These are my new cichlid's and tank In got for free of cl I need some info on them

Well in have seemed to be real lucky on cl I got a 55 gal tank, fluval 305 canister filter,5 cichlids, pictus catfish,and a bunch of supplies. This is my first time keeping cichlids and the guy was suppose to send the names but hasn't so I was hoping you guy's could help Id these fish so I can better care for them I am working on picture's here is a good shot of them there is 1 more he is tricky to get a picture of but will post soon as I get one. If closer pictures are needed I will try and get some.

The blue guy with yellow fish is a yellow tail acei I believe.
The yellow one looks to be a yellow lab

They all appear to be male. That's good, the aggression is more manageable in an all male tank.

New life spectrum is a great food for most all cichlids and bottom dwellers if you need to get some food for them....

What are the water requirements for these Africans. I was asked if salt or calcium was needed for this type of fish but I'm not an expert on Africans. I never heard of using salt but I never really investigated it.

The 2 blue fish look like female kenyi,or maybe male and female the one n the back looks like it is getting yellow

When I set the tank back up after In got it home I used water Prime conditioner and added Malawi/Victoria Buffer made by Seacheam it is suppose to maintain a ph level 7.8-8.4 the guy I got the fish from used agronight sea gravel in the bottom of the tank he said it was for calcium reasons.I did not put back in the tank cause it was covered in algae I will clean and put back in though if it needs to be. I was hoping for some input on what to use sand,gravel,bare bottom I do hope to get some more Texas holey rock at the VA meet on the 9th I see the fish really like it.

Can we move this to the correct place? ID me? Very nice fish! Good Luck with the tank!

Texas Holy rock is the only 'pH buffer' you'll need in that tank. Other good natural buffer rocks are Limestone (that's what holy rock actually is) and a bunch of shells. A nice chunk of Marble will also help buffer, but it reacts much more slowly. Any decent sized samples of these will raise the pH to 8 or so and resist pH change during water changes.

Also for my Malawi cichlids it was recommended to add 1 tablespoon aquarium salt and 1 tablespoon epsom salt per five gallons.

Beautiful specimens you've gotten the steal on! Enjoy them! I've sure enjoyed my first tank of African cichlids this year! Easiest tank I've ever had.

with Fern.

I actually use salt in my african tank.

Find some silica pool filter sand at home depot, clean it up and use that as your substrate. Scatter a few cups of the agronite in there as well. Keep your PH between 7.5-8.5, stable ph is more important than it being dead on perfect.

Keep that agronite, scatter a cup or 2 in there every few months, its a great natural buffer, you have it so may as well use it, its the same as crushed coral for all intents and purposes.

There is no need for salt, its a pain to measure and can build up in the tank. I don't use it on any tanks and all my fish are quite happy.

Fish can handle conditions that differ from their native systems, we are lucky that they do!

Consider WHERE the African cichlids are from. They are from a rift depression where all the rain runs off into the lakes. There is no outlet for the water except for evaporation. Salts, carbonates, iron, Mg, Sulfates, etc are found in high concentration in these lakes - and those levels will continually rise until the day that the rift opens up and the Sea flows in. It's a natural progression for the (former saltwater species) of cichlids to eventually adapt and become salt water fish once again.

I'm sticking to what the breeder MusicCityCichlids and the scientists/geologist say - they do best with salt.

(Yeah, been studying the African rift in my geology class... can't you tell?)

Yes but how do you judge the amount of salt in the tank? Water evaporates and if you keep doing water changes and adding salt it just builds up......

They do just fine without salt.

You only add salt back in when u do water changes,no salt when u add back water from evaporation

I follow the directions on the carton. Pretty easy really. Just dump it right in a tablespoon at a time. I've never thought to check the salinity in there, but I've dosed salt @ a tbsp per 5 gallons water volume every water change for the past year. I can go pull the refrac out and take a reading if you'd like for curiosity's sake. The only annoyance to this is salt creep since I also run an air pump. I doubt after a year the water would be even close to brackish conditions. I'm not dumping the same salt I put in the reef, it's just that garden variety aquarium salt. It's supposed to be some sort of natural stress reliever/antibiotic. Whether or not it actually is, I have no clue. I haven't had any sort of known fish disease in there though.

I really wouldn't worry about salt buildup over time. If you're doing regular water changes then you're technically replacing the salt too when you add it back in. Salt out salt in. I guess it'd seem reasonable that if you're evaporating a lot of water you could eventually push the tank brackish, but I can't imagine how long that'd take.

hey i have 2 female yellow labs will love to get my hands on a male.

Fern wrote:

Yes but how do you judge the amount of salt in the tank? Water evaporates and if you keep doing water changes and adding salt it just builds up......

They do just fine without salt.

You should have the 'normal' water level marked somehow. Then when you change some, you will end up adding more than you took out in order to reach line. You measure the salt needed for the amount of water taken out - not put back in. (I personally use five gallon feed bucket to remove water - makes it easy)...

-or-

You replace the evaporated water with distilled the day prior to the change. Works the same way.


Again, fish can survive even when natural chemistry is not met. Just like we can survive on a diet of 100% McDonalds. Doesn't mean that they will live as long. But what's a few years to a fish that can potentially live 20 years or so?

The salt only builds up if you continue to add it without doing water changes. Same as it would in a saltwater aquarium. But as long as you only add salt based on the amount of water you removed (5 gallon water change = 5 gal worth of salt back in) then you won't have your salinity too high.

The first blue fish is a female Kenyi, the last fish with a faded blue is the male Kenyi. the yellow one is a male Yellow Lab and the blue with yellow tail is an male Acei.

From left to right.

FEMALE Kenyi , Male yellow lab, Male Yellow tail acei , FEMALE kenyi

nice catch African mbumas