Author |
Message |
fortyone New Members
Joined: 26 Jul 2008
|
Posted: 2008.08.01(Fri)10:50 Post subject: Tanganiykan Cichlids in SW tank! |
|
|
I read in Paul Loiselle's classic book"the Cichlid Aquarium", that these cichlids can live in SW .Anyone set them up in a SW tank?.Certainly the pH-9-is right for these cichlids. |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
MarkLehr Moderators
Joined: 09 Dec 2004 Location: Louisville, KY
|
Posted: 2008.08.02(Sat)16:48 Post subject: |
|
|
Did you read that they can live in a marine aquarium environment, or that they like hard water which can be achieved with the addition of salt? |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
MackEmmons Regulars

Joined: 29 Jan 2007 Location: Tulsa, OK / Toronto, ON.
|
Posted: 2008.08.02(Sat)23:03 Post subject: Re: Tanganiykan Cichlids in SW tank! |
|
|
fortyone wrote: | I read in Paul Loiselle's classic book"the Cichlid Aquarium", that these cichlids can live in SW .Anyone set them up in a SW tank?.Certainly the pH-9-is right for these cichlids. |
I think you read it wrong. Although I remember reading that somewhere they adjusted malawi cichlids to live in a full marine environment, keep in mind that deaths were very regular and the fish were stress and not healthy looking.
The pH of a Saltwater tank is 8.3 optimally, 9 would be too high. Having a small amount of Salt in the water is different than being a full marine environment. _________________ The Gymnogeophagus Study Group |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
fortyone New Members
Joined: 26 Jul 2008
|
Posted: 2008.08.03(Sun)10:10 Post subject: |
|
|
My interpretation was a little off.Although I have read that these cichlids can survive nicely in a pH tank as high as 9,8-8.5 is fine. What he said was that cichlids are secondary division freshwater fishes whose ancestors evolved under marine conditions then successfully invaded and colonized freshwater biotypes.... |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
Marcos Avila Moderators

Joined: 05 Feb 2003 Location: Santo Andre (Brazil)
|
Posted: 2008.08.03(Sun)11:29 Post subject: |
|
|
It's a very common mistake for people to think that adding marine salt to a freshwater tank makes it good for rift lake cichlids. We see people claiming it here on the board all the time. These species don't like or do well at all in high salinity, what they like is high alkalinity...it's important to know the difference. _________________
Success with a fish/tank is measured in YEARS, not months or weeks... |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
MackEmmons Regulars

Joined: 29 Jan 2007 Location: Tulsa, OK / Toronto, ON.
|
Posted: 2008.08.05(Tue)3:13 Post subject: |
|
|
fortyone wrote: | My interpretation was a little off.Although I have read that these cichlids can survive nicely in a pH tank as high as 9,8-8.5 is fine. What he said was that cichlids are secondary division freshwater fishes whose ancestors evolved under marine conditions then successfully invaded and colonized freshwater biotypes.... |
My response of a pH 8.3 is the limit for marine species. Tanganyikan cichlid would be able to inhabit waters with a pH higher than this. _________________ The Gymnogeophagus Study Group |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
art_of_war Members
Joined: 17 Nov 2006
|
Posted: 2008.08.21(Thu)15:08 Post subject: |
|
|
Marcos Avila wrote: | It's a very common mistake for people to think that adding marine salt to a freshwater tank makes it good for rift lake cichlids. We see people claiming it here on the board all the time. These species don't like or do well at all in high salinity, what they like is high alkalinity...it's important to know the difference. |
mark,
I'm sorry to say that you're wrong. I will post a video I took while back whil in a Bay area of a store called, "Lucky Goldfish". I called it, "A flowerhorn in a reef tank". If you look it up on youtube, you'll find it. If not, let me know, I'll post the link when I get home. |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
MackEmmons Regulars

Joined: 29 Jan 2007 Location: Tulsa, OK / Toronto, ON.
|
Posted: 2008.08.21(Thu)15:52 Post subject: |
|
|
art_of_war wrote: | Marcos Avila wrote: | It's a very common mistake for people to think that adding marine salt to a freshwater tank makes it good for rift lake cichlids. We see people claiming it here on the board all the time. These species don't like or do well at all in high salinity, what they like is high alkalinity...it's important to know the difference. |
mark,
I'm sorry to say that you're wrong. I will post a video I took while back whil in a Bay area of a store called, "Lucky Goldfish". I called it, "A flowerhorn in a reef tank". If you look it up on youtube, you'll find it. If not, let me know, I'll post the link when I get home. |
First off, a flowerhorn is not a rift lake cichlid. Second, that flowerhorn is going to be very short lived, I'm sure if you went back less than two weeks later, they would be completely new fish. But not because someone bought it, but instead because it died.
Its science, the cells of rift lake cichlidshaven't evolved to properly perform osmosis when in higher salinities.
Marine salt will not benefit a Rift lake tang unless your water is really soft. In which case only enough should be added to increase the hardness to a more tolerable level. And even in that case, it would be better to add specific trace elements and minerals, not marine salt. _________________ The Gymnogeophagus Study Group |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
number6 Moderators

Joined: 07 Feb 2003 Location: Ontario, Canada
|
Posted: 2008.08.24(Sun)11:29 Post subject: |
|
|
art_of_war wrote: | mark,
I'm sorry to say that you're wrong. I will post a video I took while back whil in a Bay area of a store called, "Lucky Goldfish". I called it, "A flowerhorn in a reef tank". If you look it up on youtube, you'll find it. If not, let me know, I'll post the link when I get home. |
It would be a very ignorant mistake to make that one would take an ability to tolerate and turn that into a normal event.
Convict cichlids, flowerhorns, and even a few other species of cichlid have survived experiments where they managed to live in a true marine environment. The number of cichlids that died in all experiments outweigh the number that live. _________________ "Just don't look in my fish room honey... it's just better for all of us. " |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
|
|