I have American cichlids and wanna start African tank

Ok so a little while ago I moved my south american Dwarf cichlids to a 54g corner tank and now
I have an empty 29g that I want to turn into an african tank but Im a newbie when it comes to african cichlids.
my set up would be:
huge bio wheel filter
40w fluorescent light
150w heater
mini jet powerhead
45lbs aragonite/crushed coral substrate
40lbs "dead" live rock
I already have all of this its just not put together yet, and my biggest Q's would be:
what kind of africans can I get for a 29g? I want the colorful kinds, I've heard its good to overstock but not really sure what would be safe.
the substrate/rock was in a saltwater aquarium but I dried and stored it,would it be safe to use in freshwater?
my tap water comes out at about 8.2ph, I also have african lake buffers, should I even use them or is my tap water ok?
thanks

If your tap is 8.2 Then the aragonite and dead LR should buffer the PH well enough. but use a good african cichlid salts, this will provide the right trace elements for their health. In a 29 you ought to pick some smaller breeds. Abig group of Mbuna will out grow that tank pretty fast.

dont bother with the salts. give them a good stable water. ph isnt as important as you think. 2nd a 29g is far too small for many species of africans that easily reach 5-6 inches as adults. sure as juvies or as a fry grow out it would work but longterm ur not gonna be able to house much thats super pretty in there. however there are still africans that will fit the bill. Neo. Brichardi, Shelldwellers, and Julidichromis to name a few. Kribs are another one. sry to burst ur african bubble. but id say start with a 55 if you wanna try them out for size. ive done all the typical african mistakes myself.

Yup definitely go bigger man
a 29G tank would be horrible for most africans....mbuna would be the most colorful ones and easiest to keep but very aggressive

what type of african cichlids you looking for to get...? are you interested for some malawi? tanganyikans? victorians?

i just got my new group of tropheus, red rainbow ^_^ not fully colored up yet,

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For a 29 gallon, I'd start a breeding colony of shell-dwellers. They have so much personality and don't require much room. If you want the really colorful peacocks or mbuna you'll need something around a 55 gallon to keep a nice group! Keep us updated!

WhosUrDadi wrote:what type of african cichlids you looking for to get...? are you interested for some malawi? tanganyikans? victorians?

Well Im not good with names yet but I wanted to some of the malawi species, but now Im also very intrigued by the shell dwellers.
yours look awesome, are you selling them?

adal,

I keep mostly mbuna (Malawians - about 300g worth) but also a tank of Tanganyikans (55g growing out to 125g). If you want to stick to your 29g tank I also am going to suggest that you need to focus on shell-dwellers. They're interesting little fish and can be quite fun. My wife keeps a 6g tank with a pair of occelatus in her office.

If you want to get to the mbuna, peacocks, or tangs you'll need to get a bigger tank.

Anxious to see what you decide!

If I did go for shell dwellers, how many fully grow could I keep?
and are there different kinds or is it just one?
where could I get some, is anyone here currently selling any?

now some pics of the rock and substrate I plan on using
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There's more than one kind of shell dwellers if you do decide to get shellies look into buying some shells for them and I would probably go with fine sand as substrate

If you want to learn more about african cichlids, look up on [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

very helpful. Keep in mind you can find africans locally. Some of us could help.

For a 29g, maybe look into Rams?

They're pretty neat looking for how small they stay.


-Sink
(via work)

rams would be opposite of africans lol

Ya, trying to sway the vote!




I agree with what a lot have already said, africans look nicer in a tanks bigger than 29g.

-Sink
(via work)

Well I had rams and apistos initially in it, but I just moved them to a 54g corner aquarium,
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I have a really low ph(6.4) and very soft acidic water, using ro water, driftwood and peatmoss in the new tank. So now I wanna go a new direction, high ph, hard alkaline water with africans.

But anyways I decided I want to do a mini Tanganyika community:
Lamprologus' ocellatus
Julidochromis ornatus
and either Paracyprichromis nigripinnis or some sort of catfish?
Im going to the lfs today and look at their stock

I love julidochromis!

Ok so finally started the aquarium!

pic update
30% Crushed coral/ 70% aragonite
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Finally water in it! a few days ago but finally got around to posting them

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just threw the rock in there not sure how to arrange it just yet

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Im going to need more rock.