My African / South American Cichlid Aquarium Reconstruction! 12/08

I was away for a couple of months and came back to find my cichlid tank in poor condition. Nobody died while I was gone (they were fed), but I found the tank filthy and for some reason against my wishes, there were goldfish along with the african cichlids. I added some new fish when I came home, replaced the rocks and caves with PVC pipes (the rocks were filthy), and am in the process of redoing the substrate, etc (after I do some research).

The tank (30g) started with three electric yellow cichlids I had for the past 18 months, a blue african cichlid, and a white jellybean parrot south american cichlid (which I took from my fiancee because it was beating her other fish up).

After doing a 90% water change, and some PVC piping I had laying around to replace the rocks and caves, I purchased two female Kenyi, and what was described as a 'Generic South American Cichlid' from the pet store (I'm thinking it might be a jewel cichlid, from the diamond marking).

I'm in the process of redoing the whole aquarium, with new a new filter, new substrate, etc. I think however I am going to keep the PVC piping when I am done.

As for keeping the african cichlids with south american, it's not really that big of a problem. When first introduced several months ago, the Jellybean parrot was picked on, however now he is largely ignored by the africans (no fin damage). The generic guy when introduced was getting beat up at first; not by the bigger fish, but by the small Kenyi that were introduced at the same time.

While the tank looks disgusting right now, it should be cleaned up very soon. Before I left, the fish enjoyed a vast variety of different foods including: Three different flake formulas, three different pellet formulas, dried blood worms, brine shrimp eggs, dried shrimp, live ghostshrimp, frozen bloodworms, live mealworms, fresh vegetables, etc. I believe it was because of this diverse diet that the fish were able to live in such crummy conditions while I was gone.

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• aquarium
• cichlid
• african
• lake
• malawi
• electric
• yellow
• kenyi
• south
• american
• diet

[xtine1981]

u should add more than just pipe???

[lethal5250]

hey im about to add some videos of my pvc caves.. it looks kinda gay but the fish fckin love it ... and plus you have to be here next to da tank to see it better because video makes it gayer.. lol check my videos out doe

[ForumBoosters]

Hope you're prepared to upgrade that tank pretty soon.

[supramax79]

hope you kill the person who mess up with your tank,lol

[cichlidsRsmart]

Im not really a big fan of all the PVC pipes but hey, looks like the fish love it! Good Luck!!