Leave a comment about your experiences with fish loss and how you try to keep it from happening again. Please hit the like button, and thanks for watching!

I did an ammonia cycle last year for the first time. Enjoyable process. And I think if you cycle a tank this way it simply makes you a better fish keeper. You end up completely understanding the nitrogen cycle, and your filter media is super charged. Exactly what we need for African cichlids

Awesome vid 👍🏿

@CichlidCharmer

Жыл бұрын

Thank you!

Not trying to say ur wrong for what ur saying cuz the right way to do is wait for ur tank to cycle but honestly the same day I got my tank I add fish not one die and now it’s been 4years now and great video for beginners

@CichlidCharmer

Жыл бұрын

That’s awesome! I know it can be done - a fish in cycle. This video isn’t really for advanced fish keepers. That’s great that you can do it without stressing your fish out.

Awesome setup my friend 👌... I'm wandering if you can teach us how to build douse aquarium stand

@CichlidCharmer

Жыл бұрын

Thanks! Actually, check out the king of diy on KZread. He has a video for the frame. My finish material is mostly 1x4 white pine.

I had a dead fish just yesterday in my tank when I came home from work.. I believe it was because he was a fish used to cycle my new tanks. It was some sort of blue peacock that was always in a 75 or bigger for the last 6 months. I added him to my 125 and we can go that has 13 peacocks and 7 haps. I think the stress from the bullying is the cause of his death.

@CichlidCharmer

Жыл бұрын

That’s a sad loss… never easy. I don’t know if you added more fish with him into the 125 but that helps. I feed them, do a water change and add them before the refill. Still never know, but I like to distract them as much as possible. I hope he’s the last one you have to lose for a long time, Brandon.

Hi. I’ve learned so much from your videos. I thank you. I recently started up a 125G Hap tank. I initially put in a sponge filter from an established aquarium and 2 other fish to attempt to cycle the tank. I swapped them out when I added the haps. I’ve had a few deaths. And noticed other signs of stress (flashing) with a few others. My nitrate level is around 20. Do I need to wait until it reaches 40 to do a water change? Any guidance you can provide is greatly appreciated!!

@CichlidCharmer

2 ай бұрын

You must be stressed. Here’s what I need to know: what are all your water parameters? Did you dechlorinate? PH? I might be a bit to get back to you but make sure you have plenty of aeration and dose dechlorinator for ammonia if you have ammonia or nitrates.

Good day! I have never kept African cichlids before and I love my central American cichlids but lately the African are staring to peep my interest. My question is how many African peacock cichlid can I keep in a 55 gallon aquarium? I know the predator haps would be to large and I'm not interested in the mbuna or shelldwellus from lake Tanganyika. Also, which peacock would you suggest? Thanks I look forward to your response.

@CichlidCharmer

Жыл бұрын

I have a video on how many peas and haps you can put in a 75. You should check that out, but I would not be inclined to overtock a 75 or 55 anymore. I would stick to smaller peas like fluvescent, flame tail, benga sunshine, and other peas that are typically less aggressive. Let me know if you have any other questions, and thanks for watching!

There isn't just enough beneficial bacteria to cycle your tank. That's a common myth in the hobby. You said if you you have ten fish there's only enough bacteria to handle a ten fish load. Fish keepers disprove this every time they clean their filters. If there were only enough bacteria to cycle your tank every time you cleaned your filter or filters you would start a full blown cycle or a mini cycle that would last 4-7 days. You would never be able to clean a filter ever without this happening. Especially since our filters house the majority of the bacteria. The truth is within a month of your tank cycling you have 2-8 times the amount of bacteria needed to cycle your tank. This is proven. I add multiple fish anywhere from 5-10 fish on a regular basis with zero spiking issues. An extreme example I could give you is. I setup a tank about a year ago. I bought the tank for a crazy deal. It was too good to pass up so I went and got it. I set it aside and went and bought two filters to run it. I put one of the new filters on another tank I have setup and let it run for a month. At the one month mark on a Friday I built a stand and setup the tank. Got it filled with water. Adjusted the heater ect. Took the new filter I had running for a month and got it setup on the new tank. The other new filter was the same model I had running on one of my other tanks so took all the new media and swapped it for the seeded media in the old one. I let the tank settle and clear up over night. That next morning I added 25 adult African Cichlids to the tank. After a week of testing the water zero ammonia. At the two week mark of adding the 25 Cichlids I added another 20 adult African Cichlids. Again no spike. Started my cleaning and water charge schedule just like all my other tanks from day one. The only thing I didn't do is clean a filter for the first 4 months. I also added another filter that was brand new at about a month after setup. The only reason I did that is because I'm a big believer in how much media you should have to support your tank. With the three filters in moving far more gph than needed but I have plenty of surface area for bacteria. So that's 45 fish in two weeks with one filter running for a month on an established tank and the sponges from an aquaclear 110 with zero spikes. Would I recommend a rookie do this? Absolutely not but I knew it would be fine. There's no way I'd risk thousands of dollars if fish if I didn't. There's really over $2500 in fish in this tank. Anyways back to the point. Your aquarium will grow more bacteria than needed. If anyone wants further proof think about all those unboxing videos we've all seen on KZread where people add a bunch of fish with no issues. If it's a new tank and you don't have a way to seed it do not add a bunch of fish. Last but not least if your going to add ammonia to feed the bacteria while cycling save some coin and by the ammonia from the grocery store. It's cheaper than aquarium co-op. Remember like most things you pay extra for the name.