African Cichlid Aquarium Setup

African Cichlid Aquarium – Choosing the Right Size Tank

The size of an African Cichlid aquarium should be at least 55 gallons, the bigger the better but 55 is the minimum. For really African cichlids, you can have a 35 gallon tank but no smaller than that. Small tanks will either lack decoration or swimming space, they will also cause aggression because the fish will not be able to claim any territory.

African Cichlid Aquarium Water pH and Hardness

Some African cichlid species like acidic water, some do not. What follows are the ranges of the three African rift lakes:

  • Lake Tanganyika – 7.8 to 9.0
  • Lake Victoria – 7.2 to 8.6
  • Lake Malawi – 7.4 to 8.6

The fish can become accustomed to pH levels higher or lower than these because in the Lakes the water chemistry never remains constant. The only thing you would need to be wary of is not to create any rapid fluctuations in the pH level.

African Cichlids like hard water. If you hard water available, you are lucky. Otherwise you would need to add calcium and phosphate to the water. SeaChem’s Cichlid Salt products are buffers which can raise the alkalinity. SeaChem and certain other companies are also offering Trace Elements and Cichlid Salts that try simulating the exact mineral and salt conditions of the rift lakes, without raising the pH. Providing the natural water conditions will bring out the color in the fish.

Bi-carbonate soda, Epsom salt, and aquarium salt can act as good buffers and salts, they are also inexpensive. For each 5 gallon of water, you should add 1 teaspoon of aquarium salt, 1 teaspoon of baking soda, and 1 tablespoon of Epsom salts.

In an African Cichlid aquarium will need water conditioners to remove chloramines. AmQuel is a good conditioner. NovAqua, is another good option, it will remove toxins and will protect the coating on the skin of the fish and stabilize the pH.

African Cichlid Aquarium Temperature

Keep the African Cichlid aquarium temperature at around 74-78F (23-25.5C). It’s best to use digital heaters to keep the temperature constant. If the temperature is high, the fish will eat more, waste more and become more aggressive and you in turn will need to clean the tank more. If the temperature is low, the fish will be less violent.

African Cichlid Aquarium Water Changes

Change 20% of the water every week and vacuum the gravel too so that there are no substances which can cause infections. The using filters is a good idea; they will keep the water clean for a longer period of time.

African Cichlid Aquarium Filtration

If the tank is small, a small external filter will do. The flow should be 4 – 6 times the volume of your tank. A 20-gallon tank will need a filter that cycles 80 – 120 gallons per hour (GPH). A larger tank will need a larger filter.

Under gravel filters are used by a lot of people, but they have two main disadvantages. First, African Cichlids are diggers and they will unearth the filter very fast and damage it. Second, the filter will need to cleaned often because it will take in a lot of gravel and waste.

Whichever kind of filter you use, it is always best to clean out the sponge, the impeller, and the impeller shaft every few weeks. Or else your filter might stop working after the sponges are clogged slowing down the flow rate.

African Cichlid Aquarium Substrate

You can use a lot of different substrates for an African Cichlid aquarium. Some use black gravel, some use crushed red gravel, and other use crushed coral. Dolomite (crushed limestone) may be used as a buffer though it might have copper and some metals. Use the AmQuel and NovAqua to remove the copper and other toxic metals.

African Cichlid Aquarium Decoration

These fish will need lots of rocks as decoration, the rocks will give them breeding space, provide territory boundaries and give them a sense of safety. A rock with lots of big holes in it is good because the fish can hide and sleep in it, clay pots placed upside down can also be used. Rocks can be stacked to make tunnels and caves.

When you buy rocks for the aquarium, clean them thoroughly with bleach then take a lot of care to rinse off every single trace of the bleach. You can glue rock formations together so that they do not fall down and you can also put a Styrofoam sheet at the base of the tank so that the rock does not exert too much direct pressure on the aquarium floor.

Plants are a generally bad idea, most of them cannot live in the alkaline water, and those which can are eaten by the fish. Use artificial plants.

African cichlids are diggers so make sure the layer of substrate is at least 2 to 3 inches thick.

Controlling Cichlid Aggression

Here are some best practices for reducing cichlid aggression. Give your fish less food more often. Give them enough space to create their own territories and try to keep a lot of fish varieties together so that they do not eye each other as threats.

Keep 2 females per male so that the male aggression is not concentrated on a single single.

There are a lot of considerations when it comes to African Cichlid aquariums. Just take it step by step and you’ll have one up and running in no time.