Happy New Parent!
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…Of a clutch of red zebra cichlids donated to workplace, but I took them home to raise ’em, as they won’t get the attention they need.
I’m so excited and happy, but will have to do a lot of research. Any and all help is much appreciated!
They’re floating in my extra 5 gallon in the bag. Temp is 24 celcius now, but thinking it will need to go up.
Help please?!!!
– Atlantis Child
From what I can gather they are an Mbuna cichlid from Malawi. I beleive those guys like rocks and very hard water e.g. tuffa rock etc. but I’m afraid thats where my knowledge ends.
I’ve never really like those kinds of fish…. yet.
The water around here is about 7.5. From what I have learnt that’s on the low end, but still OK.
– Atlantis
Atlantis how many of these cichlids do you have??
you need to make sure you make your mind up whether your going to keep these beauts or not.. 5 gallon is pretty small even for a grow out tank for mnuba, if you only plan on growing them out and bringing them back to the store then rocks and gravel aren’t really a must if they are small…you could add some pvc pipe maybe for some hiding spots and maybe some old plastic plants if you have any around…just to give the lil guys a sense of security…ph should be ok…if you want you could ad some agronite to the filter system to bump up the ph but these fish are very adaptable and 7.5 should be ok for now…just try and not go any lower..let me know what you think..and i’ll help you out with any questions
take care
I think I have just over twenty. I don’t know how old they are. They look like little fish, not the fry big head and little tail guys. They’re about 3/4 cm each.
I have 3 fake grass flats, a handful of algaed gravel, and a little fake hidey ‘log’ for them.
I don’t plan on keeping them, or raising them till totally mature, just enough till I can get them back to the store to be kept like the others and not needing so much care and attention.
Right now not even big evough to be “feeder cichlids” if they had such a thing. :roll:
I don’t have the space for them to grow out, or keep them, though I probably can’t help but get a little attached. I suppose I could convince the boss to add some to the new ciclid tank display I guess. THat way I could look in on them every week day, like my happy donated rainbowfish in the other display tank…
But that’s far off.
Been asking at a specified cichlid subforum elsewhere, but responses far between.
Mostly what I want to know what to feed the little buggers. Thinking I need a variety of foods, just not sure exactly what.
– Atlantis
no special foods are really required a good quality cichlid pellet or flake will be fine..pellets will sink and the lil guys will pick at the pellets as they break down..i tend to stay away from frozen foods for my cichlids though you can put blanched lettuce once in awhile…
Personally only feed my cichlids New Life Spectrum..they have variety of diffeerent types..you could even go with growth formula or just plain cichlid forumla is what i use…
try http://www.cichlid-forum.com
good luckYeah I heard of New Life Spectrum but have never seen it around here. I’ll go with the cichlid pelets I use at work. The adults I feed it to really like it, so I’m thinking the babies will too.
For now they’re getting livebearer food and algae. Maybe I’ll get out some of the frozen brine shrimp and see if they go for it.
They’ve come out of hiding and are swimming around, checking things out.
Thanks for link.
– Atlantis
Wow…these guys are eating so much. I give them three or four pinches of livebearer flake a day and they eat every little bit.
They’re eaten all the algae off the algae-ed up gravel and sponge too. I’ll put hald an algae wafer in to see if they go for it.
And I swear they’re gotten bigger already too!
– Atlantis
I think they’ve doubled in size already. They’ve gotten pretty too, a nice yellow color.
I’m moving them to my 22 gallon soon. I just have to juggle some of my other fish around from other tanks. :roll:
– Atlantis
Sounds like you’ve got it licked. I’ve got Malawis in a 115g tank, mine are fed primarily on Tetrapro Veg, Hikari African and fresh foods such as cucumber, courgette & boiled peas.
Agreed with altaaffe…veggies are good for everything….personally i haven’t given my cichlids any veggies, you can also use frozen veggies to jus thaw them out some.
Yeah def. licked your not gonna want to seem the go..and end up keeping them…these fish are addictive and once ya get different speices/colors of mnuba in that tank your hooked.
if they doubled you shuold bring them back to the store to be sold even a 22 is going to be small for twenty fish, maybe a long would do for now..zebras tend to be somewhat aggressive, males will start doin there circle jerk and going after the timid fish. Though if you do keep them you will have to weed some out and of course much bigger tank.
altaaffe what kinds of cichlids to you keep?
I tried cucumber, but they didn’t really go for it. Algae they like. I scoop out a handful of algaed gravel from another tank and they polish it off. Thanks guys…
They’re definately still too small to do any selling with. They’re still cozy with each other (been watching carefully). Them’s going to get lost in the 22.
Yah think they’d go for Hornwort? I got a jungle of it in the 22. :roll: Not very native habitat huh. Oh well, I can pack a bunch in elsewhere, and I gots tons of rocks around I can use.
– Atlantis
PS No way possible I can keep cichlids. No space, not allowed more tanks. One of those things possible on the great list of “when I move out and get my own place…”
@aquaholic85 wrote:
altaaffe what kinds of cichlids to you keep?
The cichlids I currently have are:
Pseudotropheus Elongatus
Melanochromis Auratus (Pr)
Acei Ngara
Afra Cobue
Labidochromis CaeruleusRed Oscar
Blue Acara
Firemouth
Altum Angels
Apistogramma Agassizzi
Apistogramma CactuiodesI am also about to receive some Konia Eisentrauti with a view to helping breeding programs & get their numbers up.
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