R
Rudy
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Be it water conditions, picky eaters etc?
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V
Vitaliti
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After 30 years of cichlid keeping my father passed down all his information to me. And now I am here to give it to you. Cichlid keeping is an exciting annex of the fish keeping hobby. Because cichlids have such a large personality, are the most demanding, and some are the most fragile they are the hardest to care for next to saltwater. However they are the most rewarding. With this being said you want to pick out a cichlid that has the same personality as you. In this article I will explain to you how to setup your cichlid tank, how to purchase your first cichlid, the initial few days of care and long term care.
In order to continue you must have a basic knowledge of fish, i.e. ammonia, nitrogen cycle. Please consult other articles for this info.
Ok first things first, before you even go to the pet store to get your cichlid you are going to have to set up your tank. So let’s start with tank size. There are two kinds of cichlids, dwarf and regular. Dwarf cichlids can be kept in tanks of at least 10 gallons with 5 gallons per fish. No matter what length the fish is. Next are the regular cichlids. Now as you may or may not know you will need a different tank for a Texas cichlid than you will for a discus so let’s start with big aggressive cichlids.
big aggressive cichlids like jack dempseys, Texas cichlids, midas, or oscars need a tank of at least 75 gallons, so if you cannot give them this then please don’t get a large aggressive cichlid, further more if you are reading this article then you are probably a beginner or novice cichlid keeper so you shouldn’t have these fish any way.
Medium fragile fish: if you haven’t heard of a discus get out from under your rock. There are not many discus like fish with personality but some cichlids require the tank size. Discus for example require a tank with at least 18 inches in WIDTH. So you will need a 58,60,75+.
Now that you have selected your tank let’s see what to put in it. ALL cichlids like sand or small gravel hands down. So you should fill the bottom of your tank with an inch and a half. I will discuss filtration later but make sure you read about the under gravel filter before buying substrate.
Now about the biotope, before purchasing your cichlid make sure you know all about it. That is its biotope. For example, discus live in a heavily planted tank. With little to know rocks or drift wood, however the African cichlids live in the lake with A LOT OF huge rocks and no plants. So make sure you look up the biotope of your cichlid and mimic that in your tank. Now no matter what cichlid you have all cichlids like caves whether you are looking for a natural look or not, clay pots work great for your cichlid's cave, it gives them a dark safe place to hang out. So whether you use clay pots or premade caves or what make sure you have something for them to hang out in.
Ok, now that we have the basic layout of the tank setup let’s look at the hardware in this order: heaters, lights, filters.
Heaters: heaters are simple make sure you have the proper wattage for your tank size. (300 watts=75 gallons) make sure your heater is completely submersible. (Explained later) the heater needs to be positioned vertically in the middle of the tank, which eliminates the possibility of cold spots which is what happens when one half your tank is heated and the other isn't, this is why the heater should be completely submerged.
Lights: whether you are using an incandescent or fluorescent lighting (incandescent- gives off 85% heat, flour.- no heat) your tank should not be well light. Cichlids like dim light. The best thing to do except if you have Africans is to get a good light then fill it with plants in order to dim the light for the fish but have a good light for the plants
Filters: when applying a filter to a cichlid tank it is not A filter you need but at least 2 filters. Depending on your substrate you use I would recommend an ugf (under gravel filter) obviously if you use sand you can have an ugf.
Biowheel: YOU MUST HAVE A BIOWHEEL whether you use a canister filter or a power filter you have to have a biowheel, it is the best type of biological filtration and will keep your ammonia and nitrites down. Now the reason why you need so much filtration is cichlids produce a lot of waste which you will need to keep up with. Plus believe it or not some small African cichlids love the current given off by power heads from an ugf.
CONGRAGULATIONS you just set up your cichlid tank. Now we must cycle it. As you may or may not know it takes about a month to cycle a tank. You can use fish like danios or guppies to cycle your tank or you can use fishless cycling which can be explained in the beginners section of the articles.
IMPORTANT: cycling is important for all fish, especially cichlids, because of the anatomy of the fish. The ammonia and nitrites affects them poorly leading to immediate death so... CYCLE doesn’t skip it. This will be the longer part of your
In order to continue you must have a basic knowledge of fish, i.e. ammonia, nitrogen cycle. Please consult other articles for this info.
Ok first things first, before you even go to the pet store to get your cichlid you are going to have to set up your tank. So let’s start with tank size. There are two kinds of cichlids, dwarf and regular. Dwarf cichlids can be kept in tanks of at least 10 gallons with 5 gallons per fish. No matter what length the fish is. Next are the regular cichlids. Now as you may or may not know you will need a different tank for a Texas cichlid than you will for a discus so let’s start with big aggressive cichlids.
big aggressive cichlids like jack dempseys, Texas cichlids, midas, or oscars need a tank of at least 75 gallons, so if you cannot give them this then please don’t get a large aggressive cichlid, further more if you are reading this article then you are probably a beginner or novice cichlid keeper so you shouldn’t have these fish any way.
Medium fragile fish: if you haven’t heard of a discus get out from under your rock. There are not many discus like fish with personality but some cichlids require the tank size. Discus for example require a tank with at least 18 inches in WIDTH. So you will need a 58,60,75+.
Now that you have selected your tank let’s see what to put in it. ALL cichlids like sand or small gravel hands down. So you should fill the bottom of your tank with an inch and a half. I will discuss filtration later but make sure you read about the under gravel filter before buying substrate.
Now about the biotope, before purchasing your cichlid make sure you know all about it. That is its biotope. For example, discus live in a heavily planted tank. With little to know rocks or drift wood, however the African cichlids live in the lake with A LOT OF huge rocks and no plants. So make sure you look up the biotope of your cichlid and mimic that in your tank. Now no matter what cichlid you have all cichlids like caves whether you are looking for a natural look or not, clay pots work great for your cichlid's cave, it gives them a dark safe place to hang out. So whether you use clay pots or premade caves or what make sure you have something for them to hang out in.
Ok, now that we have the basic layout of the tank setup let’s look at the hardware in this order: heaters, lights, filters.
Heaters: heaters are simple make sure you have the proper wattage for your tank size. (300 watts=75 gallons) make sure your heater is completely submersible. (Explained later) the heater needs to be positioned vertically in the middle of the tank, which eliminates the possibility of cold spots which is what happens when one half your tank is heated and the other isn't, this is why the heater should be completely submerged.
Lights: whether you are using an incandescent or fluorescent lighting (incandescent- gives off 85% heat, flour.- no heat) your tank should not be well light. Cichlids like dim light. The best thing to do except if you have Africans is to get a good light then fill it with plants in order to dim the light for the fish but have a good light for the plants
Filters: when applying a filter to a cichlid tank it is not A filter you need but at least 2 filters. Depending on your substrate you use I would recommend an ugf (under gravel filter) obviously if you use sand you can have an ugf.
Biowheel: YOU MUST HAVE A BIOWHEEL whether you use a canister filter or a power filter you have to have a biowheel, it is the best type of biological filtration and will keep your ammonia and nitrites down. Now the reason why you need so much filtration is cichlids produce a lot of waste which you will need to keep up with. Plus believe it or not some small African cichlids love the current given off by power heads from an ugf.
CONGRAGULATIONS you just set up your cichlid tank. Now we must cycle it. As you may or may not know it takes about a month to cycle a tank. You can use fish like danios or guppies to cycle your tank or you can use fishless cycling which can be explained in the beginners section of the articles.
IMPORTANT: cycling is important for all fish, especially cichlids, because of the anatomy of the fish. The ammonia and nitrites affects them poorly leading to immediate death so... CYCLE doesn’t skip it. This will be the longer part of your
J
John Gwhats the problem
Guest
brilliant answer VITALITI i just leant to keep angel fish away from every thing else but fresh water tropical are very much ok salt water tropical a VERY different ball game
H
hottamalee33
Guest
Angel fish as they are very funny about water conditions and food!
H
hottamalee33
Guest
Angel fish as they are very funny about water conditions and food!