setting up new 180 gallon

[cichlidchick]

I have a 180 gallon tank I've recenly set up as a cichlid tank. In its former life, this used to be a saltwater tank but while I was going through my divorce, my $100 skimmer pump went out and I didnt have the $ to replace it and within 2 daysthe whole tank crashed. I was broken-hearted so the tank sat empty for about 5 years. Now I have a 10 month old daughter and decided to set it back up for the both of us, but thus time as a freshwater. I've always thought cichlids were beautiful and I have a good size tank for them. I'm using a lot of the materials from when I had a reef tank. I have a sump, but since both the return pumps no longer work, I capped the holes drilled in the bottom of the overflows and am using hang on back filters instead. I have non-silica sand and crushed coral on the bottom and about 400 pounds of (formerly) live rock arranged so there ate lots of caves. The front middle part is just sand so I can also have a few non-mbunas. I had planned on doing a fishless cycle, but I found a guy on craigs list giving away 5 cichlids that had outgrown his tank for $5 apiece, so I couldn't pass it up. He didnt know what kind they are, just lake Malawi. There are 4 males, 4-5" long and a 3" female. I think the largest is a red zebra (orange with spots on the fins). There is also a metallic blue one with turquoise around the jaw and mouth and a turqouise spot above and to the right of it eye. It also has a distinctive blue stripe along the top of the dorsal fin. The third one is dark blue with black fins and a white stripe along the top. The other is not as colorful, mostly tan with slightly darker stripes. His head and fins are black and he has a white stripe along the top. I think he is a Aulonocara. I believe the female is the same kind he is. I also purchased a small bright yellow one from wal mart but within days he developed stripes and his body is turning blue. He has a single yellow egg spot. I thought I had him identified as a Cynotilapia sp. "lion" but now I don't know. I will post pictures soon so you all can help me with IDing everything. I've been doing 10% water changes everyday and added bacteria while the tank is cycling. So far so good. At first, the only fish that came out with any regularity was the Aulonocara. When I added the small yellow one, I don't know if it was just coincidence that the other fish were getting bolder or if his personality caused the others to come out more. I have a few plants, but mostly sand and rock. I'm not sure how much to feed them. I have medium sized cichlid pellets, tiny ones and some flakes. At first I was overfeeding cuz I had to scoop out extra, but lately there are no extra. I feed them 3 times a day. I hope eventually to get the sump up and running if you think it would be worth it. How does it sound like I'm doing so far? I've had the fish in there about a week so far and of course will not be adding more until the cycle is complete. I'd like to add something green or red next. Any thought or suggestions on improvements or tank mates much appreciated!!

[Lisachromis]

Sounds pretty good so far, but feeding three times a day is a bit much, especially as you aren't completely cycled yet.

I'll wait to offer suggestions on your next fish, until we know what fish it is you have now. Would you also take a full tank shot as well?

Good luck!

[cichlidchick]

As soon as I find my charger for my camera (dang canon and their proprietary batteries) I'll get some pics up. I have about 350+ lbs of rock in there in kind of a crescent shape so there is a bare sand part in the front. I guess I should add my water is GH180, KH180, pH 7.5 so I put some buffer in there to bring it to 8.2. There is a lot of limestone where I am in Kentucky, so I think the water is pretty good. I should clarify on the feeding 3x a day thing. These are by far the largest fish I've ever owned so I'm not sure how much they eat, and since a few of them are still shy, I can't really go by the all they can eat in 5 min or whatever, so first thing in am I throw few pellets in, then in afternoon when I see there are no pellets left, I throw in few more. Same thing in evening. I never have any uneaten food floating around after being away from the tank, but I do worry about amount of food, but I don't really know how much is just enough yet, so I've been doing daily 10% water changes. Well, probably more than 10% with the rock and all, but 20 gallons. I've forgotten from my other tank, but how long can I expect it to take to cycle (I did add bacteria)?

[illustrator]

I think that it's difficult to decide "what's next" because this depends on two main things:

* which fish you really have now (my feeling is that Aulonocara and mbuna is not a very good combination, at least not when the fish are growing up to adult size & agressiveness)

* what do you want? Many fish? Colourfull fish? Specific behaviours?

Either way, combining species is often the difficult part. Many species combinations work at first (when the fish are young) but are not compatible in the long run. Since this depends on species (and individual character of fish ..) I think that posting photo's of your fish is a very wise first step.

Daily changes ... I never have time for that, but if you want ... If you really want to know: buy a test-set for nitrate/nitrite and try to read a bit on this subject (there's really a lot of info about this on internet). Water changes are essentially meant to keep the concentration of waste-products of fish low and nitrate/nitrite are the most important of those waste-products. In general my feeling is that aquariumstake about a month to fully cycle. Adding bacteria makes sense at the start (starting up the aquarium a bit faster) but hardly once the aquarium is rumming for a few weeks and none at all in a fully cycled aquarium. Experienced aquarium keepers can also notice behavioural changes when the water becomes dangerously polluted (which is why I don't use test-sets meself - but i have not very sensitive fish). My general feeling is that tap-water is a good start. Of course you can put the pH to 8 r higher, but most mbuna do well in a pH of 7.5 so why bother?

Most likely you CAN go by what they eat in 5 minutes: actually for cichlids "what they can eat in 5 minutes" is already too much. It is not harming the fish at all when you starve them for some weeks. Basically, what they eat in 1 minute will also do!

[cichlidchick]

thanks all for the replies! Back when I first got into tanks I read enough about water chemistry I could have written a paper on it so first thing I did was to get test strips for ammonia, nitrates, and nitrites. I did add the bacteria at the beginning since I was pretty much starting out sterile. The 5 fish I found on craigs list had been living together in a 75 gallon and had outgrown it, so I at least know they are compatable. I've tried to ID them, but its HARD! So many look alike! One is maybe a tangerine peacock only the face is white. The two other males and single female I'm pretty sure are also Aulnocaras. The only fish that looks different is a large, torpedo shaped blue fish (very faint greyish sripes, maybe 6?). I though he was an electric blue ahli (sp?) but what looksjust like my fish in one pic looks nothing like the fish in another pic. I am getting the feeding down because they are getting much bolder about eating in front of me. Before they would see me coming and hide! Good news is the tank is almost done cycling so I can slow down on water changes. Just with such a large tank, 4, 5 gallon buckets at 40lb a piece barely 10% water change!
As for what fish I want, I'd like colorful fish since I had saltwater fish for so long. I really would like a green fish if possible, but from what I've read Lake Malawi fish are mostly blue? I think most of the fish I have are peacock of some sort and like them pretty well (now that they aren't too shy to come out anymore!) Will post pics asap

[Lisachromis]

Looking forward to the pics!

[cichlidchick]

I finally got some good pics and will be posting them this weekend. My fish now recognize me as the source of food and are now far from shy so I'm getting to really examine them up close and notice all kinds of detail. I LOVE CICHLIDS!! The fish I got from the guy on craigs list were really healthy and in good shape, but now that I have been feeding them a really varied diet their colors are really popping and they are getting some new colors to them. I guess that means I'm doing something right! I bought one of the "misc African cichlids" from wal mart that was bright yellow and about an inch long. In only a few weeks, he has doubled in size and has turned light blue with gray striped and only has a hint of yellow on his fins. Only the single egg spot has remained bright yellow. I think its so cool watching him change like that. It makes me want to buy more juviniles just to see how they change! I bought 3 more small Malawi today from Incredipet. They are an auratus, a kenyi, and another whose name I didnt write down but the receipt says "dist aff" so I'm going to call tomorrow and get the name. I was assured they would get along with what I have now. I bought another Malawi juvie from petsmart and once again I have forgotten the name and will have to call. Right now he's drab but as an adult he should have a sort of rainbow dorsal fin that goes from blue to yellow ending in pinkish-red (I think). Next week I am going to Bluegrass aquatics because they look like they have some great fish and its not too bad of a drive from where I live. I see from their web page they ship a lot of fish. Has anyone bought from them? Ive emailed the owner and he's going to give me a time to come to the shop in person and has been really nice, plus they have much better prices than the stores around here!