Jasmine Posted December 2, 2006 Report Share Posted December 2, 2006 Hey all, I'm an ex-tropical owner, who bred crowntail bettas. However, I'm wanting to move up to something more of a challenge and the cichlids have caught my eye, mainly the Oscars. I was told however, that Oscars are American and the rest I was looking at was African, and they have different water requirements. I didn't realise this and want to learn more. I want to learn as much as I can before I go around purchasing a tank, supplies etc for them. Can you tell me the pros and cons of each (American and African), and maybe what kind of fish each have (is one known to be more colourful? Bigger fish? etc)? I may think of more questions to ask, I'm just doing a lot of reading at the moment. Thanks, Jasmine EDIT: After looking at species pictures, I think I'm definitely leaning towards the Africans. What size tank would I need minimally? Was looking at 1200cm long one. I'm thinking I prefer the rock dwellers but not completely certain what I'd want yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharn Posted December 3, 2006 Report Share Posted December 3, 2006 i am an oscar fan myself. oscars will need a larger tank than africans (due to their adult size and waste output) however not many fish match up to the oscar personality wise, they are very much like a cat or dog and will become part of the family very quickly. for an oscar you want a minimum of 250L. oscars are very tolerant of water params. africans are alot prettier colour wise, they can be more heavily stocked, need less room and can be mixed with more species. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishy_t Posted December 3, 2006 Report Share Posted December 3, 2006 Go Africans! I'm a fan of African's (from Lake Tanganyika to be more precise)!! Awesome fish with loads of great aspects. Can be found with adult sizes ranging from small 15cm rock dwelling species to larger species like Frontosa's which get to about 40cm. I've got 5 Species of Tang's and absolutely love them. One example of how cool they are is that some of the species such as Neolamprologus pulcher not only care for their young as in most cichlids, but each generation cares for the next with means you end up with a whole family group living together with all different sizes - this is pretty rare for the smaller cichlids... Either way Cichlids rock! Check out http://www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/ for unbiased profiles on all cichlid species from anywhere in the world - just keep in mind we can only get a fraction of them in NZ (BTW - my avatar pic is one of my baby Frontosas - really stunning fish with personalities that easly match Oscars - not that I'm saying I don't like Oscars!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quack Posted December 3, 2006 Report Share Posted December 3, 2006 i have an afican mbuma tank and also an american tank with 3 oscars and a few buddys. the africans are really pretty and colourful but the oscars are by far my fav! like sharn said they are pretty much part of the family! they also come in many different colours and parterns. heres my "puppys" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishy_t Posted December 3, 2006 Report Share Posted December 3, 2006 Keep in mind that mbuma are from Lake Malawi in Africa - Cichlids from Lake Tanganyika are FAR more diverse (genetically) and there fore much more interesting... IMO! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jasmine Posted December 4, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 4, 2006 Thanks for that, I see a lot of people use sand for the Africans, how is this to clean? I'm used to using a gravel vacuum thingie. Also, can sand be purchased from fish stores too? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rollergirl Posted December 4, 2006 Report Share Posted December 4, 2006 Thanks for that, I see a lot of people use sand for the Africans, how is this to clean? I'm used to using a gravel vacuum thingie. Also, can sand be purchased from fish stores too? I have just set up a tank intended for malawis and am waiting on the cycle to finish..I used 2mm aragonite which I got for about $45 for a 25kg bag from Hollywoods, this is basically marble chip and it looks really pretty, nice and white at the moment (but will no doubt be messy once the tank is stocked! ) The good thing is that it buffers the water which means I won't have to keep lifting the ph for them. In regards to cleaning it I don't know what it will be like with malawis but I do use it for my marine set up and you can just vac it like normal with a syphon if it gets messy and it comes up pretty clean, (although I don't actually even do this anymore as I'm trying to grow little pods on it to feed my wrasse...But it worked well when I did) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishy_t Posted December 4, 2006 Report Share Posted December 4, 2006 I've found sand is almost as easy as gravel, it helps to slope it slightly towards the front as the then most of the solids waists fall down to the front. You can use a large gravel vac as normal and all but the smallest particles drop back down like the gravel does. I use river sand which I collect myself but you can buy lots of types from garden centres (don't pay more than $10 for a 20l bag!). Aragonite is great if you can get some (and I should really get onto it :oops: !) but using Limestone as rockwork does pretty much the same thing - keep in mind one or both of these is a must for Rift Lake Cichlids (AKA Africans) as Rollergirl said, to naturally buffer the pH. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jasmine Posted December 4, 2006 Author Report Share Posted December 4, 2006 Okay, thanks for that Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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