Finally, I am a Cichlid owner.

[fishfloater]

Finally, I am a Cichlid owner. *Update

Well after about 3 months of building and waiting for my tank to cycle, I picked up my first set of Cichlids last night. These guys definately have personality. One of the Kenyi's picked a cave so far. All the other fish have been just goofing around getting used to the tank.

2-Kenyi
4-Yellow Labs.

 

[Orion]

Congrats!

Tank looks good too btw!

 

[fishfloater]

Thanks Orion. Unfortunately my camera makes the stand look orange.

Oh gotta update my sig.

 

[fishfloater]

Also i need some advice on food. I picked up this stuff. http://www.petsmart.com/global/prod...<>ast_id=2534374302023693&bmUID=1121276653619

They wouldnt touch it. Then I gave them some regular old Tropical Fish Food flakes and they were all over it.

 

[phOOey]

Your fish look really vibrant and health, and your tank looks great too!

cant help with the food thing though.

 

[Orion]

Well it will take fish a while to adjust to new food. Mabey sneak a little bit in as you feed with the flakes to help them get used to the new stuff. Also give them time to adjust to there new enviornment as well.

I feed OSI cichlid staple, and NLS premium and am very pleased with both.

 

[fishfloater]

Thanks for the input guys. I think I'm going to go with the NLS. I see a lot of people recommend it. Now I just have to find it.

 

[Fish Friend]

those fish look in very good health, love the way the rocks are set out at the back so the fish can actually swim at the front

 

[fishfloater]

those fish look in very good health, love the way the rocks are set out at the back so the fish can actually swim at the front

Thanks FF. While my tank was cycling, I kept stopping by the LFS's to scope out the cichlid tanks. To my surprise Petsmart had the most healthy looking fish so I ended picking them up there. The new manager there is doing a great job it seems.

 

[fishfloater]

I hope I dont have to eat my words.

I came home to find I lost one of the Kenyi. From the moment I put him in the tank he just found a cave and like rested on the bottom.

One of the labs was also acting like this, After closer inspection, I'm pretty sure he has some kind of spine injury or something. He's stiff as a board but kinda gets around using his fins but he stays in a 45 degree angle and drags his tail fin in the sand. When the kid netted them out he was being kinda rough with them to the point I said something to him. I think he may have hurt this little guy.

I attached a pic. Gonna head back up there tomorrow. They are expecting a huge load of new fish.

 

[UGAfan2001]

your tank looks soooo good!! i wish i had the time and patience to come up with a nice rock scheme like yours!! those kenyi are awesome looking! sorry about the lost one. at least with petsmart you have a 14 day guarantee! keep up the good work, nice photos too!

Brad

 

[accordztech]

i like ur setup with all the rocks and stuff. its semi natural and looks "clean". i think im going to get soem of that, though they arent cheap are they =)

 

[fishfloater]

Thanks everyone. Thanks to this forum I was able to get some great ideas when designing my tank.

The rocks are Pennsylvania Fieldstone. They were $0.26/pound. So 75 pounds was like $20. I still have quite a bit left over.

 

[Orion]

If its swiming funny first thing to come to my mind is a swim bladder problem. But with the spine being stiff, I dunno about that. Sorry, I'm good at identifing dieases. Wish I could help more.

 

[fishfloater]

you could be right Orion. I was just guessing about the injury, I haven't been doing this long enough to know for sure. I'm taking him back along with the dead Kenyi.

I've been researching my butt off the last 2 days. It looks like I'm going to have to treat for internal parisites on all of them just to make sure. The other Kenyi and one of the labs have stringy poo.

 

[denden]

looks good your rocks look stellar i like the slate i have all sandstone from the creek near my house

 

[fishfloater]

Thanks Denden. I haven't been having good like with the Kenyi. I went last night to exchange the one that died on Wed. I picked out a new one I thought was the same size but when I got home I realized it was about an inch smaller than all the rest. I don't know how missed judged him that bad.
Anyways as soon as I put him in the tank he went to the bottom and stayed there. I could tell right away he was severely stressed. I even did the "drip" method before introducing him. When I got up this morning he was upside down in the sand.

I guess I'll be going back tonight after work.

 

[Orion]

Odd. You may want to go to a different store to get your fish. Sometimes stores do get bad shipments in.

 

[fishfloater]

Good idea, I should find out if another location will honor the 14 day guarantee.

 

[fishfloater]

On a happy note I went to a LFS and they carry NLS so I picked it up. If thats not enough they also carry the Yellow Tail Acei I've been looking for. Although I'm gonna get these guys healthy before I get anymore fish.