African Cichlids: Questions and Answers

African Cichlids: Questions and Answers

Written by various - compilation Monday, 15 October 2001 02:00

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A compilation from the African Cichlid List

This compilation is a work of Sandra and Allen, members of the Adrican Cichlid E-mail List. It contains abstracts from discussions held by list members. Names are not important as all members gave the green light to publish it. This compilation will be also available in other sites of List members. It is arranged in a Question and Answer FAQ type format.  It is in no particular order.  And as another member (Jenn) says, " Happy Cichliding!!!"

Q- Anyone have a good suggestion on homemade-lighted hoods?
A-If you have the back issue May 1996. On page 210 there is a excellent plan to build your own top and light. It give a detailed plan using plastic roof gutter material(plastic).I have followed the plan a made a lighting hood $8 inch long. I
estimate to have saved over $ 50.00.

Q- Can somebody give me an idea on equipment and materials to use to set up for fish breeding in my garage?
A- A breeder I know uses the following, a Sweetwater blower( but in your garage a linear air pump might suffice),  a large plastic tub/reservoir with lots of surface area, a couple large chunks of limestone to put in the reservoir, 40 lb bucket of Seachem Rift Lake cichlid salt, a Lifegard FB 900 fluidized bed filter, a large polybead filter like an ocean clear 354, a UV sterilizer (last in line before water goes back to the tanks), and a large pump for cycling the water and pushing it through all the devices and up to all the tanks.  You'll want to use pvc to carry the water.  Take it from the uv sterilizer and run it up above the tanks so that gravity will help you putting the water in all the tanks, and run the return pipes in the reverse pattern of this.  If you use a blower for the air, then you can use pvc pipes, a drill and tubing for the air dispersion.  It is a good idea to use a sponge filter in each tank.  You can use a protein skimmer in the setup but it is not totally necessary.  Remember, this setup I described is for serious fish production.  You also will want to find a good source of food and chemicals in bulk.  Hut is a good source for food, as well as www.jehmco.com, or you might be able to find your own for cheaper or in bigger quantities.  He uses tanks from 10 gal. on up to 150 gal. (not the show tank, but the 150 gal. that has lots of floor/bottom area.  Also, you will want some medicinal supplies on hand, though the UV sterilizer will help out.  You will want some kind of monitoring instruments that will give you a constant readout of the pH and hardness/ppm in the water.  Just off the top of my head I know pinpoint makes some. 

Q- Anyone know of a good book on Cichlids?
A- The bible on cichlid raising is, The Cichlid Aquarium by Paul Loiselle. A truly great book. My only criticism is his use of too many unusual adjectives.

Q- anyone have any good suggestions on Rock substitutes?
A- I'm hearing a lot about rocks in tanks today, You can get rocks made of resin at your garden center. These are good because they are large but weigh 1/2 the weight of normal rocks, and there texture allows for bacteria growth.

Q- I need some good suggestions on inducing breeding among my Tang shell dwelling Cichlids.
A- I have had African Cichlids for years. First of all  you must be sure that there is at least one male in your group. That part is obvious, but if occelatus are anything like my meleagris (pearly occelatus), my guys spawned as soon as I had an excess of males.  Coincidence maybe, but that's how it worked for me.  They also have to be at least one year old.

A-  I know next to nothing about the other lakes, but I do know that Tanganyikan waters are still and stay at the same temp pretty much year around.  They DO NOT like frequent water changes or temp fluctuations, and mine particularly hate when the new water is colder, but prefer it to be the
same or warmer.  I have read that you can kill shell dwellers (article in Cichlid Room Companion) by putting in new water that is too cool and warmer is preferable if you can't get it perfect.  Also change the diet of your fish. Use some freeze dry food.
Or live is even better.  Mine spawned on flakes, cichlid pellets, frozen bloodworms and brine shrimp, and live brine and the occasional chopped up earthworm.  I am sure freeze-dried will give them desired variety though and that is always good.
I am sure you have plenty of shells?  If everyone has a shell with some left over they should be happy.  I had a shell hog and had to put in 12 shells before all 3 of my guys could have a shell.  Ideally though 2 shells per fish should suffice.
My spawning was pretty much accidental so I am unsure of what did it for them.
My pH is 8.6 water hard (300ppm), temp 80 degrees Fahrenheit.  I do water changes, 10% every 2 weeks, no more than 20% every three weeks when I have particularly nasty sand vacuuming to do that I know will take awhile. 
I had no warning mine had spawned...2 males were hanging out with the female, then they left her alone, then there were fry, go figure :-) They had spawned right after one of the 20% water changes after going 3 weeks without one.
They were also over a year old, your may be younger than you think.
Are you sure the other fish are not posing a possible threat to fry?  They could be spawning and eating the eggs if they think they won't live.
HTH and good luck!  I also like Aquarian Fry Food.  Its put out by Mardel.  My guys seem to REALLY like this stuff as well as momma. 

Q- How can I get my Mbuna to spawn?
A- With Malawis or Victorians The best way to get your fish in the mood is do more frequent water changes.  Let the water change be several degree colder then gradually  increase it with your heater.

Q- Anyone know what mixes well with Labeotropheus trawavase, and has anyone ever been successful with the L. trawavase as far as breeding them?  Or I might have Ps. demasoni and want something colorful with them.  I like hot colors but some semblance of decent behavior among tank mates.
A- I kept L. trewavasae with Ps sp. "msobo"; Ps. elongatus, Ps "zebra OB" and Ps callainos "white", among other lake's fish only h. nyererei from Victoria. No crossing at all (till now) but this doesn't mean it won't ... It could happen!

A-I have never kept them, but I did get overrun with fulleborni. I would try something like I. springerae.  Scrappy enough to handle itself, but not over power the labeos. Plus, they should be different enough in color and pattern there should not be any hyper-dominance problems.

A- Trewavase is one mean hombre'. I put it in a class with the M. aurautus. Now the demasoni are a peaceful mbuna. I have one tank with them and Ps. flavus (but hard to find), and another with Ps (Maylandi) eastherae, M. maingano (has a new species name which I cannot spell), yellow labs, L. sp. perlmutt and a Ps. tropheops male. Oh yeah, I also have a Victorian Hap called a Hap. crossbar (really a nice red coloration in the male). It is a very peaceful tank as far a mbuna tanks go. It is a 75 by the way. The demasoni and flavus tank is really cool too since the flavus are yellow and black barred. The problem there is availability. I have some fry and am picking up an adult trio next month to broaden the gene pool. I bought mine at about 3/4" for $18 a piece! I like them and to me they are worth it for me. Hoping to have lots of fry for the ACA Convention.

Q- How forgiving are African's in the arena of temperatures?  What is their min and max?  I was told 75 to 80, but I think that is a little narrow.  Any opinions?
A-Malawi is more forgiving than Tanganyika. They both are fairly narrow range; I would not let them get below 72 at minimum or over 82 max for any length of time. Warmer would be better than cooler. The lakes are so stable they have a narrow comfort range and nothing lives in the oxygen depleted lower levels of the waters.