a general water current. you need a HOB filter to create surface current, not a power head to create water current.

 

Really here's 2 pictures of the surface current created by 2 different canister filters in 2 different tanks.

 

I only see a raise in one area, not throughout the tank.

 

The two tanks are 150 and 100 gallon tanks It's really hard to get a picture to show the whole surface. The 150 has a pair of FX 4's in it each of those filters have 2 outlet nozzles a piece, one point up towards the surface the other point slightly downward. The 100 gallon is also a 5' long tank with a pair of Magnaflow 360's and a wood canopy, both their outlet nozzles are pointed towards the surface. And each tank is also outfitted with chiller units, their water pumps are rated at 700 GPH and the nozzles can be adjusted any direction I wish.

 

Anyways, I would recommend HOB filters because they create larger surface currents than any canister filter may do because the water comes out from a very wide opening versus a small opening, and HOB filters can be adjusted to change the speed and the roughness of the flow while canisters can't be adjusted.

 

So with the adjustable HOB filters, say if the filter is rated to be able to push 700 gph to support a tank of 55 gallons. Now you find that the waterfall flow coming out of the output is to great for your stock. Then you adjust the output flow down, that would mean the input flow is also slowed down, now you have insufficient filtration for that 55 gallon tank. Because that filter will only filter the water going thru it. A jet engine works in a similar fashion at idle speed the engine only needs x amount of air to be compressed and fuel added in, if the engine goes to full power or afterburner the fuel consumption goes up dramatically as well as the airflow entering the intake.

 

700 gph does not exist, but I did not say that you can't have other filters and that the HOB was the only filter that I said you must use, but instead, I said that it will create the surface current for your tank but I did not say it will do all the filtration, that is up to you of course.

 

There's power heads of well over 1,000GPH the largest HOBs are around 400GPH.

 

700 gph does not exist, but I did not say that you can't have other filters and that the HOB was the only filter that I said you must use, but instead, I said that it will create the surface current for your tank but I did not say it will do all the filtration, that is up to you of course.

The 700 gph in a HOB was a theoretical example, if running at it's highest setting if the lowest output setting was only half of that then it's a 350 GPH filter. What you"re telling me is an HOB filter is the only filter capable of creating a surface current. They do create a surface current as the water flows down from the filter output, hardly imitation a flowing river, unless there's some type of drop like small waterfalls. Where I did show you a surface current is can also be accomplished with just a canister filter. Each filter type have strong points and weak points, there is no perfect filter around.

 

The 700 gph in a HOB was a theoretical example, if running at it's highest setting if the lowest output setting was only half of that then it's a 350 GPH filter. What you"re telling me is an HOB filter is the only filter capable of creating a surface current. They do create a surface current as the water flows down from the filter output, hardly imitation a flowing river, unless there's some type of drop like small waterfalls. Where I did show you a surface current is can also be accomplished with just a canister filter. Each filter type have strong points and weak points, there is no perfect filter around.

But the HOB is adjustable, and 350 gph is still extreme over filtration for just one 55 gallon tank. this is still off topic, lets just go back to topic.

 

But the HOB is adjustable, and 350 gph is still extreme over filtration for just one 55 gallon tank. this is still off topic, lets just go back to topic.

I was using a 55 as a theoretical tank once again. And actually no 350 gph isn't extreme. My 55 has a pair of canisters that filter 360 gph each, the fish are more then happy.

 

I was using a 55 as a theoretical tank once again. And actually no 350 gph isn't extreme. My 55 has a pair of canisters that filter 360 gph each, the fish are more then happy.

yeah but the filtration is sort of put to waste since it cost lots of money, and you put it on a tank that doesn't need all of the filtration that it has.

 

I was using a 55 as a theoretical tank once again. And actually no 350 gph isn't extreme. My 55 has a pair of canisters that filter 360 gph each, the fish are more then happy.

Agree there. On a 55 gallon you'd really need 550 GPH from an HOB.

 

Here's the real simple answer for being so over filtered on the 55 gallon tank. It's an overflow tank right now to keep some fish in but really only needs on 360 on it. It has two so just in case the larger tanks have a filter go down there's a cycled filter ready to go. Now as far as the current goes a HOB that does 400 gph should have as much current as a canister at 400 gph, it's the direction of the current that may change.

 

Here's the real simple answer for being so over filtered on the 55 gallon tank. It's an overflow tank right now to keep some fish in but really only needs on 360 on it. It has two so just in case the larger tanks have a filter go down there's a cycled filter ready to go. Now as far as the current goes a HOB that does 400 gph should have as much current as a canister at 400 gph, it's the direction of the current that may change.

but only HOB filters can create the wider currents when the canisters can only create a long jet of waterthat creates a rather small current.

 

but only HOB filters can create the wider currents when the canisters can only create a long jet of waterthat creates a rather small current.

Some of the canisters have spray bar attachments to spread out the out flow.

 

Some of the canisters have spray bar attachments to spread out the out flow.

although I guess that would help with a surface current, but I haven't seen any of that kind at any of my LFS here in Georgia (at least not yet).

 

although I guess that would help with a surface current, but I haven't seen any of that kind at any of my LFS here in Georgia (at least not yet).

Personally I prefer HOBs but I know the sun sun Canister comes with the spray bar. I would think the better canisters would also.

 

Sun sun, never heard of it!

 

Sun sun, never heard of it!

It's a less costly brand, but pretty good from what I hear.