New Cichlid owner

[Popplefish]

Hello! I bought a 55 gallon tank off Craigslist and it came fully stocked. I'm suddenly the proud owner of 3 rusty cichlids, 3 yellow lab cichlids, 1 bumble bee cichlid, 4 Boesemani rainbows and 7 zebra danios. I've had a lot of experience with the tropical community fish etc. and planted tanks etc. but I've never had any cichlid experience. I know that my cichlids are Mbuna and therefore like lots of rock niches, so I set up the tank that way, but I'm not sure what else to do for them to make them happy.

The tank has both a powerfilter and a canister filter, and I'm trying to keep the water around 80 degrees or so. Any help would be great, as I've never done this before.

Thanks,
PF

 

[JRB__]

Hello! I bought a 55 gallon tank off Craigslist and it came fully stocked. I'm suddenly the proud owner of 3 rusty cichlids, 3 yellow lab cichlids, 1 bumble bee cichlid, 4 Boesemani rainbows and 7 zebra danios. I've had a lot of experience with the tropical community fish etc. and planted tanks etc. but I've never had any cichlid experience. I know that my cichlids are Mbuna and therefore like lots of rock niches, so I set up the tank that way, but I'm not sure what else to do for them to make them happy.

The tank has both a powerfilter and a canister filter, and I'm trying to keep the water around 80 degrees or so. Any help would be great, as I've never done this before.

Thanks,
PF

All of the cichlids really need to be in groups of 4-5 minimum each or you may have aggression issues. Your danios are your biggest issue IMO. They'll be bullied and attacked, if not eaten. And you'll have to keep the water warm for the rusty's, to warm for the danios.

 

[Doomhed]

you might as well write those danios off if you can't give them away. As soon as those cichlids get a little bigger they are toast. I also recommend smallish top gravel so that you can watch them move things around. The coolest thing about African cichlids is that they like to do their own gardening/decorating.

I used to keep mine at about 75 to slow their growth a little. Feed them a little less to compensate for the lower body temp. This will also help your filtration.

 

[Popplefish]

The danios

The danios are around 3 inches long and seem to be fine with the cichlids. The largest cichlid is one of the rustys at around 5 inches long. The danios/rainbows swim in the upper half and the cichlids swim in the lower half and seem to be fine.

What should I do about lighting? The tank seems very active with just a two-ballasted CFL, normal ones that I use in my lamps around the house. Do the Mbuna's need lower lighting? And the tank is staying at around 80 degrees.

Thanks for all your help,
PF

 

[Newman]

sounds like those might be giant danios? or very old zebras..

 

[Popplefish]

The tank has been established for years and the previous owners had raised all their cichlids from fry that they had bred themselves, so it's possible that the danios are really old.

 

[Doomhed]

well, giant danios would be better able to fend off the cichlids due to a more agressive temperment. Those would have to be at least 5 year old zebras or older to get that big.

 

[Popplefish]

I finally got to a Fish Store and they are indeed giant danios, big ones. I know almost nothing about Danios.

 

[jamiejay09]

danios..

i used to have 5 zebra danios with 3 goldfish, they grew alot bigger than what they were when i bought them.