Gill Passman wrote:
nut wrote:
Hi all

I have a tank with two small dempseys in it, with two filters - a
small external cannister and an internal powerhead filter.

When the water is filled to the top neither filter outputs produce
any air bubbles in the water, and only a small current... enough to
push debris around the tank, with a ripple on the surface.

Is this enough to keep the water from stagnating?

TIA



Hi nut,

You don't say what the size the tank is but I hope that it is large
enough to accomodate them as the JDs grow - otherwise you are in for
an upgrade ;-). Apart from Angels I don't have any SA cichlids at the
moment but do have Africans - from what I've read and my experience
with the Mbuna these fish are pretty messy so over-filtering is a
good idea IMHO - along with plenty of regular water changes and
gravel vacs...
Is there anything that makes you think that the water is stagnating?
For example an oily film on the surface or the water not smelling very
nice.....If not then your current set up is pretty much OK - and a
configuration that I use on a lot of my tanks - ie. one internal/one
external. I only ever add bubbles if the temperature in the tanks
rises too high in the summer - doesn't happen often in the
UK......Having done a quick google on JD's it appears that their
natural habit is slow moving water so you probably don't want to have
them living in a torrent from your filter outlets.....If you need to
break up any residue from the surface of the water try repositioning
one of the filter outlets upwards.....

Thanks for your reply Gill - and to the others who have offered their
advice.

I didn't think the water was stagnating, i was just concerned that, unless
it's getting enough oxygen & disturbance, it might... but i've since stuck a
bit of air hose on the powerhead so there's now some air bubbles getting
into the water.

The JDs are 4-5 months old... we're not 100% sure of their sex, but the
Alpha is now twice the size of the other (who, until recently, remained
hidded behind the filter) so we've called him Jack and the little one Jill.

Jack is now about 2" long, Jill is about 1".

They have their own 3 foot tank - just sand substrate & a 12" piece of
bogwood - which should do them for a year or two until they outgrow it.

In the past week or so they've started playing together and seem to be
getting on a lot better... Jack rarely chases her around the tank now and
has begun digging the sand up.

We've just picked up some live shrimp so they - and the convicts - are in
for a treat tonight... it's usually quite hard to find locally so they don't
get it much.




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