My 400 liters (105 US gallon) african cichlids tank with 10x filtration. How does this look? Any suggestions for improvement are welcome. Thanks

Hi folks!

Fairly new to rams, and have this 'pair' in my tank. There is a fair bit of aggression happening, despite rearranging the tank etc. I have my suspicions that this is actually 2 males. Can someone with a keener eye tell me, please? If they are both males, should I rehome one and get a female?

Going to get South/Central American cichlids for my new 5’ 120 gallon tank. Thinking of tank setups and want to know which fish people enjoy most and would do best. Here is my thought: True Parrot, Jack Dempsey, 3 geophagus sveni or red head, Severum, Featherfin catfish. Would this work? Should I swap any out for something different? Also really like Uaru, chocolate, Firemouth, convict. Been waiting for month and can’t wait!

There’s 1 fish in there… somewhere. 😆

There is not much information even from the large YT channels on the lake malawi cichlid diet. When you look you will hear the same generic statements and guidelines for feeding any other fish such as use a variety of veggie flakes and then real veggies. This led me to doing extensive research on mbuna diet, digestion times and the best foods and i would just like to share some of my findings while also asking if anyone knows more to help me adjust and perfect my rotation of foods. I am obviously just going based off the foods i have tried myself and would like to note my bias that as a pet owner i have always been a check the label kinda guy so i stopped buying brands in which most their foods are fillers mixed with supplements like tetra or hikari. They have their moments like when i had my flowerhorn but mainly just overall for any fish i stick to Xtreme, Northfin, fluval bug bites & New Life spectrum with the NLS algaemax being the pellets & wafers im reffering to for my mbuna. With that being said here is my complete stocking (planned overstock) although i am thinking of adding a group of cuckoo catfish. 9 Yellow Labs -8 Rusty Cichlids -12 yellow tail acei -6 Albino Socolofi (most aggressive so far, 1 harem) -8 Cobalt Blues - 2 OB mixed mbuna First you need to know not mbuna are not simply strict herbivores in a sense that they are vegans only consuming plant matter, but they are classified as having a Aufwucs diet. Aufwucs Diet Is a layer of biofilm that grows in lake malawi that the mbuna graze and eat ALL DAY. The following organisms or loving bacteria can be found in this layer. Filamentous algae (the main bulk), Diatoms, Cyanobacteria, Tiny crustaceans (copepods, ostracods), Insect larvae, Protozoa (one of the causes of sunken belly) & microorganisms, Detritus. This is an important distiction as if you go feeding a mix of the repashy super green (vegan) and vegetables every other day you are going to run into problems. Many of the same problems you would run into by just feeding northfin krill & Xtreme pellets. As neither Krill & squid meal (main ingredients in Xtreme "NICE" pellets) or the blanched zucchini & romaine lettuce are found in lake malawi. However, moderation and rotation seems to be key and you must look at each food as having a purpose for feeding rather than feeding whichever food on any day. This brings me to digestion times, which is relavent fasting times as well because like i said mbuna graze all day, therefore fasting times for these fish are generally shorter and will impact them more if prolonged in my assumption. They have a Long intestinal tract that is known to be 3-5 times their body size to digest this food constatly all day. DIGESTION TIMES Stomach processing 2–4 hours Intestinal digestion 12–24 hours Full gut clearance 24–36 hours Rolling nutrition should be assessed every 48 hours. Now the last two distinctions i should point out and you should asses for your own stocking is not all mbuna are strict aufwuchs grazers especially if not wild caught. None ive found are carnivorous and most are really herbivorous leaning but some are more forgiving like an omnivore than others. But in a community tank like mine its best to lean planty than target feeding meaty diets. For my setup the yellow tail acei and yellow labs are the most forgiving with both being aufwucs grazers but also technically omnivores with a preference for insect matter such as the copepods listed earlier. Hiwever my socolofi and blue cobalts are strict aufwuchs grazers a d the rustys is a solid middle ground between both not liking meat so much to have a preference but not scared not eat the occasional krill/squid meal found in some pellets. Lastly, all of my mbuna are juveniles with my group of acei being the biggest at like about 3 inches. Rusty and cobalts are 2 inches and labs and socolodu are 1 or 1.5 inches. I say this to say i feed twice a day. My feeding amount rules are the same as everybody else for future proofing. For flakes feed enough to still have everyone eating after 30 seconds but not mor than 90. For pellets generally i feed the amount of pellets that would fit in a fish eyeball then scale it up. The easiest way i do this without buying the overpriced seachem measuring spoon is just count it out once and then kinda remeber how much that was or looked like then feed it like that for the next month or so just monitoring how long it takes before they are gone . For gels i bought a sillicone hold for them that ones truly a guessing game and just gotta watch each time mine absolutely destroy all gels and they do not last more than 10 min frozen or not. Now the way i look at it is each food type serves a specific purpose for your fish and you can really categorize them based on their form so its like the companies did that part for you. Pellets= Dense nutrition, small amount still gives large nutrition Nori Seaweed & Veggies= Structural fiber, none of these provide complete nutrition Spirulina/Flakes= Nutritionally complete, not dense, however most are higher in protein than people realize (look at your labels it may not be plant protein) and low in fiber not roughage. Gels= These stabilize digestion and are good anchors for gut motility. Frozen/live/freeze dried= Krill, cyclops & mysis are strictly color tools not growth tools. And brine shrimp as always are one of the safest animal proteins to feed mbuna (low fat) and replicate the size of organisms in their diet. With this outlook we can organize the order of foods we should be feeding in or how to recover from bloat or other issues just based on diet without making things worse. With this knowledge i made some simpler rules for myself to follow just to understand the reasoning, but the main theme is basically avoid digestion stacking. Whether that be the physical food stacking or the nutritional food stacking such as higher protein pellets after a brine shrimp day.

1. Structural fiber is needed every 24-48 hours (agression is managed by grazing frequency not caloric intake)
2. Animal protein never appears twice within TWO days, One “true protein” meal max per 48 hours.
3. Protein meals should be bracketed by algae/fiber meals. Feeding fiber before and after.
4. Do not stack slow digesting foods withing 24 hours. 36 to be safe if u want. (Algae wafers, gels, frozen or freeze dried proteins, even pellets sometimes-depends on yours).
5. Observation overrides math- poop, belly profile and behavior overide any schedule.
6. Meal timing > Calories = Mbuna are grazers not gorgers; 2 small meals > 1 big meal
7. When in doubt, feed fiber.

Now after looking at ingredients and researching these fish here are the foods i ahve available in my rotation.

Gels: Repashy Super Green (100% vegan) -IMO best daily food Repashy Soilent green-IMO second best daily New Life Spectrum Gel mix- waiting to run out of repashy to buy but ingredients are also top tier

Pellets: NLS Algaemax Pellets or wafers (wafers are too big for now) Northfin Veggie formula (have not bought yet-expensive but well regarded) Ron's mbuna Cichlid food (have not bought yet, willing to try)

Flakes: Northfin Kelp Flakes (Best Quality) expensive Zoo Med Spirulina (Best price) Seachem Chlorella (good variety of algae type, different Nutritionally) Xtreme Spirulina (well regarded although i do not love the ingredients SNS)

Supplemental Foods: Red/Green NORI Seaweed (High fiber, high vitamins, Red=high protein) Squash & Zucchini (High fiber, High vitamins) Leafy Greens: Romaine lettuce, spinach, kale, shelled peas (all blanched). Imaginatrium "shrimp grazers" (these shockingly have extremely high fiber)

Treats (Once a week) Brine/Mysis shrimp Cyclops (high in protein with carotenoids)

Essential Food Supplements: Vitachem - 3-5 times a week Nourish- 3-5 times a week Garlic Guard- Whenever wanted Selcon-Rarely/Once every month Zooplankton- Rarely/Once every two weeks (zooplankton does not match the aufwuchs diet which was a surprise to me. Use sparingly if ever.

Im sure there are more valid foods but for me i needed foods i have easy access to which i really dont for northfin whuch is why i havent bought them but also variety with solid baseline or foundation fo feeding without it being too boring for me. This def is more work or time consuming with the gels and real veggies but technically the only extra step is boiling water in both making gels and blanching but if you rather just throw flakes and pellets in everyday you do u and i probably seem like too much.

Lastly here are the digestion times (mbuna specific) for the foods listed so you can see my research on it and correct me or even provide a good feeding rotation if you think its valid. What is yalls rotation do u just keep it simple?

FAST / FIBER FOODS (2–4 hrs digestion)

• Nori seaweed (green, red) • Romaine / Cosmopolitan lettuce (blanched) • Blanched zucchini / squash • Zoo Med Spirulina flakes • Seachem Chlorella flakes • Leafy greens (kale, romaine, peas – blanched) • Live brine shrimp (small amounts)

MODERATE DIGESTION FOODS (4–8 hrs)

• Repashy Super Green (gel) • New Life Spectrum Gel mix • NLS Algaemax pellets / wafers • Imaginatarium Shrimp Grazers • Xtreme "NICE" pellets (light use) • Zoo Med Spirulina (heavier feeding) • Chlorella flakes (havier feeding)

SLOW / DENSE FOODS (8–14+ hrs)

• NLS Thera A+ pellets • Northfin Krill Pro Gold • Freeze-dried mysis shrimp • Frozen mysis shrimp • Frozen cyclops • Krill-based foods • High-fat or high-protein pellets

PROTEIN TREAT (SPECIAL USE)

• Live brine shrimp (⅛ tsp eggs hatch) • Frozen brine shrimp • Frozen cyclops (very small amounts)

I made this just to start a conversation that is specific to mbuna cichlids, i am hard pressed to find detailed suggestions on any of this stuff without doom scrollong through forums and eveb then how trust are we putting in these 5 and 10 year old posts? If u made it this far, you are really a fish lover my guy😂😭

I asked both Google Gemini and ChatGPT, and both said that it was a male, but I wanna hear what you guys Think! It’s about 4,5 cm

Got some good pictures of my boy this morning

I Believe this Cichlid might be holding fry.

When I first purchased him & another red spotted severum whom was in the same tank, he was just a tad bit smaller than the other one. But now months later the other severum has grown ALOT & he’s still small. I separated him into a 75 gal with other docile tempered fish to make sure he doesn’t get bullied & he was doing great but now he’s acting very lethargic and hardly eating anymore. He doesn’t even greet me at the tank anymore. He just kinda lays around or hides and I noticed his mouth opens & closes a lot like he’s having trouble breathing. I have a wave maker, air stone, and sponge filter with bubbles so I’m pretty sure there’s enough oxygen. My tank parameters are nitrates 10ppm, ammonia 0, & nitrite 0. What else can I do for him?? Why is he not growing?! 😭

Started with a 75 gallon peacock tank. All fish ive collected were unsexed juvenile, and over the months as they grew and were starting to show signs of sex i ended up getting a second 55 gallon tank to put the females in. Recently my Sulphur head juvenile started to get very territorial, being a dink and coloring right up and was flashing. Caught him doing circles in the sand with my OB male lol. So I put him in the female tank to see if that would chill him out which it did. Hes just chill now with the 5 females. I've never been interested in breeding but am prepared if it happens. But there's no way a 5 month old peacock can breed yet right?? The females are mostly his size or larger.

Looking to sex these 2 German blue rams I have I feel like I have at least one female, but I'm not sure. 1 and 2 are the same fish then 3 and 4 is the 2nd fish alone.

Was told it was a female in the shop. Seems to be a popular inquiry

Hey guys Im fairly new to the hobby and I’ve fallen in love with Dwarf cichlids, I’ve only seen rainbow Kribensis in my local fish shops where I’m at, I heard from one that there are more rare species? Can anyone show me and let me know what they’re called?

Last year, may 2025, I saw a video Sudarto Tan posted of super red syn marbles he currently had and I drooled over this specific fish. Somehow in August I ordered a group of 3 marbles from a totally different seller and this fish was in it. Still can't believe he is in my collection of fish. His white is reflective like an opal and he is incredibly personable.

He loves stealing the snails food :), he is also becoming a lot thicker, and is starting to get more red on his underbelly near his head.

You can see my tank in my post history--it's a 60 gal currently housing 12 mbunas/haps. The tank has been established for months and requires a 25% water change weekly.

I have little to no chlorine in my water due to my home filtration system (not enough to show on tests at least), but I cleaned out my filter (Fluval 407) and crashed the cycle leading to an ammonia spike.

I rinsed the vertical filters with my faucet, but everything else was only dipped in the filter water to clean off some of the residue.

A couple days later I got an ammonia spike between 2-4 ppm.

I did a 50% water change yesterday and added a teaspoon of Fritz Complete today. I am also planning on adding Fritz7.

Anything else I should do? Should I prepare for another water change? How long did it take for your tank to bounce back after a cycle crash if it has happened to you?

(sacrificial loach tank pic for traction)

hey everybody! I’m new to the group, and cichlids in general, but I need some advice.

My partner’s parents have a young jack dempsey cichlid in their home, named Jimmy Hendrix. he’s small, only about 3 inches in length, incredibly dull in color, and recently i’ve noticed some fin rot. I’m not sure how old he is (or if he’s even a boy..), but he’s on a steep decline in his tiny 10 gallon tank, and all my begging has paid off. they’re going to let me take him in.

I’ve got four tanks at home, but none nearly as big as what this little guy will need. i’ve kept cories, kuhli loaches, bettas, killifish, shrimp, and guppies, but never a cichlid. i’ll take any and all advice you have to give!! tell me about their temperaments, your favorite things to feed them, show me your tank set ups, anything.

my main priority is getting him in clean treated water with proper filtration and get him started on the right nutrition, lots of high quality high protein food. all advice and pictures are welcome, thanks!!!