What kind of water do cichlids need

To avoid overfeeding, the fish should be given no more than they can eat in three minutes. This will not only reduce waste, but it will keep the tank cleaner as well. The tank itself should be sealed well, with no leaks. As fish produce waste, the nitrate levels in the tank water rise. Changing the water often enough keeps the nitrate levels from getting high enough to kill the fish.

Always thoroughly clean anything that comes into contact with the tank water as well. A large part of African cichlid care is being able to recognize the signs of a problem. There are some common signs of illness to watch for among your collection to prevent fatalities. The average lifespan of African cichlids is eight years with proper care.

Just like any fish, this can vary drastically if they live in a suboptimal tank situation with a poor diet and water quality. For optimal breeding odds, the layout, furniture, and size of the tank must not be changed during this process. Always monitor the tank for fights between the male and female, as breeding can bring out more aggression.

African cichlids perform mating rituals in which they display their colors and move in certain ways. Sometimes, your fish will try to eat the fry. When the fry hatches, a female may look after them for up to fourteen days. After this point, the female is ready to mate again. Owning African cichlids can be a lot of fun and very rewarding.

They are beautiful, active, and very exciting fish! We hope you got plenty of value out of this care guide. As always, if you have any questions you can always reach out and ask. Alison has been interested in fish and aquariums for over five years. When she's not writing about fish you can find her hiking, swimming, and doing yoga. Aquarium Source. C Care Guides. Each different kind has slightly varying temperaments as well, and are resilient in captivity. Peacock Cichlid. Yellow sunshine peacock.

Rinse until water runs clear and gravel is free of dust and debris. Gently place Gravel into Aquarium and spread evenly across the bottom. This is the ONLY time you will rinse any filter media under the tap, from this point forward it is only cleaned in old aquarium water, never under the tap. Fill the Aquarium to a maximum level mark, or generally cm below the brim.

This may take a few hours from initial fill. Place your thermometer in a visible spot so you can monitor temperature fluctuations. Lights run ON for 8 hours a day during day light hours we recommend a timer. If you do not have live plants, feel free not to run the lights for the first week. Pay attention to our labels- We offer discounts on multiples for fish who require friends or prefer to school. As a general rule these are mini-mum recommendations. We recommend adding all of your fish slowly over a matter of weeks.

For a small Aquarium, follow our advice and just add a small group, Increase the amount of waste your aquarium is producing in small intervals. Cichlids do best when being added in groups of 3 or more, this limits aggression and focus on one particular fish.

At this point we suggest testing your water, as at this stage we may need our first water change, and possibly more doses of Bioculture. Come in for a Water Test after one week. Your new fish have already had breakfast at the store, and will probably be too overwhelmed to think about eating. We suggest feeding just every second day for the first week, and then daily thereafter. Remember our stomachs are only small and generally the size of our eye.

Fish are opportunistic feeders and will over feed if you let them. Your new fish have been home with you for one week, your fish have been eating and making a mess.

Turn your filter and heater turned off, and keep your fish in the Aquarium for this. Use your Gravel Syphon to drain water into a bucket or drain. For Haps and Peacocks and other open swimmers, there should be more open water to mimic their environment. Other rocks that you can consider would be slate, limestone, and even ocean rock. Making sure your rock is more smooth should be considered as rough rock can hurt your African cichlids.

All Cichlid tanks should have a sand substrate in an african cichlid tank. This most closely mimics their natural environment.

Many Cichlids naturally feed by grazing through the sand, others cleanse their gills, while others dive into it or build nests. Some hobbyists have been known to acquire substrates from golf courses, pool shops, or home improvement stores. These can save you money when building an african cichlid tank, but do some research before placing in your tank to ensure you have an aquarium safe substrate.

Within the aquarium industry, there are substrates available that will work with Cichlids, particularly aragonite sand used in marine tanks and Tahitian Moon Sand. Diet for your African Cichlids will depend on the type of Cichlids you have. Africans can cross all the food groups herbivore, carnivorous, omnivores, and micro predators so it is critical that you know what group your fish belongs to.

Supplemental foods for herbivore fish would be peas, romaine lettuce, and spinach. For fish carnivorous fish, brine shrimp, shrimp pellets, and krill would be good meat supplements. Fish with yellow, orange, or red will need to be feed foods with lots of pigment so keep their colors optimal.

A stocked Cichlids tank need to be feed frequently, but not overfeed. Maintaining this balance will curb aggression. The recommended would be times a day but only what they can eat within 20 seconds or less.

Overstocking and overfeeding are the primary reason why we recommended extra filtration for the tank back in the filtration section. Overfeeding can lead to excessive nitrates or bloat for your herbivores. Feed frequent, but do not overfeed. A well feed Cichlid is a less aggressive Cichlid. New Life has been doing top notch fish food for years with scientific research behind each of their formulated foods.

Cobalt Aquatics has really made some moves in the industry with probiotic enhanced foods. This flake food offered by them is arguably the best African Cichlid flake food available on the market. With probiotics and specially formulated for Cichlids, this is bar none the best flake formula available for your Africans.

Cichlids eat a good amount of greens. The Hikari Cichlid Excel Pellets by Hikari focuses on spirulina with vitamins and materials to provide a highly nutritious pellet. Combining this pellet food with the other two, you should everything you need to provide a quality diet to your African Cichlid community. A spirulina based pellet food. Loaded with vitamin and materials. Combine with the other two foods. Live plants can be kept successfully with African Cichlids.

You may have heard from others, from forums, or your local fish store that you cannot but it is very possible to keep plants.

There are a few things to keep in mind if you want to attempt to keep plants with African Cichlids. First, not all plants will be able to tolerate the high pH of an African cichlid tank. Second, not every plant will be capable with the different types of African Cichlids available. Aquarium Choose an aquarium of at least 75 gallons for a mixed community of Mbuna rock dwellers, Peacock cichlids and other medium sized species. Lighting Live plants are not part of an African cichlid display and the fish prefer more subdued light, making standard aquarium lighting more than adequate.

Substrate Standard aquarium sand or gravel can be used, but crushed coral, coral sand or crushed oyster shell will help maintain the proper pH and alkalinity to support good health and color in your African cichlids. Filtration A robust filter with strong mechanical filtration capability is a must with Rift Lake cichlids as many species love to dig, stirring up debris.

Feeding Mbuna cichlids are mostly herbivores, while Peacocks, Haplochromines and many Tanganyikan cichlids are carnivorous. Stocking Once the temperature is set and a water conditioner has been added, allow your aquarium to run for 48 to 72 hours before adding fish.

Here are some helpful tips to make sure stocking your aquarium goes smoothly: Start out with juvenile fish. They will be less aggressive and more accepting of one another as they grow to adulthood. Ask your local aquarium expert about the aggression level of each species before you buy them. Add less aggressive species to the aquarium first and progressively aggressive species as time goes on. New additions should be at least the same size as the largest or most aggressive fish already in the aquarium.

When mixing closely related or similar looking species, try to add them to the aquarium at the same time to avoid dominance from established fish. Never add a smaller member of a species already living in the aquarium. Adult African cichlids are less inclined to quarrel when you crowd them just a little, so don't be afraid to stock a little heavily.