been awhile, but im back

U

UGAfan2001

Large Fish
#1
Jul 23, 2004
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#1
Hey Everyone!
Its been sooo long since Ive gotten the chance to get on here. Ive been raising my little boy, now 6 1/2 months old and crawling and learning to stand up!! Bought a house, 4 BR 2 BA, not too many 21 year olds can say they own there own house so Im pretty happy with that. Doubled in square feet from the old apartment so you know what that means, more room for fish tank stuff, later down the road though. Well when I moved I gave away ALL my fish, and was going to start over, but its been almost three months now and today I've finally managed to get the fish tank inside, its been against the house, I had to clean it extensively. but I rid myself of my Shultz's Aquatic plant soil because with a little one and a wife around I just didnt have time to keep up a planted tank. So what Im wanting to do is just set up the 29 gal
but I need a new hood because I tried DIYing a massive light setup out of the old one, and lets just say Id rather buy a new hood than have to put that mess back together. I moved to a new town and have 3-4 more LFS now
and I'm wanting to start a new cichlid tank. I want some Kribensis' but am new to them since the last town didnt have any. 1st question: How am I to distinguish male and female? 2nd question: Im wanting a cichlid substrate. Which to choose or is there a better type of substrate to use?
3rd question: In a 29 gal tank, what other fish would be suitable with the Kribs? Thanks to all that help, and MAN.... Its great to be back! *BOUNCINGS

Thanks Again,
Brad
 

FroggyFox

FroggyFox

Forum Manager
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#2
May 16, 2003
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#2
haha Geez take a breath man! I think I read that paragraph like it was one long runon sentence. Anyway...good to see you back and congrats on the house and the baby! :)

As for the kribs...um...no idea :) As for the substrate...a lot of cichlids that like do dig like normal plain ol play sand, but I'm sure they would do pretty well with whatever you choose.
 

Orion

Orion

Ultimate Fish
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#4
Feb 10, 2003
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#4
Been a bit busy eh? ;) Sounds like fun.

Male kribs have more elongated dorsal fins and more color to them than females. They also have a 'pointed' tail, similar to the shape of a spade where the females have a more rounder, flat tail.

For a cichlid substrate, do you mean one that will buffer the water to a higher ph? Don't need it with the kribs as they are a riverine species and come from a lower pH than those of the rift lakes. If thats not what you meen, then sand would be fine for them. You can get a 50lbs. bag of play sand for around $3 at Lowes. Much cheaper than the $1 per pound at LFS.

I would be leary of putting anything else along the bottom with breeding kribs. Like most cichlids they can become very teritorial when protecting eggs, and more so when protecting fry. They are excellent parents. The more rocks and teritories, the more likley you are going to be able to house other fish with them. Just about any of the top dwellers should be ok, danio's would be great for this as they would be able to take more of a beating. Each pair can be different as to what they will tolorate, and as bad as i hate to say it, you may have to just experiment to see what works best for your situation.
 

C

Cichlid-Man

MFT Staff
#5
Jul 9, 2003
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#5
Welcome back Brad! Indeed it has been a while. Glad to hear everything is going great and awesome to hear about your son! When you left i believe he was still inside your wife! lol, quite a while.

I'd go with the sand like Orion said, 50lbs for $3-$5 at Lowes, and will prob. have some left over incase another tank comes along ;)
 

U

UGAfan2001

Large Fish
#10
Jul 23, 2004
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#10
oh is there an easy way of rinsing sand? ive always used like a pasta strainer for my gravel and such, but im thinking that sand wont work with that, so is there an easy way of rinsing sand?

Thanks Again
Brad
 

FroggyFox

FroggyFox

Forum Manager
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#11
May 16, 2003
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#11
pillowcase worked well for me...

You have to rinse and rinse and rinse some more...When its ready you should be able to pick up a handful of sand and have it settle within a few seconds. If it doesn't then you didn't rinse well enough :) My first few tanks that I did with sand I never washed enough and ended up doing 3 or 4 (or more) complete water changes to get it clean.
 

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