[petlover516]

Hi all cichlid keepers.
im setting up a 10-gallon dwarf cichlid tank. But a real question is "what dwarf cichlid?". I'd really, really, really like GBR's-3, 2 females and 1 male, and once the male formed a pair bond with 1 female, I'd give away the other female. I might not even need 3-alot of times there are already pair ponds in the big tank full of rams in Aquarium Adventure. one time i saw a big female full of eggs! it will be a 10g run with a whisper pf10, and i plan on having a few plants. the question is: how do i keep the pH so low for them? will peat moss work?

 

[petlover516]

I've done some more research and decided to use diriftwood to keep the pH low. For the tank style I am planning on a piece of slate, 2 Amazon swords(one on each end of the tank), a piece of driftwood, and "Good luck Palace" as the centerpiece. good luck palace is a plastic aquarium castle(actually its suppost to look like an abandoned cottage coverred in vines and trees, but I just saw it as "the castle") that I should have talked about a while ago. It was the centerpiece of my old jack dempsey tank, and once we took it out, Jack soon died. We than had it in the 125g-the snowflake morey eel soon made it its home, and once we took it out, it killed off our other eel in a territorial dispute, caused by the removal of "King Avalanch's Castle." So now it is going in the 10g, Hopefully to work its magic and make the tank survive. Right now the tank is half-full with the castle, the gravel, and the slate in place. Once I get the plants and driftwood, I will fill up the tank and prime the filter.

 

[petlover516]

I added an Amazon sword on saturday. I hope to add a few more, as well as some dwarf chain swords and as some other plants.

 

[archer772]

Hi Tyler what you could also do would be to buy some Indian Almond Leaves as they are very good at lowering your PH and adding some tannins to the water along with the DW. I think that in a 10 gallon you will need to condition your water to match your tank water so you would need to age water with some peat so the PH and GH will match or use a mix or RO/DI and tap water. The leaves will decay and I believe they will add some micro foods to the young if and when they spawn. I was wondering if you had looked at some Cockatoo Apistos because they are very hardy and spawn constantly at least for me and very undemanding for me. I am adding a link for the leaves and a couple pics of my Apistos oh and the males get about 2 inches and the females get just over an inch.

AquaBid.com - Your Aquatic Auction Website

Here is the male and female together with a corie to give you a size comparison

 

[petlover516]

The cockatoos would be my 2nd choice.

so what u said by aging-u mean to let it said for a 24hrs in a jug of somesort with peat moss in it, right?

i think i will try to use indian almond leaves.

 

[archer772]

I would try to use a 5 gallon bucket with a corner filter with peat in it and let it run and just keep adding water to it when you use some. I like the leaves and in a 10 gallon you would probably only need 2-3 larger leaves or 4-5 smaller leaves every 3-4 weeks so a bag of a 100 should last a long time I think.

 

[petlover516]

Well i started using peat moss in the tank on saturday. the pH was 7.6. sunday the pH was 7.2. The peat moss is in the tank still by now the pH is gotta be 6.0. I think i'll use the extra in the corner filter inside a 5g bucket. good idea.

 

[archer772]

Sounds good but in my expierence PH can start to get unstable below about 6.2-6.3 but that is JMO

 

[petlover516]

I got them yesterday! I didn't take 3-I just took the only established pair, noticably by their actions. There nicely colored and when i got them they had very nice colors. the colors have faded, but are coming back. the female is very small, rounded and has a purple stomach. the male is larger and also has purple but not as pronouncd as the female. the male, unfortunately, he has a damaged dorsal fin. since the male stays hidden in the castle i was only able to get a pic of the female.

 

[archer772]

Looks good, so how is the peat working out for you??

 

[petlover516]

I have had a bag hanging in the tank for a while, but the pH is still dropping very slowly. I guess that is better, but the ph test kit i have is a little hard to tell. the pH of my tank is either 7.6, 7.2, or 6.8.

 

[petlover516]

I finally got a pic of the male:

i also have a few other pix in my gallery if anyone wants to see them.