# ghost fish (knife) and cichlids???



## air4ceguy06 (Dec 28, 2008)

I'm new to the forum but not to new to the cichlid world..I've had a couple of tanks but never got a chance mix the fish in tanks.

Would ghost fish and cichlids (lake mawali) be able to stay in the same tank together? I'm about to invest in a 55 gallon tank, largest one for me to own as of yet.

Also if anyone one could help, i just moved to texas and the water is much different then where im from. I cant seem to get a handle on my ammonia levels here. They stay in the area of .25 - 1.0 and I've tried ammonia (tank buddies) and cant seem have help with that either.. Any ideas ???


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

Knifes and Malawi cichlids are not the best mix. I would recommend against it.


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## air4ceguy06 (Dec 28, 2008)

thanks that helps alot..My wife loves those darn things and insisted they would do ok.. I'm still having trouble with my ammonia. Does drift wood or plants do anything to ammonia?


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## xalow (May 10, 2007)

I agree that a knife fish would not go with African cichlids. I also would add that they aren't really suitable for a 55 gallon tank in the long term either as they get very big.

Having ammonia in your tank is a sign that your tank is not cycled properly, check out one of the website's articles on cycling: http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/cycling.php

Decaying plant matter will add to ammonia but its not an issue in a cycled aquarium. However since said this has been a problem since moving to Texas you may want to test your water right out of the tap for nitrates though having ammonia in there wouldn't really be a common occurrence.


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## css virginia (Jan 29, 2007)

I agree that both the Black Knife Fish and the African Knife Fish are not recommended with Mbuna. I had them both with Mbuna and neither survived. 8)


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## air4ceguy06 (Dec 28, 2008)

well i recently just tested water out of my tap and it has a reading of .25 on the ammonia and about 5.0 on nitrate. Yea needless to say i dont drink the tap water here.. I've tried a couple of different things that take away everything but still no luck.. I'm doin 25 % water changes right now and everytning but I'm still not having any luck yet.


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## xalow (May 10, 2007)

I wish I could be of more help but I am not sure what to do when there is ammonia in the water supply, hopefully someone more experience can chime in here.


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## LadyBarbara001 (Sep 8, 2008)

I had the same problems showing on my test kit with Nitrites. I took a sample of my tap water to a LFS and had it tested. It tested fine...was my test kit showing a false reading. I would suggest that you try to have your water tested by a different type of kit, just to make sure that you actually do have a problem.


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## Heyguy74 (Aug 11, 2005)

air4ceguy06 said:


> well i recently just tested water out of my tap and it has a reading of .25 on the ammonia and about 5.0 on nitrate. Yea needless to say i dont drink the tap water here.. I've tried a couple of different things that take away everything but still no luck.. I'm doin 25 % water changes right now and everytning but I'm still not having any luck yet.


I would use Prime for water changes. It will detoxify the ammonia out of the tap. 5 ppm of nitrates out of the tap are not that bad. Should be no propblem there. A properly cycled system should deal with the ammoina pretty easily.

Ladybarbara001, 
Who made the tes t kit you had trouble with? I know that Nitrate test kits can be finnicky if you dont shake the test tube properly after each set of drops added. Also make sure to shake the bottles well before testing. Another thing is test kits do expire, how old is the kit?


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## air4ceguy06 (Dec 28, 2008)

well the kit is only about 6 months old ..Some ppl say the strips suck and then others say different. When it goes through a cylce with the numbers just high then drop or how does that work?


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## Dave (Feb 9, 2003)

Test strips are not very accurate. Cycling a filter takes 3-6 weeks depending on the ammonia load.

If you water is really showing 0.25 ammonia from the tap, you might consider RO water.


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## air4ceguy06 (Dec 28, 2008)

wow!!! I checked my water today and it has this

Ammonia; 0
PH; 8.2
nitrate: 10
nitrite: 1.0

Is this finaly cycling?? should those numbers drop.. in just 2 days the ammonia dropped to 0 and the nitrate jumped 5 and nitrite jumped .75... Will this cycle out??


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## Heyguy74 (Aug 11, 2005)

Yes, The cycle is going in the right direction. Just keep an eye on it and you should be fine.


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## Dave (Feb 9, 2003)

It is cycling, but until ammonia and nitrite are both 0 then the cycle is not complete.


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