Tips on setting up an African Cichlid tank?

Here are a few websites that will help you with setting up an African cichlid lake aquarium!

http://badmanstropicalfish.com/afcichlids_setup.ht...

http://ezinearticles.com/?African-Cichlid-Tank-Set...

http://ezinearticles.com/?The-Optimum-Cichlid-Aqua...

Now there are three lakes that these cichlids come from. You CAN mix the lake species, but they do best when kept with their own lake species, because then you won't have to settle for a general pH, temperature, gH and other water chemistry that all fish will thrive in.

I recommend mbunas for your first African cichlids. They are active and require a lot of space and hiding places, so the bare minimum for those guys would be a 55g. I recommend hiding places including rock formations, caves, flowerpots, PVC pipe, hollow logs and others. Mbunas do need a lot of free swimming space, so I think you should move the hiding places to the back of the tank to allow for a lot of swimming space in the front and middle. I recommend crushed coral for a substrate because it maintains an elevated pH and water hardness!

You'll need a lot of filtration to keep your tank clean and its inhabitants healthy. For a 55g tank you should have nothing less than a 110g filter, and a 100g tank should have nothing less than a 200g filter, and so on. Keep in mind that this equipment CAN be costly.

Cichlids appreciate plant cover, live plants are recommended because they take care of algae and they'll also make the water and its inhabitants healthier. Keep in mind cichlids do nibble on plants, and they'll often uproot them because they like to rearrange their tanks! It's recommended to keep hardy plants otherwise delicate plants will be injured.

For more information see the websites.

No puffer.I feed my African cichlid a combination of spirulina flakes,sticks and cichlid pellets,many African cichlid are herbivore and spirulina is first-class for them however it relies what ones you're getting.. I do not upload any salt to my to my Malawi cichlids tank however I think that a few men and women do,I are not able to let you know any quantity however others that reply this query could also be equipped to.

Sand ,rocks for them to hide,fake plants and remember to over filter!

I have a mixed African cichlid tank ,With some some friends (Peacock bass & Jaguar cichlid) Its working very well! Fish have been together over a year now with no problems!