semurphy

That is a good point, cichlids are very interesting the way they interact with each other. And yes it would make a really nice reef tank. good luck with the tank, look forward to more photos

Ah that would make sense being an aquaone 300. sorry bout that. Yeah if you are having territory disputes, in my tank i have found that it helps to move the rocks and stuff around a bit every few water changes maybe, if that helps

Nice tank. How many litres is it?

I haven't tried the frozen vegetables but my bristlenose and cichlids really like fresh vegetables, such as zucchini, carrots and recently pumpkin put in the microwave for a minute or so and then cooled sown again. Hope this helps though

I know this thread was started a while ago, but i figured i would ad in my experience with the L333 i have 3 of them in my tank which is 5x2x2.5 and there is lots of limestone and pieces of wood and mine come out all the time, when the light is on and not on. One of the L333 have been in there since February and has grown a fair bit- form about 3cm to about 6cm now Dont know if this is of any assistance. They are in high ph with about 80 other catfish and mixed cichlids

I have a 5x 2x 2.5 tank which has about 50+ mixed cichlids (mostly different species with a few larger groups) in it, I have had them for about the last 2 years and have found that none of them have argued with each other at all. when I do my water changes I take the 60+kg of rocks of the tank, and rearrange them when they go back in, I think this could be a reason why they don't fight- that they aren't able to set up their own territories. Don't know if this is helpful information to you but, that's what i do with my tank.

Just to clarify so I don't look like I'm being cruel to my fish or anything, that photo was taken about 5 minutes after he was put into my tank. He/ She moved from a tank that was about 80-100L with nothing but a rock in it to a 700L tank with lots of rocks and regular feeding. In his old tank he didn't come up for food or go and find any so he was pretty much starving by the time I got him. He has increased in size by about 1-2cm since he moved into my tank and has no longer got the hollow belly

Thanks for your help, i will give him some extra food asap

as for the 7.5 pH to satisfy both, whilst guppies do better at slightly higher pH they can still thrive at the lower pH where as tetra (especially neons) are generally less forgiving and tend to choose death over adaptation when it comes to pH, so my advice would be sticking to a lower pH

I work in a aquarium shop where we lower the pH of our tanks to neutral using this method all the time. Have never had any problems. Because the pH is at 8 it will take a lot of pH down to bring it down slowly as suggested, as usually pH rises again during the night. try it, see how it goes, if it doesn't take my advice and see how that goes. Of course it's always better for fish to transition conditions gradually, however when it comes to pH it's not so effective in practice, you may have some success with doing 0.5 at a time but any less than that you'll probably end up bashing your head against a wall when you're back to where you started the next day.

You could also add bolivian butterflies (sorry not sure of the scientific name of them) they are a good dwarf cichlid to add to a small tank, males get fairly dark colouring, females get pale colouring in them but still attractive

Fish will do better in a pH of 6.8-7. Best way of getting water stable is test the water, add pH down, then give it 10-20 minutes to circulate and dissolve. then test it again. therefore instead of testing the pH and changing it over a few days do it over a few hours. this should bring it to within the right levels. regular testing and alterations to the pH after the initial doses will keep it stable. after that should be pretty easy. The shell grit in the substrate would definitely be causing the increase. try and take it out, as well as any other forms of limestone. These will increase the pH and cause it to become more alkaline. pH is mainly the only thing i test for, I am unsure about the TDS though. good luck

i have seen large red or spotted scats in with a saratoga before that were doing well. then the saratoga outgrew the tank which was very small for the number of fish in it (was only 3x2x2.5), the scats got beaten up and sara removed. sad to see such a nice fish disappear. i agree with all the others about starting them when theyre all small so they can get used to a nice big tank and not get agressive with each other

Cichlid Type: Lake Malawi, Tanganyinkans, as well as some from asia and america. Cichlid Size: juvenile to adult Brand(s) and Products: Hikari Excel Pellets, Sera San and Sera Flora, Hikari Algae Wafers Primary Food Product: Sera San and Flora and the Hikari Pellets Combine Products i.e. Yes/No Yes- Sera flora and san mixed in a bag Feeding Regime: Once to twice daily, algae wafer every second day and as they're getting bigger more of the excel pellets during regular feeds Additional Information: Bristlenose love zucchini quite regularly as do all the other cichlids. Feed them frozen brine shrimp, spirulina brine and cihlid diet once to twice a week also