Information

Americans

Most americans like a temp of 20-27

They are alot hardier than most fish due to the vast different conditions they live in.
They range in all sizes and types, most big American Cichlids do get aggressive and/or conspecific, such as pollini or true parrots.

these types of fish are also best kept with some kind of distraction fish such as silver dollars or tinfoil barbs that grow to a larger size to be able to handle the aggression and agitation of the larger cichlids.

Tanganikan

under construction

Nitrate
Ammonia
Nitrite
cycle

Indian Almond Leaves

Ammonia, nitrites and nitrates are all byproducts of waste breaking down in an aquarium, and all are toxic at some level to your fish and plant life. A significant amount of fish and plant waste can accumulate in any tank, as well as uneaten food, algae, and bacteria. As in all environments, this waste needs to be broken down and either eliminated or turned into something which can be utilized by another organism. In an aquarium, there is a population of bacteria that is responsible for this process. The breakdown of waste is a four-part process:

First, the waste from fish, plants, and food breaks down and releases ammonia.
This ammonia is very toxic to fish and must be converted to nitrite by bacteria.
Nitrite is also toxic to fish, and must be converted to nitrate by bacteria.
Because high levels of ammonia and nitrite are lethal for fish, it is critical that these products be efficiently removed or converted to nitrate. Nitrate, nitrite and ammonia can also be removed through fortnightly water changes.

Indian Almond Leaves (IAL) are used widely in freshwater aquariums as they have many benefits. They help create a blackwater biotype, lower ph and are food for infusoria for fry. They do release tannins in the water, causing the water to be a tea stained colour. They are also used to create leaf litter along the bottom of the aquarium, this creates a more natural habitat and a place for fry to hide.

Malawi

malawi fish, especially mabuna and haps are one of the more popular fish in the hobby due to their bright colours and almost marine fish vibrancy.

when chooseing your malawi fish becareful not to fall into the trap of heaps of colour as most male mabuna or haps can be quite aggressive so a nice healthy mix of males and females is prefered.

unlike the american cichlids the malawi require higher water condition with a minimum requirement of a PH of 8 and GH and KH of 8-10, as the african lakes these fish come from has quite a high salt content much like the tanganikan fish species as well.

Tank Cycling

There are many ways to cycle a tank. The best way we have found is set up your tank add a Biostarter then after a few days add 1 small goldfish or a tank cycling product, leave for 3-4 weeks test and cycle should be active.

Feeding

Feeding fish should be daily, with a starve day once a week, food should only be fed enough that it is all eaten with in 3-5 minutes, so it dosent dirty the water and fish are healthy

Water changes

Water changes should be done fortnightly depending on filter and tank inhabitant.
15-20% chances are all thats needed, mix salts or other products regarding levels into a bucket before introducing into the tanks also try to get water temp as level to tank as possible

Bettas

To begin with there are so many different species of bettas, but the most common is Betta Splenden “fancy betta”. Betta’s are often a first fish as they are thought of as being easy but they still need regular water changes, and stable water conditions. Ideally a ten litre tank is the smallest they should have, this gives them enough room to swim, and also have some plants or ornaments as well. Although you can only house one male per tank, females can be kept in a sorority in a fifty litre tank or bigger depending on how many females. Males and females should only be kept together during breeding even then this has risks if you don’t watch their behavior close enough.