plant-friendly cichlids?

[Michael Grossman]

Are there any cichlids, other than the most obvious rams, angelfish, and
keyholes that do not dig? I find cichlids interesting, but I like to have
plants in my tanks and prefer to do the aquascaping myself. Maybe some
kind of shell dwellers?

Please only respond if you actually have experience with the fish; I can
google as well as anybody. USENET is fun because you get to talk to real
people. I wanna hear some fish stories! :)

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[>]

On Fri, 27 Nov 2009 16:17:06 -0000, Michael Grossman
> wrote:

> Are there any cichlids, other than the most obvious rams, angelfish, and
> keyholes that do not dig? I find cichlids interesting, but I like to
> have
> plants in my tanks and prefer to do the aquascaping myself. Maybe some
> kind of shell dwellers?
>
> Please only respond if you actually have experience with the fish; I can
> google as well as anybody. USENET is fun because you get to talk to real
> people. I wanna hear some fish stories! :)
>

Hi,

I used to keep neolamprologus multifasciatus which are a small (about 1"
max) Lake Tanganyika shell dweller.
They breed readily - males in shells with eggs til young fry emerge.
Fine with plants but now the dilemma - Tangies like hard alkaline water;
most plants don't.
So you need to find what plants are OK with these water conditions.
Java fern seems to tolerate most water conditions.

Best bet if you want full choice of plants and keep water acid & soft is
to look at the African dwarf cichlids.
The Apistogramma family has many more species than you'd 1st imagine and
most grow 2" max. Many stop at 1.5".
Smaller cichlids don't tend to dig but like some rock work and caves to go
hide and breed in.

Some others:
Another famous cichlid OK with plants: Discus
Similar to angels are Flag cichlids, also don't dig.
African lumpheads OK too.

[Stephen Wolstenholme]

On Fri, 27 Nov 2009 17:12:09 -0000, ><(((°> >
wrote:

>On Fri, 27 Nov 2009 16:17:06 -0000, Michael Grossman
> wrote:
>
>> Are there any cichlids, other than the most obvious rams, angelfish, and
>> keyholes that do not dig? I find cichlids interesting, but I like to
>> have
>> plants in my tanks and prefer to do the aquascaping myself. Maybe some
>> kind of shell dwellers?
>>
>> Please only respond if you actually have experience with the fish; I can
>> google as well as anybody. USENET is fun because you get to talk to real
>> people. I wanna hear some fish stories! :)
>>
>
>Hi,
>
>I used to keep neolamprologus multifasciatus which are a small (about 1"
>max) Lake Tanganyika shell dweller.
>They breed readily - males in shells with eggs til young fry emerge.
>Fine with plants but now the dilemma - Tangies like hard alkaline water;
>most plants don't.
>So you need to find what plants are OK with these water conditions.
>Java fern seems to tolerate most water conditions.
>

Other Tanganyika cichlids that do well in planted tanks and don't dig
are Cyprichromis. The problems with plants in alkaline water is not
easy to solve. What I did was get one of those big bunches of mixed
plants and just stuck it in the tanks. It was obvious within a week
which plants were going to dies so I took those out. The ones that
remain are doing well. If I knew anything about plant I would be able
to say what they are :)

Steve

--
Neural Planner Software Ltd www.NPSL1.com

[JK Coney]

"Michael Grossman" > wrote in message
...
> Are there any cichlids, other than the most obvious rams, angelfish, and
> keyholes that do not dig? I find cichlids interesting, but I like to have
> plants in my tanks and prefer to do the aquascaping myself. Maybe some
> kind of shell dwellers?
>
> Please only respond if you actually have experience with the fish; I can
> google as well as anybody. USENET is fun because you get to talk to real
> people. I wanna hear some fish stories! :)
>


I had good luck with gold severums. They only dug a small hole to
transfer the fry, but pretty much left the plants alone.


--
JK Sinrod
myconeyislandmemories.com