[EBandman]

Hey! I hope everybody has had a fabulous weekend! the tank and I have had it a little hard :icon_neut We had a small fungal infection that clogged the canister filter. The fungal medication was really hard on the plants and was creating consistent biofilm. Some carbon in the filter, and a filter cleaning has cleared this all up! :icon_cool

Now to my question. I'm right on the edge of my bioload, but would like to get a couple of small cichlids! I kept 2 GBR's that were happy for about a year, but succombed none the less. I have a ph of around 8, out of the tap, and I think this may have led to their shortened life.

So, the question is, does anyone have a recommendation for a small pair of cichlids living in a 38G planted tank? I would think it best if they were non-aggressive, as some of my tankmates may object :red_mouth

Thanks in advance for any ideas, have a great week!

EB

 

[EBandman]

Thanks for the replies guys.

I have: 1 Siamese algae eater, 1 dojo, 1 albino bristlenose pleco, 5 scissor tails, 6 black widow tetraz, 2 ottos, and 2 sitimuki. I also have around 20 assassin snails to rid the hundreds of rams horn from the tank.

Is there any concern about the African cichlids munching on my plants? My tank is lush, and can take some snacking, but Id hate to lose all the plants in the long run...

Thanks again, EB

Also, what conditions do I need to get my fish to spawn? The only reproducing that's happened are the rams horn snails. I could feed a small town with those xD

 

[EBandman]

Pretty much all African Cichlids will eat plants but it depends what type of plants you have, and they'll probably uproot them.
All African Cichlids would be aggressive, and most need a 55 Gallon tank at the minimum. Some shell dwellers don't but they're still aggressive.
With African Cichlids you don't want to get a pair because the male is too aggressive trying to mate and will beat the female to death if there's only one, if you want them to breed you should get a one male to at least 3 female ratio.
To get Africans to spawn you just have to put a mature male in a tank with mature females and wait.
I'd suggest you don't get African Cichlids because they're too aggressive for your tank-mates. and if you are going to try Africans DON'T GET MBUNAS they're the most aggressive type of Africans and they need a 55 Gallon tank minimum to be happy.

You could probably breed an Angelfish pair in that tank.

If you still want to keep Africans go to Kgtropicals on youtube, he has a great channel and has tons of info on African Cichlids. He also has a 7 video series on breeding angelfish that's really informative.

Thanks for your info

I have tried putting angelfish into my tank two or three times, but they've never lived more than a couple weeks, I'm unsure why :-/

I'm probably just gonna stick with my original choice, the GBR at this point. I think they're one of the nicer looking fish anyways, so win win I suppose.

 

[EBandman]

Sorry to interrupt the discussion lol...but I found a pair of beautiful Jumbo GBRs. They're much more opalescent than the typical GBR I've seen, and they are still small and young :bounce:

So I appreciate all the help and suggestion and info, I guess I just wanted to stick to my comfort zone haha...I'll try and get some pics if I FINALLY get that new phone next week

Again, many thanks,
EB