first time ciclid owner

C

Cichlid-Man

MFT Staff
#41
Jul 9, 2003
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#41
So the Tangs are the ones that use the shells and need a higher pH, so are they only for salt water?
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Niether NEED a higher pH (unless they come straight from the wild to your tank) but they do live in water that has a high pH in the wild. Yes, Lake Tang holds the shelldwelling species, except for Pseudotropheus lanisticola (Lake Malawi Shelldweller) which i doubt you will find in any common place fish store.

some of the points you pointed out are partially true Rok. The pH is pretty close in both lakes. I would say overall Lake Malawi species are more aggressive...but don't rule out all tangs, as some can get nasty when they need to. Lake Malawi Cichlids don't really "school" per say....they just kinda swim frantically around their territory and make it look like a school. Tangs seem to be slower, and would rather dwell by the rocks or just kinda float along, at least in my experiences.

Mixing lakes can work, you just need the right stocking plan and diet plan. I've kept Tangs and Malawi together with relative success.
 

R

Rokl33t

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#42
Aug 2, 2004
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#42
good stuff...lol my fish ego jus droped about 2 points haha, well tangs, are they better off eating pellets? or flakes? cuz i want to raise a feeding tank (guppies, and ghost shrimp), will they eat any guppies that won't fit in their mouth in one gulp? like tear em up?
wat live food did u feed ur tangs?
 

Orion

Orion

Ultimate Fish
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#45
Feb 10, 2003
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#45
Tee-Hee. You make it sound as if you two are waiting for word to come down on high from your two deities. lol Lets not start to much of that now. ( a little ego boost every now and again isn't bad for anyone :D) j/k

There are some monsters in Lake Tanganyika that will tare up many other fish. But this you will rarely find in the trade. Few are actualy big enough, or care enough to eat other adult fish (Frontosa's excluded). Most of them are quite happy however to eat the fry from other tankmates if they can get ahold of them. Shrimp would pretty much be a lost cause. Many of these cichlids, including several herbivories, eat shrimp and other crustations in the wild, and will not hessitate to do so in the tank.

The only live foods I've feed mine have been BBS.

Becarefull when you generalize about things. Some people take it as not a generalization, but as the facts.
 

R

Rokl33t

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#50
Aug 2, 2004
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#50
WOOOT i think my cycle is finished!!!!! i got algae thats starting to grow, thats got to be a sign if plants can live in this water lol, anyways when i took the water sample in on tuesday they said my nitrite is about to spike, because my nitrate was jus clearing up...so they said about a week, but i think after adding my syno. and the food ive been giving him, its making the cycle speed up alot faster...so i think its time for my to stock my tank...alto calvus' here i come :) haha

oh by the way orion, i was looking at ur tang. tank ( beautiful) but anyways, i was thinken do u think my tank should have some plants in it? or should i jus leave it sand, rocks, and shells? like i loved the plants in my 10 gal. but it was jus too hard to maintain, but now that i'm at a pet store i can actually pick up anubius plants...so0o wat do u think, should i get some plants? do the tangs need them?
 

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Orion

Orion

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#51
Feb 10, 2003
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#51
I think you meen your nitrIte was clearing up, and nitrAte is getting ready to spike. Right?

Plants are very optional. In the lake, you will find plants in very few places. Mainly where the rivers empty out into the lake, and there its normaly murky water with few species living in or around it.

Do what you want to do. The fish will like the extra cover they do provide, but its by no meens a necessity(sp). Anubias are a great choice because they don't need high light or special substrate, and most actualy do well in the harder alkaline water that rift lake cichlids prefer.
 

R

Rokl33t

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#52
Aug 2, 2004
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#52
like always orion ur help is always appreciated...uhh tomorrow, well saturday should be the big stocking day, i couldn't wait any longer, my syno seemed fine a week early in my cycle so the hardy tangs should be fine! wish me luck bro

oh one more thing, knowing that calvus' are slow growers, and shell dwellers are pretty small, will they mix welll?
 

Orion

Orion

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#53
Feb 10, 2003
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#53
If you don't have any test kits, take some water with you to the LFS and have them test it before you add fish. Hard to wait I know, but better to wait an extra week than end up wasteing all that money on fish.

Really-what your looking for, is ammonia and nitrIte to be zero. If it is, stock that puppy.

I've not kept calvus. But in most of the books I've read and some articles they would seem to suggest that calvus should not be kept with shelles because they will eat them. But from hearing about other's expereince with these says otherwise. I think you will be fine mixing the two for now.

I would suspect that any calvus you are going to buy at a LFS will be a juvie, probably around the 1-2" range, so that may be close to the same size as some shellies you may end up with.

BTW- I would advise you to pick up your own test kit as soon as you can. Never hurts to have it around.
 

R

Rokl33t

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#56
Aug 2, 2004
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#56
well i got my fish today wooooot!!
here they are enjoy!

here are my bagged fish, first picture is what i got, the second is just a clearer picture of what they are

Julidochromis marlieri



annnnd

Altolamprologus calvus "Ink Fin" "Congo Ink Fin"

 

R

Rokl33t

Large Fish
#59
Aug 2, 2004
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#59
uhh i got a bomb *** deal...the calvus' were 8.99 a piece and the marleri's were 7.99 a piece....but each one is suppose to be a dollar more...anyways i love these fish soo much im thinken about either putting one more of each, and adding my lelupi tomorrow :)
 

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