33Gl Firemouth Cichlids

[marc-olivier]

Hi all, I running a 33Gl for one week now and wondering about the fish I will put into it. First, I plan to add some fish from my other 15Gl tank!
Fish I plan to move:
- Pearl Gourami couple
- One Plecos Clown
- Maybe 6 Cherry Barbs

So still have some place for American Cichlids! I Saw the Firemouth, this big nice fish and want to know if he can Fit with my Gouramis or Small fish?
You think I'll be able to add other Cichlid like Ram or Apistogramma or Keyhole Cichlid?

I Also test my water and according to Cichlid Info I will need to lower a bit my PH and make my water harder... But now I am not sure how I will do that? And did harder water will raise my PH?

 

[1077]

What is your pH? I would not mess with the ph if I could keep from it. Apistogramma,and Rams would prefer(need) soft acidic water with pH values of 6.0 to 6.8 in my view for their long term health and for breeding activities. The gourami and cherry barbs are not a good fit with the Firemouth compatibility wise, but would fair well in neutral or basic pH values of 7.0 to around 7.8 if acclimated slowly. In my opinion it is always better to keep fish that do well in the water most easily and readily available to you ,as opposed to trying to adjust water to suit the fish. Many ,Many, fish are killed in this often futile effort. Once you gain a better understanding of chemical aspects of maintainig water quality,, then perhaps you can try setting up tank ,or tanks ,for fish who require water other than what you have readily available. I would resist the urge to try the many pH up or down products until I had a firm grasp on how they might affect the fish. Stable ph values are always better than fluctuating parameters for ALL tropical fish.

 

[jo3olous]

Hi all, I running a 33Gl for one week now and wondering about the fish I will put into it. First, I plan to add some fish from my other 15Gl tank!
Fish I plan to move:
- Pearl Gourami couple
- One Plecos Clown
- Maybe 6 Cherry Barbs

So still have some place for American Cichlids! I Saw the Firemouth, this big nice fish and want to know if he can Fit with my Gouramis or Small fish?
You think I'll be able to add other Cichlid like Ram or Apistogramma or Keyhole Cichlid?
I Also test my water and according to Cichlid Info I will need to lower a bit my PH and make my water harder... But now I am not sure how I will do that? And did harder water will raise my PH?

Firemouth? No. The smaller cichlids, maybe.

 

[marc-olivier]

Adjustment

Thank you! Right-O better with smaller cichlids. But I still need to lower my PH because it's 7,6 now. For now I have no fish so it's time to make adjustment and I want to do it with natural things. For now I have 3 medium roots in my 33gl tank. I saw from Seachem American cichlid salt and want to know if someone use it and if it could help me?

I also run my tank since 2 weeks and my nitrite stay very low no changes.. I use Purigen from Seachem to block amoniac but im asking if this thing is to good it block my first cycle to be done? or slow it down a lot?

 

[unwritten law]

don't mess with your pH....... if you want add driftwood to slowly lower it... but that's it...

 

[Matt Nace]

You have no fish in this tank..so it is uncycled? You need to either cycle it with a few fish or do a fishless cycle.

I would not mess with the PH.
If you want to reduce hardness,you would need to mix R/o water with your water to get the water softer. You would have to do this with everywater change and if you top off it would have to be with R/o water.

You dont need to use Purigen. Do a water change on a regular basis and save your money. If you have ammonia in your tap/well water buy a conditioner to make it not harmful before adding it to the tank.