fishandchips Posted April 16, 2008 Report Share Posted April 16, 2008 Hey everyone. I have a 250L tank that i have set up for cichlids. At the moment it has a pair of e.yellows in it but am looking for cleaners to go with them. What do people keep with there cichlids to pick up the scraps (if any)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted April 16, 2008 Report Share Posted April 16, 2008 I have successfully used clown loaches and bristlenoses in the past Or you can just add some more africans no food goes uneaten in most of my tanks.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishandchips Posted April 16, 2008 Author Report Share Posted April 16, 2008 How do the clowns deal with the higher ph? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted April 16, 2008 Report Share Posted April 16, 2008 I never had a problem with them and have seen them in quite a few african tanks, I also found rainbow fish a cool thing to add.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishandchips Posted April 16, 2008 Author Report Share Posted April 16, 2008 Right off to the petshop then Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted April 16, 2008 Report Share Posted April 16, 2008 Just remember if you do buy clowns they are social and do better in groups of 3-4 plus they get alot more outgoing if you keep them in larger groups and school around the tank playing around. Also they will get white spot don't stress just keep an eye on it, I used to treat it with a little salt maybe 1T every 20L of water and if it was really bad (ie the fish were carrying it when you got them) I added a quarter mix of the wonder white spot med. Be careful because clown loaches have no scales (which is why they get white spot easily with stress) and some med's and salt can kill them. I found that even though the clown's got white spot it didn't get passed onto my africans at all probably because they weren't stressed. Good luck and post some pics once you've decided what your going to add Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishandchips Posted April 16, 2008 Author Report Share Posted April 16, 2008 I was thinking three as it is a small tank for clowns and when they get bigger i will either get a bigger tank or sell them then get some more small one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted April 16, 2008 Report Share Posted April 16, 2008 Don't worry about clowns outgrowing that tank it would take them years and by that time they will have a higher resale value or you will be ready to upgrade tanks to get some bigger and better africans.. Cories are good cleaners but probably not so good with africans I have seen them with africans but they had ragged fins from being beaten up and some were one or none eye'd, you may get away with it with yellow's though but if you wanted to add any different more colourful africans you may have trouble.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David R Posted April 17, 2008 Report Share Posted April 17, 2008 So people stress out about africans being kept at lower pH, but are happy to put clown loaches or cories in high pH? :-? I'd suggest keeping the pH between 7.5 and 8 if you're got asian or south americans for the clean up crew. In reality it could probably be lower still and the africans will be fine and everyone will be happier. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted April 17, 2008 Report Share Posted April 17, 2008 lol I guess you can go as hard out as you want to on everything.. I just try and keep my ph above 7 but at the end of the day I don't actually measure it and everything is happy and breeding so no need for me to stress Thats a random mix you have mystic it never ceases to amaze me what works and what doesn't there are so many variables that determine if fish will get on or not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peanut2110 Posted April 17, 2008 Report Share Posted April 17, 2008 hi fishandchips! I have a BN, a CAE and 4 clown loaches and they seem to work really well. The clowns were in a ph of 7 when I got them and I keep my ph at 7.8 so I made sure to adjust them slowly over a good 2-3 hours. They didn't get white spot either (even though I had rescued them from a tank in my LFS where all their tankmates were dropping like flys!) but I did turn the temp up for a good couple of weeks and added some salt and an airstone... Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
doch Posted April 17, 2008 Report Share Posted April 17, 2008 i have keep lots of clowns the are good and love a very more high ph i found they will be the fist to tell you their ph is to low Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fishandchips Posted April 17, 2008 Author Report Share Posted April 17, 2008 Well the tank now has three hyper clown loaches. They are awesome, I would get some photos but i cant get them password works firewall Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David R Posted April 17, 2008 Report Share Posted April 17, 2008 i have keep lots of clowns the are good and love a very more high ph i found they will be the fist to tell you their ph is to low Strange, considering that they come from soft, acidic (sometimes even bordering on blackwater) streams and rivers. This article is quite interesting, written from a loach-fanatic's perspective rather than an african cichlid fanatic. I guess it just helps prove my point that while some people are fanatical about replicating the exact water conditions of the fishes natural habitat it is by no means essential for their health, and having a consistant pH is far better than having it jumping up and down while you try to get it to within 0.02 of the average pH of the specific location of lake tanganyika your fish come from. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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