# like to plant cichlid tank need help



## kraylon (Jan 31, 2006)

Good evening, i have a 55 gallon (2 feet tall) cichlid tank with about 9 cichlids in that vary in size and speices i would like to plant it but i would to get some insider info before i go spend a lot of money. i am using an under ground filter, 2 whisper power 60 hang on tank filter, and 2 power heads 2 18" 15 watt daylight bulbs. (just listing so you know) the cichlids are 1 red zerba, 3 blue johnies, 1 yellow lab, 1 compressiceps, 1 kenyi, 1 peacock, 1 pleco and 1 demasoni. i know that cichlid like to dig and pull up plants but i think that a planted tank looks so much better and it gives the fish more hiding spots. i pretty much know nothing about plants or how to get it started. this tank has been set up for a 2 years now and i have had some of the fish longer then that. if i could figure out a good way to take a couple of snap shots of my fish i would i have tryed but no good pics yet if there is any more info that is needed just let me know.

Thanks 
kraylon


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## Laith (Sep 4, 2004)

Here's an example of what you can do with an African cichlid tank:

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/photopost/showphoto.php?photo=6323

So plants and african cichlids are not incompatible but you need to find the right balance between the type of plants (a lot of african cichlids eat plants like rabbits), the right amount of CO2 injection/KH level etc. etc.

Here is a good read on the basics of keeping planted tanks:

http://www.aquatic-plants.org/articles/basics/pages/01_intro.html

The first thing you need to do is look at your lighting. 2x 15w over a 55g tank is very low lighting (0.5wpg) so I'm not sure that even "low" light plants will do well. For low light plants I'd get your lighting up to at least 1wpg.

I would recommend starting off with a low light non-CO2 setup and then once you've got that down, you can look at increasing lighting and adding CO2.

Or of course you can dive right in and go for it!


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## Laith (Sep 4, 2004)

And welcome to APC!


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## waterdog (Feb 2, 2006)

I have a 75 gallon cichlid tank and recently have tried some plants. 

Cichlids are 
4 yellow labs
2 Red zebra's
1 johanni
1 demasoni
2 msombo deep

I also traded several cichlids for my plants,my goal was to lower the amount of fish to give the plants a better chance at survival. 

So far my plants are 
4 medium amazon swords
4 cryptos of some sort
1 hygrophilia 
2 clumps of anacharis-these were brought in for food, again hoping the cichlids would eat these and leave the other stuff alone.
1 reddish plant my lfs said was a cherry temple. no idea what it really is, but they said it was a pretty durable plant.

I bought the light they recommend, don't have the specs and will probably add some liquid suppliments of some sort. 

I am about a week into this and so far it is to early to tell how it will work. So far my fish have uprooted the same 2 crypts twice, and that just started Wednesday. Must be something about those 2plants they don't like, I moved them after the first time, but when got home last night, those same 2 plants were floating. 
I really thought the anacharis would be history by know, but so far they are really leaving that alone. I see them nip at once in a while, but I thought they would really go after it. 

I plan on getting several java ferns and anubias, but have not found any in stock this week. I am also looking at some moss,but not sure if Java moss is the way to go. I saw some in a tank at the lfs and it looked like a nasty green ball. 

One thing that has happened as the aggression in my tank has gone up. I got rid of about 6 fish and that has made a big difference in the tank dynamic. My female red zebra has gotten beat up a little by what used to be a sub dominant male. I traded my alpha male red zebra-I didn't like his color-and now 
now this other male thinks he is king of the tank. He is becoming ultra aggressive and I either need to add another female or get rid of him. Not sure what to do yet-I have thought about getting rid of the zebra's all together and going with a blue and yellow mix of labs and Johanni's. 

let me know how yours goes...


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## redFishblueFish (Feb 12, 2006)

You might start with some low light plants which are also hardy, like java fern and anubias. The cichlids are unlikely to eat these, and as they must be tied down, they should be safe from uprooting. Maybe try adding some water sprite (as a fast growing plant that is cheap) to use some of the nutrients and also as a test of whether the cichlids will uproot all plants. If you find that cichlids do uproot plants too often, you might try going for an anubias/java fern garden. I've seen people doing pretty amazing things with all the different varieties of anubias. Tell us how it goes.


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## waterdog (Feb 2, 2006)

I picked up my java fern-4 plants, and have wedged into various holes in the rock-hopefully the will secure soon and get going. 

About an hour after getting the java fern put in, I was really surprised to see my big male yellow lab come up and take a big bite out of one the ferns. He immediately spit out the piece and seems to be leaving it alone, but he sure took a big enough bite out of it.

Also the one crypt seems to still be a target-it had been left alone for a couple of days, but sure enough this morning it was up-rooted again. I don't know what it is about this plant, I thought they were supposed to leave crypts alone. The funny part is that I have 2 other crypts, and they are still untouched. The other target crypt, lost its last leaf in one of its uprootings-I re-planted it and now have to wait to see what happens. 

Anacharis is still untouched-so much for that being a food plant.

One thing I am surprised about is the amount of small bits floating around-I seem to have to skim up bits every night, not a big deal though.


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