Step down from reef to African cichlids

[Fiver]

Originally Posted by ktownhero

Planted tanks are so great, but man they are a lot more work than they seem. Imagine how dosing would be if you had corals that could dou8ble in size over night. Balancing light, co2 and nutrients was always really annoying to me.

They can be complicated, but they can also be very easy with hardy plants (vallisneria, java ferns, crypts, moss, etc.).

[golferbud101691]

If you're wanting less work, I wouldn't advise it. To keep MOST of the Africans happy(mbunas & haps), you have to overstock the tank, which includes more water changes, as well as moving the rocks around a lot to re-establish territory in the tank often. If you don't, they will just kill each other IME in that size tank.

If you had a bigger tank, I would suggest a frontosa breeding group.

[stage3-s4]

Originally Posted by golferbud101691

If you're wanting less work, I wouldn't advise it. To keep MOST of the Africans happy(mbunas & haps), you have to overstock the tank, which includes more water changes, as well as moving the rocks around a lot to re-establish territory in the tank often. If you don't, they will just kill each other IME in that size tank.

If you had a bigger tank, I would suggest a frontosa breeding group.

Totally forgot about frontosa. Zaire blue frontosa are one of the most gorgeous fish in my opinion. They do get pretty huge so you need a big tank.

[JamesZebedee]

My last tank were Malawi cichlids, Metriaclima msobo. I bought a 4 females and one male and kept them in a 16g(initially) planted tank. The male spends all his time beating up the females.

I didn't have much hope for breeding them, as the previous owner had them for five years, he said, without any babies. Lo and behold, before long, i see one of the females hiding herself away, and realise that she has a mouth full of babies. I bought a second minature tank for the babies, and before long have just a ludicrous number of them in my tiny aquariums. The good thing i find is that with more fish in the tank, they are much less aggressive, and i dont have problems with them getting injured. Each time i go to the fish shop, i take a bag of msobos with me and get store credit. I'm doing weekly 50% water changes to keep the nitrate down, but such a flurry of activity. A hoard of fish jostling for position and spashing around whenever i went close.

It was great.

[WVfishguy]

Originally Posted by JamesZebedee

My last tank were Malawi cichlids, Metriaclima msobo. I bought a 4 females and one male and kept them in a 16g(initially) planted tank. The male spends all his time beating up the females.

I never have any of the problems stated on this thread. When you learn about Africans, you learn how to avoid problems.

1) Metriaclima (mbuna) gave all Africans a bad name.

I stopped keeping Metriaclima back when they were called Pseudotropheus. Too much aggression and gravel moving And they need at least a 75 gallon tank. When people speak of all the aggression and craziness of Africans, they are referring to Metriaclima.

2) I won't keep ANY Malawi cichlid in less than a 75. Tanganyikan dwarf cichlids can be happy in smaller tanks.

3) If you stick with Aulonocara, Labidochromis, electric blues, blue dolphins, and the like, you will not have to worry so much about aggression.

BTW - I used to breed Frontosas for money. I made $hundreds off them when they first appeared on the scene. I had a colony in a 300 gallon tank. But my breeding pair was in a divided 50 breeder. Fed them night crawlers. Weird fish - deepwater cichlids. I love 'em!

[Freds]

I stepped away totally. I then went with a planted tank, then an African cichlids tank, then a discus tank and now I’m back. They were all nice but ultimately I’d compare them to a reef in my mind and say “these fish suck”.

Reefing is unfortunately like a drug and no other fish hobby compares once you’ve had a taste. Maybe switch down to a smaller more automated tank and do just anemones and clowns?

[illest]

Originally Posted by Freds

Reefing is unfortunately like a drug and no other fish hobby compares once you’ve had a taste. Maybe switch down to a smaller more automated tank and do just anemones and clowns?

^^This x100^^

I started keeping tanks in my mid teens. I went from 1 cichlid to 15. I started a planted tank with glass shrimp and guppies that I'd feed to the cichlids every once in a while. Both tanks were alot of fun and cheap to maintain compared to saltwater.

I ended up selling my cichlid tank and buying a 40g tall fowlr tank and that's what got me into reefing. As soon as I found out I could buy coral locally and watch them grow along with my fish I was hooked.

I've been in and out of saltwater since we've moved a few times but I always come back to it! I stepped down to a Nuvo 20 this time (that takes me 10min to do a water change) and I plan on packing it full of coral frags. I have 2 clowns in it now and a few frags to start. This way I can scratch the saltwater itch without breaking the bank.

I'd say just run a low maintenance iwagumi style tank either planted or saltwater.

[ReeferNoob4ever]

I still have both kinds of tanks, except my fresh water has North American and African mixed. I like North American cichlids better because they are fun to feed. I feed mine bugs, worms, and anything else crawling around. I have one African that will eat moths but usually they don't go for bugs. they will eat worms of course. I find my cichlid tank to be a lot less work and almost as enjoyable but definitely not as challenging as my reef tanks.