Cichlid substrate

by **tinadno** » Sat Mar 28, 2009 5:40 pm

Hi I'm just wondering is it possible to use an aragonite substrate with american cichlids? I have a tank with african and american (blue acara, firemouth, texas) and would like to use crushed coral as a substrate.

by **kelbri** » Sat Mar 28, 2009 8:25 pm

From my understanding, crushed coral will raise your Ph quite high (why it's used with African Cichlids). American Cishlids prefer a neutral Ph. I personally would avoid using crushed coral for American. Just go with a sand (playsand from local buiding store like Home Depot, or pool filter sand).

by **dizzcat** » Sun Mar 29, 2009 2:03 am

Yeah, people use the crushed coral to raise the pH. It will take it up above 8.0, which is great for Africans, but American cichlids need lower pH.

You should also not have both kinds in the same tank. You are going to have some dead fish as soon as those Africans mature. The Auratus is the most aggressive cichlid there is. Also you have a Kenyi which is a baddy too. The Africans need a high pH, the others a low pH. The Africans need a veggie diet, the others an omnivore diet. The South American cichlids are not aggressive enough to deal with the overly aggressive Africans.

Good luck

by **tinadno** » Sun Mar 29, 2009 2:43 pm

Thanks i'm soon going to upgrade to a 72 gallon where i'll be keeping only africans in so im able to use the high pH substrate and so nobody gets hurt. I don't have my auratus anymore and I'm kinda glad because he was very aggressive I had to separate him at one point because he wouldn't leave my acara alone. Thanks for the tips though

Cichlid substrate

4 posts