Meanest Cichlids (kinds of tropical fish for those that don't know)

[trmiv]

<<
BTW, is there any sure way to pick out a male peacock when they are young and colorless? I play this guessing game, and most of the time I end with a bunch of grey fish. >>



Good question I wish I knew the answer. I have never had any luck picking out juvenile peacocks that turn into beautiful males. I have an Aulonocara Nyassae in my tank that had some purple on him as a youngster, thought he had promise. Well, two years later he or she is still a gray colorless fish. I did have two awesome OB Peacocks, but one was slaughtered by my Zebra, and the other recently died when I had to move the tank to recarpet the house.

 

[ratkil]

The pike ciclids are a neat fish, I had one of those before I graduated to the big guy, a snakehead

 

[xyyz]

a snake head? what's that? you have the scientific name?

As for those of you that keep african cichlids, do you condition the water?

Also, with red devils, how do you determine the sex? Is it the bump on the head or is it the elongated dorsal fin?

Pikes are Illegal in Texas? That's a new one...

And what's the deal with plecos... no matter which fish I had, noone would mess with the plecos... they are docile, but they are fearless.

 

[ratkil]

one evil hungry fish

Very cool, but kind of a bummer as it is very hard to keep anything with them. They do pretty well with other fish until they get hungry (about 2 or 3 hours lol) then they eat them. I had one that was about 18 inches long and he would easily eat 8-10 large goldfish every two days amazing, plus they have no real solid waste. They also can only breathe air not under water, so they can survive out of water for a long time.

 

[xyyz]

<< You know what are aggressive but people rarely think of them as being aggressive? The saltwater Domino Damsel fish. When those things get bigger, they get super territorial. In the wild they are known to attack divers to protect their territory. And while working at the pet store, they used to attack my hands while I clean the tanks. They aren't that big, but they aren't scared of anything. >>



I believe damsels are distant cousins to the cichlids.

 

[tigerbait]

<< As for those of you that keep african cichlids, do you condition the water? >>



I use Novaqua to remove chlorine and stuff, then add Seachem Cichlid Lake Salt, and Lake Malawi Buffer.



Has anyone ever used live plants with African cichlids? I have never tried, but my friend has excess of plant growth going on in his tank, and he wants me to take some of them.

 

[ratkil]

Check out this story

That would be pretty wild, they are supposed to be awesome eating, a search on the internet will bring up all kinds of recipes.

 

[trmiv]

<<
I use Novaqua to remove chlorine and stuff, then add Seachem Cichlid Lake Salt, and Lake Malawi Buffer. >>



Hey that sounds like me, except I use amquel. But I use both the Seachem Cichlid Lake Salt and the Lake Malawi Buffer, good stuff.





<< Has anyone ever used live plants with African cichlids? I have never tried, but my friend has excess of plant growth going on in his tank, and he wants me to take some of them. >>



If you want plants with holes in them, go ahead. Most Malawin African Cichlids are algae feeders, so they will nip at the plants to get algae off them, and end up ripping the plants in the process. I tried to put one in once to see how it went, and they dug it up and tore it up in a few days. But, no plants is like their natural habitat though. I don't know if you've seen underwater shots of the rift lakes, but they are pretty barren. Tons of rock formations, but not a lot of plant growth.

 

[tigerbait]

So if I get the plants for free, I might as well put them in the tank and give the fish a little changeup to their diet. I feed pellets ( HBH African Cichlid Attack)

What do you people feed your africans?

 

[xyyz]

<< So if I get the plants for free, I might as well put them in the tank and give the fish a little changeup to their diet. I feed pellets ( HBH African Cichlid Attack)

What do you people feed your africans? >>



Plants are not easy to maintain. The pH level for the african cichlids might not be suitable for the plants.

Also you'll need alot of light in the proper end of the spectrum as well as some sort of CO2 diffuser. The amount of CO2 the fish produce durring oxygen exchange isn't enough for the plants.

The advantage of natural plants is that they look amazing... but they are difficult to maintain. Also, most plants aren't even true underwater plants to begin with, so they grow awkwardly.

 

[tigerbait]

Ok, so no live plants. What is the best way to aquascape? My tank is pretty bland right now. Got three big lava rock chunks (are these safe), a large piece of driftwood, and a few plastic plants. I'm running an undergravel filter, so I didn't think it would be wise to put big rocks all over the gravel bed, as that would probably restrict water flow.

 

[xyyz]

<< Ok, so no live plants. What is the best way to aquascape? My tank is pretty bland right now. Got three big lava rock chunks (are these safe), a large piece of driftwood, and a few plastic plants. I'm running an undergravel filter, so I didn't think it would be wise to put big rocks all over the gravel bed, as that would probably restrict water flow. >>



Live plants and under gravel filters don't mix...

Live plants beat plastic ones hands down though. If you have another tank consider putting plants in that... yuo can pot them, a nice mix of medium sized gravel, some peat moss, something called &quot;Laterite&quot; and 14 hours of PROPER light will make them thrive... the only problem is that the plant light is pretty dim because they output the frequencies required for photosynthesis.

it would be wise to look into a co2 difuser as well... this helps not only the plants but it mellows out the hard minerals in the water (peat moss will also do that).

the other advantage of plants is they use up the nitrogen in the fish waste as food... so they add to the filtration.

if you have an extra tank and wanna try your luck... you'll love the planted tank...

when i was really big into the plant thing, all my money went to buying and maintaining the plants... not on the fish.

 

[xyyz]

anyone else have pictures of their fish? i wanna see some the ones some of you have described.