Tropheus

[Cubbies]

I know the Ph is supposed to be higher with Tropheus fish, but how high?  What products do you guys see as best to get the Ph to the point it should be?  I am new into fish for about 8 months now and am just starting to get involved with Tropheus.

Any pointers would help. thanks

[jeebus]

Re: Tropheus

Aragonite and "holey" rock make for good buffers to keep the ph up. Most Houston tap water has a high enough ph as well.

[Cubbies]

Re: Tropheus

Thanks

[eklikewhoa]

Re: Tropheus

What jeebus said.

What is your pH at now?

[geoff_tropheus]

Re: Tropheus

They are a colonial type fish and do best in groups of 12-15 minimum, and most would recomend starting with 20 to 30 depending on the tank size and agressiveness of the variant.

The best tank setup I recomend is a 125 gallon, with 30 fish, and a filtration turnover of 7-10X.  Wetdry's are really much better, but large canisters will also work.  I would also recomend a "turbopump" style powerhead that flows around 800-1500 gph.

Water quality is one of the next most important factors.  You need to perform weekly 50% or bi-weekly 75% waterchange.  Some people even change more than this.  What I recomended works best for me and my busy schedule and the fish are perfectly fine.

The water needs to be as clean as possible and have a very high oxygen content. This is why the filtration turnover of 7-10X is so important and the powerheads.  The pH needs to remain high, and not to get below 7.0  Acidic water stresses them, just as bad as dirty water.  So be sure to keep minimum 7.5 and up to about 8.5.  Most people run around 7.8-8.2 in this area and this meets their needs.

Food is the next most important.  You need to feed a high quality flake food and or pellet food.  There are only 3 types of pellet food I recomend.  This is New Life Spectrum Cichlid Formula - 1mm pellet, Hikari Cichlid Excel - mini pellet, and Dainichi Veggie DX or FX baby pellet size.  Once they get bigger they can take a larger pellet, but these are best for starting out.  All other pellet foods are HIGHLY NOT recomended.

As for the flake food, it needs to have a high vegtable content.

Finally, you need to do what you can to keep the stress minimized in the tank.  This means keeping clean water, feeding proper amounts of food that is recomended for them, keeping thier group numbers correct, and having a properly decorated fish tank so that fish have a place to go and or hide.

Hope this helps...

Geoff

[Cubbies]

Re: Tropheus

Thanks guys.  

I will try to post pictures here in a few days of my tank and fish.  I have a 150 gallon tank with plenty of hiding spots and I have been feeding them the new life spectrum Cichlid formula 1 mm pellets you speak of.

[myjohnson]

Re: Tropheus

check your pm.

[fishlady]

Re: Tropheus

can't wait to see the pics of that tank......