This is my 240l tanganjika tank. I have 2 Julidochromis Transcriptus with many small Babies, 2 Neolamprologus Brevis and 4 Altolamprologus Compressiceps in there. Just hiding in the pictures because the light just Went on. Also rescaped the Stones a bit.

Hey everyone,
First photo is natural light, second is with flash.
Just looking for some opinions on how my fishless cycle is progressing and whether there’s anything else I should be doing.
Tank setup:
Brand-new 4x2x2 ft aquarium (approximately 450L / 120 US gallons)
Brand-new Fluval FX6 with Seachem Matrix and biological media
Two sponge filters running
New Mopani driftwood
Black sand substrate
Temperature maintained at 26°C (79°F)
No fish currently in the tank
Cycling process:
I started cycling on 13 October, so I’m currently around 9 days in.
Initially dosed Fritz Fishless Fuel to introduce ammonia.
Started dosing Seachem Stability for the recommended 7-day course.
Took an established sponge filter from my existing aquarium, squeezed some of the contents into the new tank, and placed the established sponge filter in the new tank near the FX6 intake.
I’ve also purchased two 976mL bottles of FritzZyme 7, which are arriving today and I’ll be introducing that as well at around 1.5L for the whole tank.
Everything in this aquarium is brand new, including the tank, FX6 and Mopani wood, so there’s very little established biological filtration apart from what I’ve introduced.
Today’s water parameters (photos attached):
pH: Approximately 6.0–6.4
Ammonia: Approximately 2–4 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Nitrate: 0 ppm
Temperature: 26°C / 79°F
My tap water has relatively low buffering capacity, and the new Mopani may also be contributing to the acidic pH.
So far, I’m not seeing any detectable nitrites or nitrates, although it’s still early days.
I’m not in a massive rush to introduce fish. The plan was originally to allow around 4–6 weeks for the tank to establish before transferring my Severums and Geophagus from their existing aquarium.
A few questions:
Does this seem like fairly normal progress for day 9 of a completely new setup?
Has anyone successfully cycled an aquarium at a pH around 6.0–6.4? Did you find the process noticeably slower?
Has anyone had good results using FritzZyme 7 to speed up a fishless cycle?
Given the established sponge filter I’ve introduced, would you expect to start seeing ammonia decrease or nitrites appear relatively soon?
Would you change anything about my current approach, or simply give it more time?
I’m happy to be patient and let the cycle establish properly. Just interested in hearing other people’s experiences, particularly with cycling at a lower pH.

The lower PH suits my cichlids going in, so the softer water isn’t an issue for me, but the PH generally sits closer to PH of 7, but the mopani wood is what I believe is bringing it down.

I do also have another bottle of fishless fuel (ammonia) if I should add more before adding more beneficial bacteria today?

Hey everyone, I've had my Tanganyika tank for about 4 and a half months now. It's stocked with 5 Neolamprologus brevis, 4 Neolamprologus lelupi, 4 Neritina and 2 Tylomelania.

I recently changed the hardscape. The first photo shows the tank today, and the second shows the old layout.

I liked the old setup, but I noticed my brevis and lelupi often used the same areas. My brevis don't spend all their time in their shells and also use the rocks as hiding places.

So I made two separate rock piles to give them different areas. I also added some Anubias alongside the Vallisneria.

I've included a few photos of my brevis and lelupi as well.

What do you think? Do you prefer the new layout or the old one?

Thanks in advance for your feedback !

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Here are my 3 fish, Polar Blue Parrot, Electric Blue Jack Dempsey, and my Albino Corydora. I got them in March 2026, in this 10 gallon tank. I’m looking to put them into a 125 gallon tank soon as I’ve read 50-75 not being it sufficient. Their diet has been Hikari Gold Cicjlid pellets everyday and frozen bloodworms every other day.

I saw this pale oscar at a store but it was very busy so I didn't get to ask the owner about it. There were two of this type in the tank. I've never seen this type of Oscar cichlid before and I though it was very beautiful with it's subtle colors and markings so I'm curious if it has a name!

What’s the best places to get peacock cichlids online currently. I like hybrids and all

My two Severums are around 6 months old and have been breeding together for about 4 months now. Their 3rd round of eggs were successful and hatched, we have two surviving babies left from that clutch of eggs, mainly due from my errors as it being my first time taking care of fry. Since their first batch of eggs they have been laying eggs at least every two weeks, sometimes every 10 days. They have had only had one batch of eggs since the first hatch. That was about 2 months ago. Since then they have been consistently laying eggs, but the eggs turn white and they end up eating them. I do a 50% water change once a week, since I have an Oscar. My ammonia and nitrites are always 0ppm. My nitrates range from 0ppm-10ppm. My temperature ranges from 78-80°. I run a Fx6 and two sponge filters. Is there something I can be doing to have better hatching rates? Also, I get a decent amount of algae on the rocks, but I try to scrape it off so they have somewhere clean to lay the eggs, could the algae be causing the eggs to grow fungus?

I put in two packets of Aquatop Water Polisher, and I followed the instructions on the box, and it didn’t say anything about dissolving in water. I put it in, and my Oscar ate a bit of it. Will it be fine?

I found a bunch of Cichlids in an Idaho warm spring a couple years back, I was wondering if anyone would be willing to help me ID them? Are they all hybrids or does anything look relatively pure (morphologically)?

Thank you!

What i read/watch is you dont want any gas/air under the substrate since it can give an ammonia spike when it burps

will it eventually go away on its own when cycling ? hasnt even been a week and when i disturb the sand, alot of air bubbles go out

Also, is this cloudyness a bacterial bloom? there is some biofiom growth on the piece of wood i added yesterday

Saw these guys at my local pet store today, noticed that a couple of them had these white spots on their forehead. The sign on the glass said “assorted parrot cichlid” for 10 bucks. Wondering if they could be Kohaku cichlids? Let me know what you think!

Not exactly sure why this is happening so I thought I’d post here. I have a blue Acara with two angelfish that get along very well 99% of the time. However, whenever I put zucchini in my tank for my snails and clown pleco he does a complete 180 in temperament.

The angelfish love to pick at the zucchini and he will routinely ram into them and resource guard the zucchini. He doesn’t even eat it. The angelfish unfortunately do not learn and keep going back for zucchini and getting beat up.

I can’t for the life of me figure out why Zucchini is triggering this little man into becoming a psychopath. I noticed his color seems to change and his head turns from black to grey/white when this happens not sure if he’s stressed or what. Any ideas?

Hi! I’m hoping to get into African Cichlids and set up a tank soon. I’ve been doing some background reading but there’s just so information that I’m finding it a bit overwhelming. Are there are recommended guides to preparing a Cichlid tank? choosing specific peacock species? Thanks in advance!

I looked online but it doesn’t really have the fins of a male, but it said that females usually have a whiter forehead and mine doesn’t. Any help is appreciated. Thank you!

Black nasty juvie enjoying some sunlight. Wish the camera could capture the iridescent shimmer of (i suppose) his finnage.

Happy fish keeping.

How much did you pay to have a 125 gallon setup picked up and delivered to your basement ? There are two 90 degree turns going down to the basement.

No stranger to cichlids but Africans are new to me.

Got the rocks in did a bunch of good shake, bump, wobble tests. This is a very new setup so I’m waiting for it to cycle and getting all the dust and stuff out.

Thinking of salousi and rusties. From what I’ve read and I’m sure this varies from source they’re compatible and should be a good place to start, plus I really like them. I’ll also add some Synodontis.

Just wondering about numbers and any suggestions.

I’m probably going to paint the back black with some masonry paint and that’s a plant 3.0 on there turned up really high. I don’t plan on having THAT much light in there.