feel like I'm being drawn to the dark side of the force

pontius

pontius

Active Member
I've had my 72 gallon reef going for about 8 months now and it's great. I hope to get a 210 gallon within the next 2 years.
my parents gave me their 55 gallon after 20 years of having it set up. I was initially going to set up a fowlr, but decided after much thought to set up a tank for African cichlids from Lake Malawi, the mbunas ("rock fish").
anyway, anyone who has thought that freshwater fish are boring and drab, have never seen mbuna cichlids up close and personal. the recommended stocking is about 1.5 inches per gallon, as they like large communities (and lots of rock for territories). so far, I have 9 mbunas (5 different species) and will be getting 6 more in the next couple weeks. they are amazing. it's like a moving rainbow, and they are as attentive to their surroundings as any fish I've seen. mbunas have a rep for being some of the most rowdy and aggresive fish in the world, but they've been pretty calm and playful with each so far.
just some info....freshwater fish can be pretty cool. they like a ph of 8.2 and can't tolerate nitrites and nitrates, so they've actually got a lot in common with saltwater.
I still want the 210 gallon reef, but I wouldn't mind a 210 gallon with 100 of these suckers swimming around either.
 
tru conch

tru conch

Active Member
hahaha ive done the same thing recently. ive had saltwater tanks for years and reef tanks now for 4 years. i had a spare 29 gal lying around and ive gone through doing a planted tank set up with live bearers. just wanted to do something different, change up the pace a bit.
 
mudplayerx

mudplayerx

Active Member
If you want a really nice planted tank, cover the bottom glass with about 1/2 inch of green moss (the kind sold in garden stores). For the next layer, do 1 inch of red clay. For the top layer use white play sand.
I use this layered substrate along with CO2 injection (I use the cheap kit sold in pet stores) and fertilizer supplements, and my plants grow so rapidly that I have to trim weekly.
It is to the point where I an barely see the fish.
 
fishy411

fishy411

Member
There are some pretty interesting species and contrary to popular belief a lot of fw fish need much larger tanks than u would think. Arrowanas are cool but u need a 200 gallon tank. Sometimes i think that its even more expensive than sw because i keep buying a new tank every 6 months to get some bigger and better fish
 
pontius

pontius

Active Member
I like cichlids because they're colorful and active. arowanas just kind of hover in place don't they? I had a 30 gallon with a bunch of tiger barbs and rosy barbs. they're nice, but they don't hold a candle to the cichlids.
 
P

pas13

Guest
After my porky puffer got too big for my 55g, I was so distraught that I broke it down and turned it into a FWA with African cyclids. They really are some of the best (most colorful) FW fish out there.
 
fishy411

fishy411

Member

Originally posted by pas13
After my porky puffer got too big for my 55g, I was so distraught that I broke it down and turned it into a FWA with African cyclids. They really are some of the best (most colorful) FW fish out there.
WHat does everyone have in their FW tank? I have a 55 SA cichlid tank
1- Gold Severum
1- Rainbow cichlid
3- Pictus Catfish
1- Common Pleco
2- Glolite tetras
2- lemon tetras
1- Festivum
1- Gold gourami
 
pontius

pontius

Active Member
right now, I've got....
2 yellow labs
2 red zebras
2 cobalt blue zebras
2 electric blue johannis
1 rusty
(all mbuna cichlids)
I'm going to get about 6 more in the coming weeks.
 
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