# 125 gallon tank - Possible Cichlid tank in the making



## J_T (Mar 25, 2011)

So, I gave my sister my former reef tank. She was talking about setting up a Cichlid tank. Then asked for my help....

I haven't ever kept Cichlids.. So, Help!

Yellow labs, and Blue Rams (pretty sure those are proper names) are what has her attention. I know a good place to get these fish, and I have no doubt he won't stear me wrong.

I would like to get an idea of what gear she will need. And I guess I should put up a list of what we have.

Right now;

125 gallon standard dimensions (6 foot, by 18 wide, by 24 tall) Overflow drilled in the middle, with a wide overflow (Room under, as the tank is drilled in the back)
Dart return pump (is this crazy overkill, or will they enjoy that much flow?)
40 gallon breeder sump


Lights will be basic HD fixture with new bulbs. 

Flow? Random? Or end to end? Substrate? Rock? Ideal levels?


I have lots of time before this tank is going to be setup, but I figured I should start learning now!


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## Kerohime (Jan 10, 2011)

I wouldnt suggest you put blue rams in with yellow labs... they are both aggressive when breeding, and the rams are are too small to be fair... and fend for themselves.

Also, its more of a preference for me but I think you should stick to of species to the same biotope... yellow labs and blue rams come from differnet places and flourish in different water parameters. yellow labs you would probably do gravel/sand and lots of rocks, blue rams would be leaning towards planted tanks with aquasoil to lower the PH, etc... 

Think about exactly what fish you want, and then we can discuss what kind of substrate, rock, water parameters you should have.


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## Tropicana (Feb 15, 2009)

Yellow labs are an African cichlid, while Blue rams are a south American dwarf Cichlid. They cannot mix. The rams would probably die. 

I would suggest Keeping Africans with only Africans. 

For an african tank you want to use crushed coral to keep the PH high, you can also decorate with rocks and make sure to have many caves and visual barriers so the fish can get away from each other. Generally Africans are all aggressive, but it is natural for them to chase etc.

As for Flow, you want to over filter the aquarium with Africans generally since people stock them pretty densely to lower aggression. If possible two canister filters would be great for that tank, or one big one like an FX5.

I am sure there are many more alternatives to what I have suggested but I hope thats just an idea to help you out


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## J_T (Mar 25, 2011)

Okay, I forgot that there were different zones, and that they didn't mix. Thank-you for that. I can now take that back to my sister. Let her decide  

Filtration. I was going to build a bio ball tower. Since the sump is huge anyway. I was also going to add a GAC reactor. The floss on top of the tower, bio media under that, and carbon. Its like a big exploded canister. Or is my thinking wrong? 

Sent from my Xperia using Tapatalk 2


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## Darkside (Sep 14, 2009)

J_T said:


> Okay, I forgot that there were different zones, and that they didn't mix. Thank-you for that. I can now take that back to my sister. Let her decide
> 
> Filtration. I was going to build a bio ball tower. Since the sump is huge anyway. I was also going to add a GAC reactor. The floss on top of the tower, bio media under that, and carbon. Its like a big exploded canister. Or is my thinking wrong?
> 
> Sent from my Xperia using Tapatalk 2


You'll just need to make sure you have your flow aimed towards the substrate to keep it clear of detritus. Cichlids have a tendency to be dirty fish.


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## Darkside (Sep 14, 2009)

Tropicana said:


> Yellow labs are an African cichlid, while Blue rams are a south American dwarf Cichlid. They cannot mix. The rams would probably die.
> 
> I would suggest Keeping Africans with only Africans.
> 
> ...


The hard water is probably enough to kill the rams without aggression from the labs.


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## J_T (Mar 25, 2011)

Thanks for the info coming in! I have been salt water so long... 

Anyone have some good links to build threads? I can point to tons of salt water builds, but didn't see any in this forum!

Thanks for the help.

Sent from my Xperia using Tapatalk 2


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## Darkside (Sep 14, 2009)

J_T said:


> Thanks for the info coming in! I have been salt water so long...
> 
> Anyone have some good links to build threads? I can point to tons of salt water builds, but didn't see any in this forum!
> 
> ...


A typical SW sump minus the skimmer will work well for cichlids, just make sure you have a decent pad to help strain out the increased particulate matter.


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## Tropicana (Feb 15, 2009)

Darkside said:


> The hard water is probably enough to kill the rams without aggression from the labs.


Haha thats true, depends where the rams are from i guess, I have bred them in 7.8-8ph.


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## notclear (Nov 5, 2011)

As you know there is cheato in SW refugium to help absorb nutrient. Is there any thing like that in a hard water cichlid tank? Can jave fern do the job or is there something else?


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## Tropicana (Feb 15, 2009)

Java fern and anubias are sometimes tough enough to be with Africans. What I do with my tanks is grow Ivy out of them. the roots can be in the filter or inside the tank somewhere. You could give that a try.


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## notclear (Nov 5, 2011)

Do you have a picture to show what Ivy is? Thanks.


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## Tropicana (Feb 15, 2009)

This is not my picture*

But it is pretty much what i do too.


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## notclear (Nov 5, 2011)

Interesting, so they grow out of the water! Thanks for the picture.


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## BillD (Jun 5, 2006)

That plant is commonly called Golden Pothos, and is available everywhere. It does quite well growing in water.


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## Tropicana (Feb 15, 2009)

BillD said:


> That plant is commonly called Golden Pothos, and is available everywhere. It does quite well growing in water.


Thanks BillD.


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## Tino (Sep 10, 2012)

If I can add my 2 cents, I used to keep yellow labs with cyno axelrodi which gave my tank a beautiful yellow-blue-purplish look. The 2 species got along great, with both types breeding regularly. I also kept a sailfin pleco to keep the glass clean and 6-8 buenos aries tetras as dither fish.
I had a 75 gallon and had split filtration with both an Eheim cannister as well as an Eheim Liberty HOB filter to agitate the surface. For aqua-scaping I used dark gravel, a black baground (their colours stood out much better) and fake plants, lava rocks, and shells for decorations (the lava rock and shells also helped maintain the ph)
Your sister can easily set up the same thing in her 125 gal and would look stunning.


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## agk2000 (Sep 21, 2012)

Why not look up the blue lemon project. I found it a great inspiration. If she chooses the yellow labs be sure to look into it! Or just get a harem of labs, rustys, and blue zebras or something (1 male to 3 female ratios all around)


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

That Golden Pothos, botanically is Epipremnum, also comes in a dark green, and a few different white/green marbled forms.. usually Marble Queen or Snow White. There are also a couple of dwarfer forms of it, but they are harder to find and usually cost a lot more. The nice thing about Pothos is that it will grow for long periods of time in water, and if you allow it to climb up something outside the tank you can get the leaves to become much larger.. over six inches if it climbs high enough. In its native habitat they grow to the treetops and the leaves are over two feet wide. Think Tarzan swinging on a vine, that's what the stems get like in those conditions. 

Just depends on what you like of course, it can be left hanging down without any problem. Oddly, if grown in soil, it hates for it's soil to be too wet. There used to be a hydroponic shop near here with a goldfish pond in the store.. she had some pothos growing out of the pond that had stems nearly an inch thick and leaves well over six inches wide, up to the ceiling height. Quite a show.. and while the stem part that was in the pond had no leaves the rest of it more than made up for the bare portion.


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## loonie (Mar 29, 2008)

Some people call it money plant in south east asia, do not ask me why since I do not know answer


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

There are at least a half dozen plants called Money plant... all different and I've never been able to figure out why they get the name, but they do.. don't think it means much though.


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