"Clint" wrote in message
news:QjExe.89629$HI.12050@edtnps84...
I've kept fish for the last 5 years or so, and I think I'm ready to
start an African cichlid tank. For lack of something better, I'm
thinking of trying the 75 gallon recipe from
http://www.cichlidrecipe.com/cichlidrecipe/crp22.htm. The list is
somewhere close to 30 fish (approximately 10 trio's, which I'm sure
will get juggled around based on availability at the LFS).

The reading I've done suggests that a whack of cichlids should be
dropped in at about the same time, so you're not introducing new fish
into someone else's established territory. Makes sense, but how do you
get the tank ready for that many fish to be dumped into it? At an
approximate cost of $10/fish, I'm thinking that's a quick way to blow
$300, not to mention the carnage, and having to explain to the kids why
all the new fish are practising the backstroke. I don't have another
tank established right now that I can borrow media from, although I
guess I could push my wife to set up the 30 gallon tank, and hook my
larger filter to it for awhile. Still wouldn't be the same, though.
Or even close to the same (but better than nothing, I guess).

Also, what's the most economical way you guys have found to set up the
rockwork required for the Africans? The lacerock I've seen is quite
price, almost to the same price as live rock for marine tanks. Do you
guys (and gals) go get rock from local landscaping companies, or what?

Thanks for your input! Right now, I'm working on building the
tankstand for the 80 gallon tank. So at the rate I build things, I've
got a few months to think about it.

Clint


1) (if tank #1): Fill smaller tank with water, load to 5ppm with liquid
ammonia, turn on filter, leave lights off, turn heater on and then leave
it all alone. You now have 3 weeks to get everything else ready.

1-1/2) Ideally you start purchasing your fish from different locations
and putting them into bare-bottom quarantine tanks. Three weeks is a
nice quarantine. With other tanks running you significantly shorten and
simplify your cycle (as you know).

2) Plan logistics, tank location, filters, access for servicing, southern
sun exposure to avoid, stand, floor, GFI electrical power, access to
water etc.

3) Decorate. Visit construction sites, sign wavers to wander their lots
and bring home trunk/trailer loads of rocks. For large tanks or lots of
rockwork, avoid the LFS. Even quarries have better prices, including
gravel (depending on how you're buffering of course).

4) Lay down a thin sheet of styrofoam and start building the rockwork.
At the same time, plan/install all return/intake pipes, plastic/silk
plants and plan how the water will flow through the tank. I once build a
cardboard mock-up and built everything there, took pictures and then
transferred the design to the real tank. Takes longer but it's easier on
the back and safer on real glass. Note however that I'm a twisted
fish-aholic, and you shouldn't necessarily be listening to my advice ;~)

5) Fill with water, adjust heaters, turn on filters and let run a couple
of days. Then move aged filters (or media) from smaller tank. Introduce
between 100 and 120% of the fish quantity that you want as juveniles. It
might cost you a few hundred, but then you generally only need to spend
money on food, which is not so bad. If you can't introduce them all at
the same time, then do it in order of smallest/weakest/least territorial
to largest/strongest/most territorial added at night.

That's what works for me (but I do usually use quarantine tanks).
However there are lots of different ways to do it, as you will soon hear
about. Also your source of fish can be friends, clubs and online
purchasing, all of which would probably result in healthier fish to start
with.

ps: from concept to completion, my bigger tanks take about 3 months, so
you might be planning this just right.
--
www.NetMax.tk