# Beginner's setup



## Davina (Nov 24, 2013)

Hello! I have fallen in love with Tanganyikan fish, but I'm very new to cichlids and would appreciate some advice before I start anything.

I have a Jebo R375 tank, which holds about 38 US gallons but has a footprint of only 29.5" x 16.5" and is 18" tall.

My tap water is on the soft side.
pH: 7.8
KH: 2*dkH
GH: 2*dkH

I have experimented a little with baking soda in a five gallon bucket and it looks like I can bring the KH up to 10* with a little more than 1 tablespoon of baking soda (which brings pH to 8.1). I understand this might change as the tank matures so I'll keep a careful eye on it, especially after every water change. I'm also going to put in CaribSea aragonite substrate. Haven't tested the water with it yet though.

I know I can bring up the GH with Epsom salts and/or aquarium salt. Anything else I need to know as far as water parameters go?

I'm hoping to get a Aqueon water changer. Will it be okay to add the buffers to the tank right before adding the water from the tap, just like the conditioner(Prime)?

Now the fun part: Stocking!  I adore all the Tanganyikans, but since my tank is only 30" long, I thought I should go for some of the smaller ones. My dream setup would be a species only tank with fairy cichlids (Neolamprologus brichardi). If I could get a breeding pair and let them have a small family, I would be in heaven! Do you think this would work in my tank?

Please let me know your thoughts.


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## triscuit (May 6, 2005)

> I'm hoping to get a Aqueon water changer. Will it be okay to add the buffers to the tank right before adding the water from the tap, just like the conditioner(Prime)?


Yep- I dissolve my baking soda and epsom salt in a cup of warm water, and then add it in while the tank is being refilled. If you've done a larger water change, you might want to pour a bit of the additives in at a time while refilling.

Note that you will be treating the whole tank volume with the Prime when refilling directly with the hose. It's not a big deal, but since your new water is diluted into the whole tank, you need enough dechlorinator to treat the whole volume.



> My dream setup would be a species only tank with fairy cichlids (Neolamprologus brichardi). If I could get a breeding pair and let them have a small family, I would be in heaven! Do you think this would work in my tank?


Absolutely. Your tank size is perfect for a brichardi breeding colony. I'd be wary of buying a "breeding pair"- pair bonds can break when fish are moved. It might be cheaper and more likely successful to buy 4-6 juvenile fish and let them form a pair. The extras would need to be removed, and there's a chance they would be killed by the new pair before you could remove them. It's a bit of a toss up which way to go, but perhaps what you have available in your area will help you decide.


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## webbie (Apr 29, 2012)

Davina ,myself I always add my Epsom salts and bicarb to the water I am going to use for my water changes not straight into the tank, that way I know the water I am adding to the tank has exactly the same ph, kh and gh as the water in my aquarium, a brichardi only tank sounds like a good set up cant see any reasons it wouldn't work ,you might need to buy 6 young brichardi ,wait for a pair to form, m/f, then return the remainder if pos to your LFS, Best of luck with this set up tho


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## Davina (Nov 24, 2013)

Thank you so much for the advice!  I'm thrilled the brichardi are a go! Getting six young ones and letting them form a pair is a neat idea. I'll have a conversation with my LFS about returning the ones that don't pair and hope I can catch them fast enough (don't want anyone to get hurt!).

@triscuit: Thank you for pointing that out about the Prime.

@webbie: About mixing the bicarb and salts in before adding to the tank, do you let it stir for a day or so? I think that's done for marine tanks. Put a pump in the tub and let it thoroughly mix overnight?


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## webbie (Apr 29, 2012)

Davina I do a 60 ltr water change every week,the tank is 240 ltrs, I mix it up the day before, dont think its really necessary to put a pump in to mix it,wouldnt do any harm tho ,I also dechlorinate with prime mixed in with the bicarb and Epsom salts then you only need to add the required amount for how much water you are replenishing, raise your kh to around 17 and your gh to 10/12, bit of experimenting with how much salts to add to get your gh /kh up but it wont be a lot prob 2 or 3 teapoons of each, Brichardis are lovely fish and good fish to start a tang journey with,tho they do have a bad rep ,but in a species only they should be fine, I had two in a mixed tank and they didn't give the other fish a bit of trouble, prob because they never spawned(think they were both female),they were less than an inch when I got them and prob 3 inches with long flowing fins when I had to move them on


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## triscuit (May 6, 2005)

For my fish, even sensitive wild caught or newly hatched fry, I've had no problem using a hose to refill directly from the tap and adding my conditioners as I go. Temperature is the key matching variable, so if you decide to treat and store water over night, you'll likely need a second heater. (Unless you live in a place that's usually 78°.) Your remaining tank water should be sufficiently buffered to prevent any disruption by the new water, and the current created by the hose is enough to distribute the additives quickly and evenly.


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## webbie (Apr 29, 2012)

both methods will work equally as well ,just which suits you best !


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## Davina (Nov 24, 2013)

Thanks, again! 

Webbie, thank you for sharing your experience with the brichardis. I'm so excited to start with Tangs but getting a little nervous. It's very reassuring to hear they are good to start out with.


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## Davina (Nov 24, 2013)

Oh, another complication I'm wondering about. I read that inbreeding can be a real problem when you get a set of juveniles because they'll most likely all be siblings. The book (Barron's Lake Tanganyika Cichlids) recommends getting a few fish from one source and the rest from another. Is that the common practice? Should I get three from one store and three more from other?


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## webbie (Apr 29, 2012)

Something that's crossed my mind in the past Davina, had a few colonies of multis in the past and I always thought a dash of new blood wouldn't do any harm, buying your fish from different sources may help ,the chances of them being siblings would be greatly reduced, I did have the odd fry that was stunted and always wondered if it could have been down to inbreeding ?,but then again in the wild these fish live in little communities, so whats the answer,****** if I know !, I suppose it could be like other animal species,notably lions when another male comes in and takes over the pride and so expands the gene pool,maybe the same happens with shellies ?,prob in the wild some of the shellie fry move off to different shell beds(cant do that in our tanks tho) ,ideas anyone ?


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Inbreeding conplications over generations (even like 100 generations) of breeding siblings is not the problem it was once thought to be, especially in fish. You will only reveal defects that were already there, not create new defects. On the flip side introducing a new line has the chance of introducing defects...more of an uncontrollable unknown.

No need to buy from different vendors to mix the bloodlines. Actually some fear that doing that you will unknowingly mix species if one of the vendors has made a mistake labeling the collection point, etc.


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## Davina (Nov 24, 2013)

Thanks for the thoughts. Yes, DJRansome, the worry that the retailers might get the species wrong doesn't seem worth it.


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## noddy (Nov 20, 2006)

I'm curious as to how you can get the kh from 2 degrees to 10 with only 1 tbsp of baking soda. I start off with around 6 degrees and add 1 tbsp per 5g to get it up to 12.


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## triscuit (May 6, 2005)

Depends a bit on what else is in the water... usually. I could be lying to you, but my memory of carbonate equilibrium chemistry and the reaction that the KH drop kit uses for determination means that "free" carbonate ions are measured. Factor in the variation in measurement, and it's not that hard to believe there's wide variation in results from adding bicarbonate.


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