Mick86 Posted February 5, 2009 Share Posted February 5, 2009 Hey everyone, I'm new to the forums and sort of new to cichlid keeping. I've had cichlids for a few years but only recently taken a major interest in them. I currently have a 3.5"x18'x2" and have just bought a 6x2x2 and all the accessories so I'm now ready to set it up. The accessories are as follows- 2x 20kg bags of white cal chip substrate, 1x Aquarworld EF 1100 canister filter, 1x Aquarworld 1800 Internal filter, 1x Eheim Jager 400-600l/250W heater, 1x Aqualina aquarium light with 2x Arcadia 58 watt lamps. Just wondering if those sound sufficient for a tank that size? Also what are the pro's and cons of using the spray bars on the filters as both of those come with them. Any suggestions on if and how I should use the spray bars? I also have a number of fish- these are the fish I have in the smaller tank at the moment and all will be transferred to the 6 footer when it's ready- 3x peacocks(1M-2F) 2xFrontosas, 1x Elactric Blue(F), 2xVenustus, 3xBala Sharks, 2xBristlenose. The next fish are ones that I have bought and will pick them up as soon as the tank is set up- 3xAltolamprologus Black Calvus, 2xAltolamprologus Gold compressiceps, 2xBlue Dolphins, 4xClown Loach's. I'll also be putting 2 or 3 more Bristlenose in the tank and looking to buy 2 Mpimbue Blue Frontosa's. Any advice on the list of fish would be much appreciated. I'm located in Toowoomba and am looking for a good breeder and or dealer in the SE Qld area that sells high end fish(Frontosa, Calvus, Compressicep) for a decent price. Anyone know of any? Sorry for the long post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cichlid_KB Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 Pros for spray bars = create more oxygen from the breaking of the water Cons= They clog up with gunk and need cleaning occasionally I dont use the spray bars anymore but i might be lazy? Use water from your established tank into your new tank to seed good bacteria. Dont transfer fish straight away. and not all at once. KB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eddie Salita Posted February 12, 2009 Share Posted February 12, 2009 Hi Mick, As KB said, spray bars are good for agitating the water surface, to encourage oxygen exchange. Gas exchange occurs at the water surface, not in the depths. I would suggest using the spray bar on the canister just below the surface of the water, but aimed slightly upward to create some motion on the surface. This way it will not create water noise, but still do its job. If it were me, I would leave the bar off the power filter, and use that to create some nice current in the tank which I think most rift lake cichlids enjoy. On a tang tank, I would say the filtration you have is minimal. A 6x2x2 holds a great deal of water. Put together, It may be enough, but it is good to have more than enough. A little margin for error. At some stage before you ramp up the fish numbers too much, it might be an idea to consider a larger canister. 1100 litres an hour is the rating with no head height. If the filter is 1metre below the outlet, it will be a fair amount less than that. Everyone is different, but a rough general rule is that you want to turn over 3-5 times the entire water volume in an hour with a canister. Internal power filters are a bit different. My rule with them is 5 times an hour minimum. These are just the rules I follow. Others may suggest what they like to go for. Of course too much is not dangerous. Too little is. As for your stocking, the only thing I would like to mention is the mixing of the Altolamprologus species. If you are not intending to breed the fish, its fine. But if you do, Please be cautious. They can hybridize. I have seen alto hybrids, and they are not good for the hobby. They look like altos, act like altos, but severely degrade the quality of many successive generations. Inexperienced hobbyists will gladly buy them, but to the detriment of the integrity of the species. So, if they breed, please consider not raising any of the fry. It only takes one little pass from the wrong male for the damage to be done, and you may not see it happen. For other tangs, it might be a good idea to check out one of the local forums. Such as QLDAF. I dont have any gold comps or balck calvus ready just now, they are too young. I do have some other tangs. Neolamprologus Cylindricus, Lepidiolamprologus attenuatus, & Telmatochromis dhonti. dhonti are better suited to a more aggressive tang tank, or aggressive mbuna tank. But check out the local forums, you should be able to find what you are after sooner or later. Happy hunting. cheers, Jason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mick86 Posted February 14, 2009 Author Share Posted February 14, 2009 Thanks heaps for the info Eddie. I think I'll definately go down that path and put the canister spray bar under water facing up. Still haven't set the tank up yet as I'm waiting for the room to finish being built. (I hate builders!!!!!) For the conditioning of the tank I will be putting in 4 electric yellows and 4 maingano (A breeder in my area sells them very cheap). With the Gold Compressiceps and Black Calvus, I do plan on breeding them at some stage. If they do breed in this tank I will only keep the fry if they survive in the community tank and I won't sell and/or give them to anyone, only when I'm sure I have pure fish will I sell them. Also mate where abouts is Kallangur? I'd definately be interested in your Gold Comps or Black Calvus when they are ready and may even be interested in your other fish. Thanks again for the valuable info mate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eddie Salita Posted February 14, 2009 Share Posted February 14, 2009 Hey Mick, That all sounds good to me. Kallangur is on the northside of brissie. Anout 30-40 min north of the city. Very near strathpine and redcliffe. I will let you know when they are ready and we might be able to arrange something. I am picking up some gold head comps in a week or two if you were interested. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mick86 Posted February 14, 2009 Author Share Posted February 14, 2009 Too easy Eddie sounds great to me. I would definately be interested in some Gold Head Comps. I'll PM u my mobile number and feel free to give me a call when u have them. Cheers mate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mick86 Posted March 16, 2009 Author Share Posted March 16, 2009 So I FINALLY set my 6 footer up on Saturday the 14th of March. I reckon it was worth the wait cos it looks awesome, I love it. I used tank water and added Prime(kills chlorine and other things), another chemical(can't remember the name but it adds good bacteria to the tank) and Cichlid lake salt. I let those chemicals settle for 24 hours before adding any fish. Then I added 1 electric blue male, 2 small Frontosa's, 1 small Black Calvus, 3 small Silver Sharks, 1 small Bristlenose. I then added a dose of the bacteria chemical as it says to on the bottle for the first 7 days. I let all that settle a further 24 hours and added 2 small gold comprecisseps, another small black calvus, and another small Bristlenose. I also added another dose of the bacteria chemical. That brings us to now. Any advice on what I should do next would be greatly appreciated. I plan on adding 2 small Venustus tomorrow(17th of March), along with another dose of the bacteria chemical. I'll take some photos tonight and try post them up ASAP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jay_g_hunter Posted March 16, 2009 Share Posted March 16, 2009 So I FINALLY set my 6 footer up on Saturday the 14th of March. I reckon it was worth the wait cos it looks awesome, I love it. I used tank water and added Prime(kills chlorine and other things), another chemical(can't remember the name but it adds good bacteria to the tank) and Cichlid lake salt. I let those chemicals settle for 24 hours before adding any fish. Then I added 1 electric blue male, 2 small Frontosa's, 1 small Black Calvus, 3 small Silver Sharks, 1 small Bristlenose. I then added a dose of the bacteria chemical as it says to on the bottle for the first 7 days. I let all that settle a further 24 hours and added 2 small gold comprecisseps, another small black calvus, and another small Bristlenose. I also added another dose of the bacteria chemical. That brings us to now. Any advice on what I should do next would be greatly appreciated. I plan on adding 2 small Venustus tomorrow(17th of March), along with another dose of the bacteria chemical. I'll take some photos tonight and try post them up ASAP. Hi Mick look im no expert on the matter by any means, but the amount of fish you have added in a short timeframe goes against alot of the advice i was given when setting up my 4 footer about a month ago...i started with... 2 x electric yellows 2 x cobalt blues 1 x bristlenose then i waited for the spike, which occured about a week-and-a-bit in, and didnt show too many signs of dropping for some reason...SO...did a 30% water change and added some of that bacteria solution you mentioned. It worked a treat - nitrites 0ppm. And only then did i begin to add more fish... 2 x otopharynx lithobates 2 x afra cobues 1 x mel. johanni Monitored parameters for another week-and-a-bit...all signs were good. Then i added... 2 x mainganos 1 x bristlenose Again, parameters all good...week-and-a-bit later 2 Yellowtail Acei 1 x mel. johanni Which brings us to the present. Water change due thursday and a visit to the LFS on saturday! Like i said, im no expert, but i was given strong advice to add fish SLOWLY, so maybe hold off on any more fish for now and really keep an eye on those water parameters, anyone else agree with this? Cheers Jay Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mick86 Posted March 16, 2009 Author Share Posted March 16, 2009 Thanks Jay. Yeah I was well aware that I have to do it slowly, to combat that a little bit I added rocks from an already established aquarium and also a few buckets of water from that aquarium. I also treated with the bacteria solution straight away and will continue to do so daily for the 7 days and once a month and everytime I do a water change. In saying all that I am hurrying it slightly as I have 2 other tanks I have to move ASAP. I am keeping a very close eye on water parameters tho and all are really good. I only have to put a few more fish in anyway, and I'm planning on doing that over the next 2 days- 2 small Venustus tomorrow and 4 small Clown Loaches the next day. After that I will not be adding any more fish for at least a week, and even then it will depend on the water parameters being perfect. Cheers mate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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