cichelids I cant spell!

hiya,

well my boyfriend wants chicilids, but not the big ones the mawawi ones? (sp)

he wants to changes his 2ft+a half ft tank to a chichilid tank, the ones im thinking about are about 3inches and varied.

what are the requirements, we were once told our area will support them fine as he have 8.5ph, alkaline and hard water.

any ideas.

 

With hard, alkaline water, your best bet would be the rift lake cichlids (Tanganyikan, Victorian, or Malawi).

-Chelle

 

Before we can recommend cichlids, we need to know how big your tank is, either in gallons or liters. If you don't know that, you can measure the sides of your tank and list them here. We'd need length, width, and height.

That aside, African rift lake cichlids would be the type of fish you're probably looking for, and that would include Malawi cichlids. South American cichlids tend to be much larger than African cichlids, but it really varies by species. You might want to try rams, but again, we'd really need to know the volume (size) of your tank.

 

LOL I'm too slow. Listen to Chelle, she's the pro.

 

his tank is about 13.5 gals, 2ft.

he may use his 2.5ft tank tho.

is that a ok size?

what he need in there, sand? and holey rocks?

thnx

 

A 13 gallon would be okay for dwarf cichlids, rams, or shell dwellers. But with your water being so hard and your pH so high, that pretty much rules out the dwarfs and rams. It will be okay for some shell dwellers (maybe 2 pair) if you can find them.

-Chelle

 

Chelle, of course, is correct. Your water levels are pretty intense. One other option that you might consider is bottled water. Sometimes you can find a pretty big jug for not too bad a price, and it *should* have different PH, alkaline and hardness levels than what comes out of your faucet. A lower PH and softer water, and you could probably get a pair of dwarf cichlids in either of those tanks.

A little bit more money, but it's still an option.

 

i have ph adjustment stuff,

could someone post pics of these chicilids that are apropriate for his tank?

 

You'd be much better off trying to find fish suitable for your water than adjusting the water for fish.

Here's some sites on shell dwellers:

http://www.cichlidrecipe.com/shellweb/
http://www.cichlidae.com/articles/a065.php
http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/s ... corner.php

-Chelle

 

thank you, ill look into that.