Rift Lake Cichlids
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55g Mbuna tank

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Micheal
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Post by Aquarium1 Thu Sep 10, 2009 10:35 pm

Hi. I am a freshman in high school and I'm new to this site and relatively new to cichlids. I have a 55 gallon aquarium I got in July that cycled in a little over 3 weeks. The pH is a stable 7.8. I currently have 2 zebras (they were all I could afford at the time since I have a limited budget). I plan to stock with 2 more zebras along with 4 labs and 4 more fish of an undecided species. I will try to have some pictures up tomorrow.

I had a lab which I got last Friday but sadly it died of unknown causes on 9-9-09 Crying or Very sad scratch . I saw that before I went to bed it had been acting weird. It was sitting on rocks, just sitting there. Plus it hadn't eaten much since I got him. I'm going to try to make a trip to my lfs to get some more zebras tomorrow.
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Post by Rift_Lakes_Rule Fri Sep 11, 2009 5:33 am

Hi and Welcome to the Forum!!! Glad to have you Wink Where abouts in KY are ya?

Setting up a tank is a lot of fun, it can also be frustrating trying to get everything balanced... but we'll be here to help you out. If you can get sexed fish, try for 1 male and 3 females of each species (not always possible depending on the lfs).

Looking forward to the pic's Wink
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Post by Aquarium1 Fri Sep 11, 2009 6:55 am

Thank you. I live an hour east of Lexington and 2.5 hours west of the ky border of west virginia. My lfs mite be good, but it doesn't sex their fish. Would like if they did tho. My fish have been hiding a lot lately. Do you think this will go away wen I get more fish?
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55g Mbuna tank Empty New fish

Post by Aquarium1 Fri Sep 11, 2009 5:36 pm

55g Mbuna tank 3910052553_01709cdca6
55g Mbuna tank 3910052493_528116958e
55g Mbuna tank 3872556126_2c06f38af8

What do you think?
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Post by Rift_Lakes_Rule Fri Sep 11, 2009 6:46 pm

I like the way the tank is set up Wink

Can't really tell much about the fish from the pictures, looks like a red zebra in the bottom picture not sure about the top picture. Looks like the red zebra has a slightly sunken belly, keep an eye on it to make sure it's eating normally.

Keep the pic's coming!!!
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Post by Aquarium1 Fri Sep 11, 2009 7:13 pm

O, I didn't notice. I'll keep an eye on him/her. the top one is a lab. They both ate some btw. *knock on wood*
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Post by Aura Fri Sep 11, 2009 8:58 pm

Nice looking tank -- you did a good job decorating it.

It's not uncommon for new fish to be a little shy when they are introduced to a tank. They should adjust soon. If not you'll want to check your water conditions (ammonia, nitrites, etc.) and make sure nothing is out of order in that department.

Are you just new to cichlids or to fishkeeping of any kind?
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Post by Aquarium1 Fri Sep 11, 2009 9:08 pm

New to cichlids, I've kept fish before and still have those fish. Now tht I have more they are out in the front more Very Happy.
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Post by Aura Fri Sep 11, 2009 9:24 pm

That's good to hear! You'll have to get some pictures when they settle in. Very Happy
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Post by Aquarium1 Fri Sep 11, 2009 9:35 pm

I will. I'm going to try to get 2 Acei Sunday and another lab if I can.
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Post by Micheal Fri Sep 11, 2009 10:58 pm

I like the tank setup. If you plan on keeping fry mixing labs and zebras together is not a great combination because of hybrids risk. The acei would make a good addition with the zebras and then I would pick another species besides the lab.
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Post by Aquarium1 Fri Sep 11, 2009 11:07 pm

I'm not saving any fry. I already knew about the hybridization, but thank you.
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Post by Drake-tripod Fri Sep 11, 2009 11:15 pm

glad to see you could make it here and way to go team fast and good response Very Happy
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Post by Aquarium1 Fri Sep 11, 2009 11:34 pm

Yeah thanks everyone.
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Post by Aquarium1 Sat Sep 12, 2009 2:57 pm

I'm thinking about gettng a 10g qt tank befor I get any more fish since I've been hearing a lot about dying cichlids on some other sites.
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Post by Rift_Lakes_Rule Sat Sep 12, 2009 4:17 pm

definetely a good idea Wink
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Post by Micheal Sat Sep 12, 2009 5:14 pm

I would say at this stage you don't have to have one but the more fish you get the more you will want to make sure 1 new fish doesn't effect the whole tank. That being said who can argue with a new tank, lol.
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Post by Aquarium1 Sat Sep 12, 2009 5:31 pm

For the time being I will probably put it under the tank. Maybe eventually I can turn into a nano reef which I have wanted for a long time lol. Of course then I'll have to find a better plact to put it. For it being a qt I have an internal filter in another tank tht had already cycled which will be ok for it being a qt. I'd like to know if it would be ok open top or if I should put something like a book over it cuz I don't want to spend an extra 20 dollars for a hood.
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Post by Rift_Lakes_Rule Sat Sep 12, 2009 5:57 pm

You can leave it open but there will be serious evaporation so you'll have to top it off regularly.
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Post by Micheal Sat Sep 12, 2009 6:00 pm

You can use a piece of plastic egg crate. I have several of my tanks that only have them as tops. Its sold at stores like Home Depot as light diffuser.
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Post by Aquarium1 Sat Sep 12, 2009 6:17 pm

Do you think they would have it at lowes or walmart? What department would it be in? There not any very close hds around here.
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Post by Micheal Sat Sep 12, 2009 9:50 pm

Lowes probably would I think but I don't have 1 by me so I'm not 100 percent. Its in the lighting area at home depot.
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Post by Aura Sun Sep 13, 2009 7:32 pm

I've had a harder time finding it at Lowe's, but I think I did find some there.

It's easy to find it at Home Depot. At least at all of the HDs here, it's in the fluorescent/shop light/under cabinet light area. You have to look at the shelves carefully or you might miss it if you don't know what you are looking for. It will be laying flat on the shelf and is easy to miss.
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Post by Aquarium1 Sun Sep 13, 2009 9:09 pm

I'll have to look the next time I'm in there.
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55g Mbuna tank Empty Pic

Post by Aquarium1 Tue Sep 15, 2009 9:01 pm

Not much of an update but heres a new pic. 55g Mbuna tank 3924021999_ddf0666fc1 I could only get 2 of the 3 zebras in the pic. They seem to be getting along fine Very Happy *knock on wood*.


Last edited by Aquarium1 on Tue Sep 15, 2009 9:47 pm; edited 1 time in total
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