# Cichlid Terrain



## Sucoftvs (Jan 23, 2012)

What is your setup?
Sand or Stone?(Gravel)
Rock or Wood?
Live or Fake Plants?
Other Species in Tank?


----------



## Sucoftvs (Jan 23, 2012)

I Have a 40 Gallon with stone bottom and fake logs everywhere which I hope to convert to drift wood. Fake Plants which I also want to convert to living and just to Africans in the tank.


----------



## drunkenbeast (Nov 13, 2011)

Sand - personally i think a must they love to dig it
Rock scape - i used flat black slate rock and stack with round river rock
live plants - 2 anubias and 1 crinum calamastratus they leave them alone
also 1 fancy pleco they leave alone


----------



## RonB (Nov 7, 2011)

I am doing my first Cichlid tank. 55 gallon pool filter sand and lace rock. I'm doing all lake Malawi. I'm really enjoying these guys but I don't know why at 50 yrs old this is my first real cichlid tank.


----------



## srshaggy (Feb 10, 2011)

I have a 29 gallon that I made into a Cichlid tank. I have a gravel and sand combination so that the fish have a place to dig but I get the small rock look as well. I have a beautiful piece of drift wood that I got at Petco of all places as well as a nice small piece I pulled out the river in Maine. I do have a tall grey rock type thing with lots of openings and caves. It was originally sold at Petsmart as an airstone type of thing, but I just never hooked up the air hose and it looks great in my opinion. My plants are fake and though I constantly keep thinking I want to go with real plants, I am quite happy with the look of the tank and can't bring myself to tear it all up right now.


----------



## utrose (Jan 19, 2012)

I've used sand in all of my tanks ever since my favorite yellow tail acei decided that they would be a great snack and ended up with a busted intestine. Having said that, now that I use sand I'll never go back. I absolutely love the stuff because its very cheap and easy to clean. As for decorating in my main tank I have a giant piece of Texas Holey Rock surrounded by an assortment of fake plants. If you have a fairly big budget I would recommend getting a good size piece of Holey Rock with plenty of holes to house your mbuna. A 35 pound piece will run around $100 with shipping. I got lucky and found a guy who sold me over 80 lbs of rock for 80$ off of Craigslist. Holey Rock is great not only because it provides various caves for hiding and breeding but it also doubles as a great ph buffer. A good piece will buffer your water to a steady 8.2 ph. Holey Rock is hands down the best aquarium decor if you ask me. Good luck on your new setup!!!


----------

