My son has poached most of my little fish from my community tank for his little 2ft tank in his room (mummy I think I will have those fish please...). I am now a little undecided about where to go from here. I have in my 200L community tank, among other fish, 2 severums. They have now started eating the plants (yeah yeah told you so etc). The other day at the dentist I saw an awesome cichlid set up and now I can't get it out of my head. It had a black background and white sand and just rocks and it looked stunning. The cichlids were so beautiful and so active. So before I buy any more fish for my planted community tank and give away the severums, I am wondering whether instead I should move my plants to my son's tank and go cichlid all the way. Why do people choose cichlids over a community tank? And out of what I have left in my tank apart from the severums, which, if any, would be ok in a cichlid tank and the higher PH required? BGK, pictus cat, spiny eel, glass cats, plec.m I really love the look of some of the fish Johannes is selling. Sorry if I sound really naïve when it comes to this!

i chose cichlid because of their character and that they are always so energetic. Plus mine seem to know me and follow as i walk past their tank. J does have some awesome looking fish its a shame that they are in auckland otherwise id have loads more tank and fish

The only one of your fish that may do ok in an african tank is the pictus.. You could adjust the ph slowely upto 7.5 or so and all the others would live the BGK may look after itself but the others wouldn't handle the aggression..

I went for africans because they're easy to keep, easy to breed and colourful with so much attitude..

With a 200L tank be very careful what you stick in it as some africans will outgrow it eventually. You could do a wicked demasoni/yellows/peacock tank

I was going to visit friends in Te Kuiti some time soon and could feasably come home to Welly via Auckland (sure it's only a 5 hour or so detour from TK!) but also Bulls isn't far to get to ryanjury!

I have said many times before people are welcome to come and say hi see my fishroom and fish and point out some fish they like and I can give some indication on if they might work together

I have said many times before people are welcome to come and say hi see my fishroom and fish and point out some fish they like and I can give some indication on if they might work together

That sounds like a fabbo idea. I will be in contact over the next few weeks! :bounce:

Why not have cichlids and plants?

Sounds good hopefully I can help you make up your mind.

You can do cichlids and plants I haven't experimented with it but others have my plants tend to all die or get eat/uprooted so much they just die off..

I think this tank has the making to be a very very nice looking tank it is IMO one of the best mixes for colour price etc for a smaller tank would love to see some updated pic's..

http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/1-vt27 ... sc&start=0

Yeah that does look cool. I am not sure about the bricks, not natural enough for me, but it still looks wicked. I really like the look of giraffes and blue dolphins. Your peacocks sound amazing too. I will work on moving my fishies around and then come up and see you!

That tank looks great! The bricks could have been dumped into the lake by someone living there, (although they probably wouldn't have been stacked so neatly) so maybe not entirely un-natural?

That tank looks great! The bricks could have been dumped into the lake by someone living there, (although they probably wouldn't have been stacked so neatly) so maybe not entirely un-natural?

Hmm that is true, if I only could get hold of an old shopping trolley from New World... :lol:

Bricks are kinda natural But yeah you get the idea..

Unfortunately giraffes and dolphins will outgrow your tank, giraffes rather fast but dolphins will hang on there, if you did want to keep them im sure there would be no problems with you growing them out in there but you would have to rehome them when you ran into problems, which you shouldn't have any problems doing if you wanted to go down that road

Bricks are kinda natural But yeah you get the idea..

Unfortunately giraffes and dolphins will outgrow your tank, giraffes rather fast but dolphins will hang on there, if you did want to keep them im sure there would be no problems with you growing them out in there but you would have to rehome them when you ran into problems, which you shouldn't have any problems doing if you wanted to go down that road

Hmm what about peacocks then? I would prefer to have fish I am not going to have to rehome. If I get a bigger tank, my husband might rehome me. Plus I do get attached to my fishies.

Peacocks would be good. But only stick with one type your tanks probably too small to deal with agro males, and that way if they breed you can guarantee they're pure and pass on any babies with confidence.

Ktttk's tank is around 200L 3ft so its some indication of what you can do.

(mummy I think I will have those fish please...).

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

What I like about they give so many hiding places!

Well, I still don't have my 55 gallon set up which in a way is good because I haven't a clue what I want to put in it!

Keep us updated and let us know what you decide!

Caper

Ok so I will read up about peacocks and once I have moved my current fish out, how to I acclimatise my pictus and BGK to a higher PH, how do I raise it slowly? I would like to have a white substrate, crushed coral or silica sand. Which do you recommend?

Heres some reading on peacocks They're easy to keep fish, relatively peaceful you only run into aggression problems with rival males that look similair which is why I suggest to only keep on strain. The main problem with peacocks (well my main problem) is people who mix them and breed them and then sell the babies on as pure

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/p ... corner.php

And I believe (correct me if im wrong) that silica sand wont change the PH? I would use some crushed coral or argonite (sp?) to buffer the water, you can add it in with your existing substrate (but it will likely be lost forever) gradually to raise the ph.. Or dump all your substrate out and start again with all coral sand. Then aclimitise your fish back into the tank gradually.

if you are unable to decide and want to see what peacocks look like fully grown you are more than welcome to come and see my tanks,it will give you an idea or two to take home and ponder

I'd take Glenn up on his offer He has more peacocks than me

if you are unable to decide and want to see what peacocks look like fully grown you are more than welcome to come and see my tanks,it will give you an idea or two to take home and ponder

Oooh I'd love to do that. Just gotta figure out when. I met you (Karen) in Hutt Pets a couple of weekends ago.

yes you meet me - but it was the hubby that posted that (Glenn) he is the one into the cichlids - I have planted community tanks.

Karen

ok so next question, where is the best (cheapest?) place to buy argonite or crushed coral?

Hi ya, I have your E.Yellows =)

This is what my cichlid tank looks like;

They tend to hide when the camera comes out.

You can sometimes find it on trademe or else a shop should be able to get it in its not cheap though..

Danilada - nice tank lol wheres the fish?