Mr McFish Posted July 5, 2009 Report Share Posted July 5, 2009 I am thinking of setting up an african tank but we are on rain water. I have been reading that they like hard water with a higher ph will rain water be allright if I had some lime stone in the tank. Also are there any africans that are particualy good for beginers? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted July 5, 2009 Report Share Posted July 5, 2009 Rain water would be fine if you buffered it with something in the tank you may even have to make up a buffer recipe like here http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/buffer_recipe.php As for species most of them are alright, tangs tend to be a little more sensitive but still very easy to keep.. How big is your tank? Feel free to drop over again if you want if you can remember I have quite a few tanks of africans here I forgot to ask how big is the tank you are planning? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr McFish Posted July 5, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 5, 2009 Hi still looking for a tank at the moment looking at one thats 180 liters that comes as a full set up. I was thinking a few buffalo cichlids but unsure hoe difficult they are to keep. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted July 5, 2009 Report Share Posted July 5, 2009 180L will be good for the lump heads they are very hardy as well but it is on the small side for africans so you will need to be careful with what you end up stocking with if you want it to work out long term.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwiplymouth Posted July 5, 2009 Report Share Posted July 5, 2009 This is my new 5 foot 550L African tank. Ok so it doesn't have africans in it yet but it is fully cycled using south americans. I am on rain water too so i added approx 5L of shell to the gravel and about 2kg of coral rock to the tank. I also throw in the odd cuttlefish bone. I can easily maintain the PH at 7.4 - 7.8 as well as keeping the GH and KH at a level that keep most africans happy. I hope this helps Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr McFish Posted July 5, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 5, 2009 Cool I was just thinking of going for a simple tank with just them. How many could I have in a tank that size? I also thought that the ph could be a bit higher due to having a concrete water tank would this raise the ph? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr McFish Posted July 5, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 5, 2009 That tank looks nice what are the gold coloured rocks on the right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted July 5, 2009 Report Share Posted July 5, 2009 A simple tank with just lumpheads would be pretty boring they are cool fish but not very colourful, it would probably cause problems when they grow bigger as they are pair forming and pairs would form smashing all the other fish up when they are breeding. If you wanted just lionheads they are not a rift lake species they live in african rivers and actually prefer milder conditions to the rift lake fish.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwiplymouth Posted July 5, 2009 Report Share Posted July 5, 2009 That tank looks nice what are the gold coloured rocks on the right? Cheers, Im no geologist but I would would call it Quartz or Quartzite. The yellowing is just staining caused by weathering or from being in the river that i grabbed them from Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David R Posted July 5, 2009 Report Share Posted July 5, 2009 Hi still looking for a tank at the moment looking at one thats 180 liters that comes as a full set up. I was thinking a few buffalo cichlids but unsure hoe difficult they are to keep. As Ryan said, not all african cichlids come from rift lakes with hard water. Buffalo heads come from the congo river basin and prefer neutral to acidic water. Would be good in a riverine biotope tank with kribs, congo tetras, bichirs (smaller species), ctenopoma, etc. Sandy substrate, driftwood, anubias etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr McFish Posted July 6, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 6, 2009 What is the smallest bichir you can get and would one be allright with lump heads? I thought 180 would be to small for one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firenzenz Posted July 6, 2009 Report Share Posted July 6, 2009 I'm with David Congo's and bichir in with the Lionheads. Even a bigger Syno. Buffering your water naturally will do the trick just by the substrate and even chucking like coral bits in your biofilter, but the fish you are putting in are high PH anyway. That setup could even handle a few plants as the anubias suggested or even java fern and would be one cool looking tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David R Posted July 6, 2009 Report Share Posted July 6, 2009 What is the smallest bichir you can get and would one be allright with lump heads? I thought 180 would be to small for one. 180 what? Most of the smaller upper jaw species (senegal, delhezi, palmas) we get should be fine with larger lumpheads. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr McFish Posted July 6, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 6, 2009 180 liters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenix44 Posted July 6, 2009 Report Share Posted July 6, 2009 yeah man.. always buffer the water and adjust the kH naturally. I hate those pH up, down, proper rubbish products. I hope they get banned! grrr.. lol (clearly im not a supporter ha ha) use shells (bird grit), corals, limestone etc and the fish will be happy as. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr McFish Posted July 6, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 6, 2009 So if I use beach sand thats close to the shore with shells through it would that be enough to buffer it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenix44 Posted July 6, 2009 Report Share Posted July 6, 2009 set the tank up with a nice healthy amount of that stuff, and add the water etc and see what happens. its hard to know without knowing how much shell is in the sand, and the kH of the water after adding the shell sand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted July 6, 2009 Report Share Posted July 6, 2009 The beach stuff might be alright as phoenix said give it a go.. Adding buffers etc to your water works well and there is no big problem with it you just have to know what you are doing and know what you are trying to achieve so you don't do it wrong. Have you done any research into what the natural conditions lump heads prefer? There might be no real need to muck around with the water at all.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David R Posted July 6, 2009 Report Share Posted July 6, 2009 use shells (bird grit), corals, limestone etc and the fish will be happy as. unless they don't actually come from hard water environments... :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr McFish Posted July 6, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 6, 2009 I read they can live in a ph of 5-8 and are not to fusy as long as its clean and has good circulation from a filter to help simulat the river they live in. I was thinking I could get away with out using buffering the water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David R Posted July 6, 2009 Report Share Posted July 6, 2009 Most likely, most fish unless wild caught are more tolerant of "average" water parameters. If your tank water is quite acidic I'd suggest putting some coral or shell in the tank to help stop the pH from dropping further, but wouldn't worry about buffering it when doing a water change. Its much better to have it consistent than right on what some expert says they experience in habitat... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanjury Posted July 6, 2009 Report Share Posted July 6, 2009 Yeah I think you could too.. However with rainwater with a low KH you may get PH swings so you might want to watch that.. I mix my rain water with my very hard tap water to give it some stability even though the fish it is for prefer the water soft and acidic better to have it a little harder and stable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phoenix44 Posted July 6, 2009 Report Share Posted July 6, 2009 unless they don't actually come from hard water environments... :lol: that would be a determining factor, yes :lol: but seriously, I had real problems with my tank when i first got the africans - the soft water only sustained a low pH. when i raised the KH everything sorted itself, and the fish were visually more lively. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr McFish Posted July 7, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 7, 2009 So if I buffer it with some shells in the filter it should stop the ph dropping more? . Ive never had an issue with ph in my other tanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
firenzenz Posted July 7, 2009 Report Share Posted July 7, 2009 Yeah- oyster shell or coral bits will just add a bit of alkalinity to the tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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