? on cichlid tank

I was thinking of turning my 33 gal freshwater tank into a salt water tank, but I have decided not to.

So, now I'm wondering what I would I have to do to this tank for it to be a cichlid tank?

How does a cichlid tank differ from fresh? Is it brackish?

Here is a pic of the tank now, and all 3 fish.:-/

 

o.k. I figured this one out, sorry for the dumb question. For some reason I figured I would need new equipment or something.

So now I am going to do some research on the different breeds and stuff.

 

What kind of Cichlids are you thinking about getting?

 

Not sure. I'm looking into that now. Ive read that you hae to keep the temperments about the same and they should be from the same areas as well. Right now I'm looking into the Malawi Mbuna. Have to do all the research first then I'll decide.

I don't understand the difference between tempermant and conspecific temperment. I don't see how they can be peacful and semi agressive at the same time.

 

IIRC those are African Cichlids. African Cichlid Tanks are nice. I think they have hard water and high ph requirements.

 

they are nice. Now I have to figure out if I want semi aggresive agressive or extreemly aggrisive. So many to choose from!! And they are all so pretty.

 

I would start out with the least aggressive. I don't know how aggressive African Cichlids can be, but the more aggressive S. American Cichlids I've kept were extremely vicious.

 

I used to have a 55g Mbuna tank, they were the most colorful FW fish I've kept, loved them all. They can be very mean little buggers though.

I would recommend a mix of Yellow Labs & Demasoni (my fav mbuna), they look beautiful when housed together. Labs are fairly peaceful but Demasoni's are extremely aggresive towards their own kind. You usually need to get 10+ to keep aggresion evenly spread out.

Here's a video of them together:

Below are some pics of my old 55g before I went SW. It has assorted Mbuna in it. I had a ton of Lace rock in the tank and looked great & easy to stack. I would also recommend the Cichlid sand (http://www.caribsea.com/pages/products/cichlid_eco-complete.html) it's a black/white mix. That's all you really need for a Mbuna tank, just lots of rock for caves/hiding places to keep aggression down.

I ordered all my stock from http://www.livefishdirect.com/store.php?cid=2 it was the best priced & all the stock arrived healthy & happy.

 

other Speiecs and Same Species..

There are calm and agressive species in both Southies and Africans.. just have to find a species you like then research it's temperments and requirements.. Rinse and repeat till you find a fit for both visual and care required..

Can list off lots of easy to care for species but if they don't 'catch your eye" then there is no point in listing them in the first place.

 

All I can say is one word.... ROCKS! you can not have enough Rock in the tank trust me!

Some say that lace rock is the best to use but when I was living in Texas I found that the stuff they call Texas Holey rock was the best. I still have 3 tubs of the stuff around here some where in case I decide to start up another tank

I had a 55 and a 90 of Africans for almost 10 years. After several years we had so many breeding that after a few months of growing I would take at least 15 or 20 of them to the LFS and trade for supplies every few months! They are really easy to take care of and allot of fun to watch as they chase each other around the rocks.

Good luck in your endeavor, keep us up to date with some pictures will you. I sometimes wish I had not taken my tanks down, so much easier that my reef tank thats for sure!

My tanks, the 90


And the 55