New American cichlid set up.

[Dale]

Thanks Gerry.

[Dale]

Lost the small sev today  Guess It was too much stress for it. I'm not having much luck lately. But that one and the Con that I lost were the two sickly ones out of the bunch, both were very submissive. Other fish are fine and dandy. Comes down to survival of the fittest I suppose.
There seems to be more chasing going on now that there are less fish in there. I don't know much about African Cichlids But I've read that keeping the stock levels up spreads aggression, would the same apply to Americans? Just I've been offered a young Firemouth and can't decide what to do.    

[Antonia]

Sorry to hear that With Americans aggression starts when they don't have their space and if they have paired up.We have dithers with our Americans.Each fish is different though.

[Gerry]

Americans tend to get more aggressive as space get tight. Africans are aggressive and the overstocking idea is to stop a target getting picked out and thus only spread aggression

[Dale]

My connection tonight is awful.
OK, well space isn't tight as there are two less. But I am thinking now another cichlid would prob be best avoided. tempted To go for something different couple Silver Dollars or something, maybe a cat fish. not sure.

[Dale]

I forgot to say that There are three Guppies that managed to avoid the Oscar when I had him, living quite happily in with the cichlids. found them in the filter a few weeks ago. Don't even get looked at. Live and let live 

[mrbigfish]

Got to say dale you are quite the aquascaper, well done.

[Dale]

Thanks again chief. I just can't wait to get my hands on a five foot tank. Then I'm going to go to town on it all 

[mrbigfish]

Believe me dale we all have our dream tank(s) mine is a 220gal.

[Dale]

Believe me dale we all have our dream tank(s) mine is a 220gal.

that would be 4x the size of my tank if you mean UK gallons. pretty big tank. do you think you'll ever get it?
If you want to see some ridiculously huge tanks, go to you tube and type in monster fish keeper, or monster tank, I can't remember. There's one that is basically a full extension on the side of a house. amazing.   

[mrbigfish]

yeah dale I will get it, just have to wait for one of ther sofa's in my basement to accomidate it, perfect fit, whole wall and cement floor.The water in a 220gal weighs 1760 pounds. No telling how much the tank itself weighs. I would also have to pare down the tanks I have. It's alot of work maintaining 75gal, 55gal, 40gal, 37gal, and 20gal. But one day I will have that tank, may not have a wife, but I will have that tank.

[Dale]

yeah dale I will get it, just have to wait for one of ther sofa's in my basement to accomidate it, perfect fit, whole wall and cement floor.The water in a 220gal weighs 1760 pounds. No telling how much the tank itself weighs. I would also have to pare down the tanks I have. It's alot of work maintaining 75gal, 55gal, 40gal, 37gal, and 20gal. But one day I will have that tank, may not have a wife, but I will have that tank.

  I know what you mean there! My other half has this certain look when ever I mention the five footer. I think she thinks she's going to loose the living room to it, And that I'll be in it every week end 
It'll look ace though once it's in, she'll like it.

   Just a quick update. Off the back of what I've seen people here keeping with their Americans, and also after doing allot of research into different dither fish, I came back from the lfs last week end with six Rosy barbs. I did at the beginning want to keep the set up American through out, but surprising how hard that is. I decided that most Tetras even the larger ones could be too flamboyant or delicate for life in with cichlids. I Chose these guys for their hardiness And size. Not true higher level swimmers, but shoal lovely, and have made a great addition to the set up. I would recommend them to anyone. Also gradually introducing live plants. I have three, well growing plants in now and I've started noticing a drop in nitrates. all is good       

[Dale]

   Hi guys. for some reason for the last couple days my tank has been cloudy. I performed the usual weekly water change and gravel vacuum on sat and it was fine before hand. PH, Ammonia, Nitrite all as normal, Nitrates on the drop, somewhere between 10-15. No flicking or rubbing from the fish.
The only thing I did different was add the replaced salt to the treated water before adding to tank. Could this have an effect? It's not true cloud, more like dust that the filter just isn't picking up. I'm wondering if it's the bog wood and will just eventually filter through.

[Stormbringer]

if its a whitish colour of cloudy then its posibly a bacterial bloom and should dissipate in a few days to a week , maybe you had some bacteria die off in the filter ?

[Dale]

   I Didn't clean out the filter. I can't figure it out. Unless it is dust from the bog wood, but you wouldn't think that would look white 
I did put a lily in on sat?