[Kalypso426]

is there much risk of getting my fish sick with your method Larry? and i dont have live plants in my cichlid tank cause i dont want the plants to get destroyed

 

[Kalypso426]

a rock eater? and these are africans...and they still rearrange the tank around with the gravel lol so it really dont make a difference with that. There arent any fresh water sifter fish are there?

 

[Kalypso426]

They sold him as Geophagus, but I'm pretty sure it was a species of Satanoperca.

They like to scoop up a mouthful and blow it out their opercula. If he started to run out of sand, he'd get a little neurotic.

Unfortunately, they are very sensitive to nitrogen levels, and he got sick during a brief period of tank neglect, and never did recover. I went a little overboard on the filtration after that...

Would the cichlids pick on it? Or would the fish just be kind of out of the way?

 

[Kalypso426]

how big do these fish normally get?

 

[Kalypso426]

The rockeater was about 7-8 inches when I got him. The firemouth is about 6", and the Dempsey is now getting close to 10.

The rockeaters are supposed to be a good community fish. The guy I bought him from said that they do well in an aggressive tank because the others will leave him alone. Apart from the firemouth being a jerk, that seemed to be the case.

What kind of sand do you use for your tank? would it be good for the africans?

 

[Kalypso426]

I just used play sand, and spent a lot of time washing it. It's pretty much inert, so I can't see how it would be harmful, but I've never had African cichlids, so I don't know a thing about keeping them.

I will say that I have read that the fish will be more shy if you have a light substrate, and my fish do seem more reclusive with the light substrate I have (it is light gravel) than in other tanks I have had with darker substrate,

oh ok. this has all helped!! thank you