New Malawi Cichlids Member

Done. 100L out and 100L tap water with correct amount of stresscoat back in. Light turned off so as not to stress them as recommended (thought they'd like some light) and postponed feeding them for at least another 24 hours.

My wife has often prevented me from going out for a few beers on a Friday night and similarly if the kids were sick or whatever but never in a million years did I think some fish would prevent me having a few pints on a Friday night!!!

get use to it man......

look at me 4 kids and 3 tanks later and here I am on a friday night wondering why the cement won't stick to my DIY cave

Just a quick update to say I'm totally into this now. Spent the last two weeks alternating between panic when a couple of fish died and water test results looked bad to elation as I can now see the fish are all happy, healthy and really doing well.

I've received a lot of help here and just wanted to say thanks to everyone. I also want to publicly say thanks to Damien O'Kelly of www.aquaclear.ie who was fantastic to deal with especially for a novice like myself. He is professional, delivers what he promises when he promises it and is very responsive to all the questions I've had over the past two weeks regardless of how basic they were. I highly recommend him.

A month in now and couldn't be happier with my new hobby. All the family love the tank and it's a central part of our life now. What's happening with the fish is discussed with the kids and they love spotting the two new rusty plecos we intorduced two weeks ago who are thriving. All seem very well, fish getting bigger and seem well settled.

Did a large water change today (50% or so) becuase I got the following readings:-

Ammonia - 0
Nitrate - 20
Nitrite - 0.50
PH - 7.8

Any comments on the readings anyone? Do they reflect a fully cycled system now?

Good to hear they are doing well - nitrite should be zero so you need to keep a close eye on that!!

Hi Dwarf, do I need to worry at all about the Nitrate?

Hi Ben,

Glad to see everyones happy with the tank.

Nitrites the one to worry about, I'd check it again in the morning and if it's not 0 do another water change. Nitrates 10-20ppm can be tolerated but not for to long.

How often are you doing the water changes.

Hi all,

Must be doing something right I guess becuase two of the orange female ‘Pseudotropheus saulosi’ are pregnant if that's what you call it when they are carrying their young in their mouth? Can't believe less than two months into this there's going to be babies!!

All the others are growing well and behaving (relatively) well and the plants are growing well to so I guess all is well. The last reading I did a few days ago was Ammonia 0, Nitrites 0, Nitrates 20, PH 7.8. I wasn't planning to do a water change until the weekend but do I need to if the Nitrates are 20?

I introduced two juvinile Rusty Plecos 3 weeks ago and they have settled in very well so I'm giving them part of the credit for keeping the overall environment in good shape.

Comments or suggestions anyone? In terms of the babies I'm just planning to let nature take it's course, is that the right thing to do or should I intervene in any way?

Congrads Ben,
It's a great feeling to see them \"holding\".

Nitrates at that level can be tolerated so if you don't have time now the weekend would be ok.

Don't be to surprised if the females accidentally swallow the little cotton balls due to inexperience.

Keep us posted.....
Mark

Well Done Ben, welcome to the addiction that is this hobby, if you have a small tank i'd save what fry you can and grow them on in that otherwise you can \"let nature take its course\" and see what happens its your choice, or had more rockwork to provide more hiding places for the fry when they are released (if they are, first spawnings can be notorious for being eaten by inexperienced mothers).. best of luck with the tank, keep doing regular water changes and things will go well for you, let us know how things go
Seamus

Hello all,

Two and a half months in and still delighted with everything.

The two \"holding\" fish are no longer holding and there is nosign of little ones so I guess they were either eaten by the young mothers or became a midnight feast for the whole tank. Should I expect this result every time or are young mothers more successful second time round? When can I expect them to spawn (if that's even the correct word) again?

Was away last weekend so ended up not doing a water change for three weeks. Was a little nervous that the readings would be high but they came in:-

Nitrate 20
Nitrite 0
Ammonia 0
PH 8.0.

Is this a result of the size/set up of the tank? Would a maintenance schedule of 50% water change every three weeks with a full filter clean every six weeks be appropriate or am I just being lazy? The water change alone (inc tank clean etc) takes 90 minutes as it takes that long to remove 200 litres so if every three weeks was OK that would help.

The other thing which sounds weird but I nevertheless would appreciate some input on is whether or not the blue flourescent tubes ever turn white? I thought I had two blue tubes in my lighting system but when I turned it on as I was putting everything back in place I noticed that one tube was lighting blue but one was lighting white. I might be losing the plot all together and perhaps the set up was one blue and one white all along but I'm a bit worried that the white light will give off too much glare.

Looking forward to the replies.

Ben

Hi all,

Added 8 new juveniles to the tank 3 weeks ago (from the Pet Shop in Dun Laoire) and they seemed to settle in pretty quickly. I rearranged the rocks a little beforehand and did a water change a couple of days later. All seemed well until I did another 30% water change on Saturday and noticed that for the first time since the tank did its initial cycle Ammonia was up to 1.0 with Nitrate reading 20 and Nitrite 0. Came home today (3 days later) planning to check the water readings again and found one of the juvenile rusty cichlids floating. Immediately tested the water and it's reading Ammonia 0.50, Nitrate 40 and Nitrite 0.

I've already started another 30% water change but my main concern is to find out what's causing thisand address it as we are heading off on 2 weeks holiday in a weeks time and whilst I have someone who can make sure the tank is plugged in and the food dispenser is working OK they wouldn't be able to do water changes etc.

REALLY need some expert guidance from the members here please? Could the introduction of the new fish be the cause of this? The only other changes to the tank since it stabilised after setup are that one of the large rocks in the tank seems to be turning a dark grey/black in spots (could it be oozing some sort of mineral?) and I've introduced two little man made shells designed for spiders to 'cave' in but which I've used as little cranny's for the smaller fish to lurk in and/or those 'holding' of which I currently have 2.

Any and all help/advice/suggestions welcome. I'm still very much a newbie so don't want my ignorance to cause a major problem.

Regards,

Ben

Hi,

Sorry to hear you're having problems.
I wouldn't think your ammonia is due to rocks or anything like that.
More likely you have a dead fish somewhere that is decomposing.

It could be stuck in between rocks somewhere or possibly have been sucked into your filter (depending on whether this is possible with the type of filter you have).

I would take out the rocks, stir up all of the sand in the tank to release any trapped gases (you should really do this with each water change).
Then do a water change & clean your external filter if you think it might be due a clean or if there is a possibility that fish may have been sucked in.

Also, hold back on feeding until you get the ammonia down.

Good luck!

-Patrick

Yeah I agree, whip the rocks out and gravel vac the holy bejayus out of the sand. You would be surprised how much detritus gets caught under the rocks. Give the sand a good run through with your fingers and do a decent water change. Should work a treat. Leave the filter well alone for the time being too unless there is a problem with the flow.

Thanks Peter and 2poc, sound advice no doubt.

Will look for a decomposing fish but as I'm due off on holiday next week I had planned a major clean up anyway so will do as you recommend ASAP. Taking out the rock is going to be a major hassle though as there is 70kg of it with 2-3 pieces weighing >15kg.

OF the 8 fish added 3 of them were Tanganyika rather than Malawi Cichlids. The guy in the shop assured me they would co habit fine in an otherwise 100% Malawi set up and they seem to be doing fine. Is that correct and could their addition be part of the problem?

Ben

Depends on the species of course. I've got a mixed Malawi/Tang tank myself but I had to be very careful choosing them.

Have you an idea what the 3 Tangs are?