My first ever cichlids!!

Hello,

I have jumped in at the deep end and purchased 10 lake malawi (I hope)
cichlids for my 260 litre aquarium. I went to the LFS, and asked for 10
compatible lake milawi's, and he gave me a nice selection of small fishes.
He said they would fight over territory and I should have suffecient hiding
places, so I also purchased £100 of aquarium decor rocks. Some sandstone,
and a large bunch of lava rock. Also some nice marble rock. I also added a
"Fluval 4 plus" internal filter to help maintain water quality and provide a
strong current.

Anyway, he says I should sooner before later add my final selection of fish,
he reckons another 10 - 15 would be plenty for the aquarium. He says if I
wait too long, the first fish will stress the new comers out and potentially
kill them.


I can only identify these fish so far:
3 x : http://www.hagblomfoto.com/auratus.htm
They are yellow barred at the moment, I believe as they grow, the colours
change. The 3 of them are bickering over the biggest cave, and one of them
seems to be the dominant fish in the tank at the moment. These are lovely
fish! They all look identical, not sure if male or female.

The other 7 fish, I will take pictures of and post them to my site so you
guys can help identify. The fish shop guy told me the names of them, but
they are long scientific names and I have forgotten.

Regards,

Gary.

"Gary" wrote in message
...
Hello,

I have jumped in at the deep end and purchased 10 lake malawi (I hope)
cichlids for my 260 litre aquarium. I went to the LFS, and asked for 10
compatible lake milawi's, and he gave me a nice selection of small fishes.
He said they would fight over territory and I should have suffecient
hiding
places, so I also purchased £100 of aquarium decor rocks. Some sandstone,
and a large bunch of lava rock. Also some nice marble rock. I also added
a
"Fluval 4 plus" internal filter to help maintain water quality and provide
a
strong current.

Anyway, he says I should sooner before later add my final selection of
fish,
he reckons another 10 - 15 would be plenty for the aquarium. He says if I
wait too long, the first fish will stress the new comers out and
potentially
kill them.



with cichlids you should always try to add them at the same time. They will
stake out their territory right away. Then any new entries into the tank
will be harrassed to death as they try to find a place to hide and find them
all taken already.

--

Margolis
http://web.archive.org/web/200302152...qs/AGQ2FAQ.htm
http://www.unrealtower.org/faq

with cichlids you should always try to add them at the same time. They
will
stake out their territory right away. Then any new entries into the tank
will be harrassed to death as they try to find a place to hide and find
them
all taken already.



OK,

So if I am to add another ten fish, I should do so ASAP? Had the existing
ten for 3 or 4 days now. What I will do is when addintg the next batch,
upset the decor and move the material around to confuse the fish, and then
add some more rocks too to create additional hiding spaces.

Regards,

Gary.

"Gary" wrote in message
...
with cichlids you should always try to add them at the same time. They
will
stake out their territory right away. Then any new entries into the tank
will be harrassed to death as they try to find a place to hide and find
them
all taken already.



OK,

So if I am to add another ten fish, I should do so ASAP? Had the existing
ten for 3 or 4 days now. What I will do is when addintg the next batch,
upset the decor and move the material around to confuse the fish, and then
add some more rocks too to create additional hiding spaces.

Regards,

Gary.


Just watch for Nitrate and Ammonia spikes! Putting so many fish at once will
cause havoc to the biological balance of your tank.

Hi Dan,

I will keep a watchful eye. I have had my 100 litre tank up and running for
a few months, and I do a 30% - 50% twice a week, to try and be on the safe
side. I will do the same with the Cichlid tank. It also houses two
powerful filters.

Regards,

Gary.

You went in asking for compatible community Malawi Cichlids and they sold you M auratus... I'd be looking for another LFS.

Am I to expect future problems? They are fine at the moment, and they all came from the same tank. They chap said as long as plenty of hiding spaces, then they will all establish a pecking order and get on with it.

Gary.
"Phil" wrote in message ...
You went in asking for compatible community Malawi Cichlids and they sold you M auratus... I'd be looking for another LFS.

On Thu, 23 Dec 2004 13:36:49 GMT, "Gary"
wrote:

Am I to expect future problems? They are fine at the moment, and they all came from the same tank. They chap said as long as plenty of hiding spaces, then they will all establish a pecking order and get on with it.


Auratus are moderately aggressive. The dominant male (the one that
turns dark first) will try to kill any other males but may tolerate
females. If you pack them in and have a few hiding places at the
surface you will have less problems. Make an island with rocks all the
way to the surface.


Steve
--
EasyNN-plus. The easy way to build neural networks.
http://www.easynn.com

Auratus are moderately aggressive. The dominant male (the one that
turns dark first) will try to kill any other males but may tolerate
females. If you pack them in and have a few hiding places at the
surface you will have less problems. Make an island with rocks all the
way to the surface.



Hi Steve,

There must be almost 100 hidy holes at the moment, I will post a few pics.
When you say make an island, work from the centre of the aquarium up to the
top?
AT the moment, I have heavily loaded the entire back wall with Marble Rock,
Sand Stone and SHED LOADS of Lava Rock.

I will post a pic of feeding time, and as well as seeing the rockery, you
can help me identify the other fish too! (If you can be bothered)

Gary.

On Thu, 23 Dec 2004 15:00:24 GMT, "Gary"
wrote:

Auratus are moderately aggressive. The dominant male (the one that
turns dark first) will try to kill any other males but may tolerate
females. If you pack them in and have a few hiding places at the
surface you will have less problems. Make an island with rocks all the
way to the surface.



Hi Steve,

There must be almost 100 hidy holes at the moment, I will post a few pics.
When you say make an island, work from the centre of the aquarium up to the
top?

It not the number of hidy holes that count, it is the position so that
fish in trouble can escape.

I use a pile of large boulders up the rear corners of the tanks. That
way it is easy to make an island (or two) without displacing too much
water.

AT the moment, I have heavily loaded the entire back wall with Marble Rock,
Sand Stone and SHED LOADS of Lava Rock.

I will post a pic of feeding time, and as well as seeing the rockery, you
can help me identify the other fish too! (If you can be bothered)


I'll have a look later.


Steve
--
EasyNN-plus. The easy way to build neural networks.
http://www.easynn.com