55 gallon african cichlid tank


This tank is the home of: Right now, this tank has about 1" of dolomite as the substrate (a donation from a sweet fellow TFCB member, Max), and the tank has a wall of slate covering the whole length, about 2/3 of the height, and the back half of the front-to-back depth. There are a fair number of hiding places in these pieces of slate, and a good growth of algae on them. They also hide the intake tubes for 2 small hang on the back power filters (a Skilter filter with the skimmer part not running and a 2 chamber Whisper wet/dry trickle filter) and a submersible heater (Ebo Jager). The tank is lit by a single light strip (2 24" lights), which I consider extremely dim. There is a constant growth of large duckweed on the surface, which I skim off periodically to supplement my goldfishs' diet. I haven't had much success growing any other plants in Malawi conditions. The fish eat elodea (anacharis) faster than it grows, and java moss doesn't seem to do well either. Could be the absolutely lousy light source too though.

Other notes - the Pseudotropheus greshaki savaged the female of his species almost to death several times, so I now permanently house her in our Julidochromis tank. She is peaceful and co-exists with even the smallest julies. She doesn't eat them, and they don't seem to mind her. Also, I do have one other female Labidochromis freibergi, but she's in the African baby tank because I thought she might have been holding eggs. She wasn't (or they didn't make it), but now I'm trying to fatten her up and give her a break from the aggressive environment of the big tank.


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Last Modified January, 2000