Changing to African cichlids?

[kribkid17]

My tank water right now is too hard for ram cichlids to spawn and I dont want to buy a fancy RO unit so I was thinking about getting rid of all the fish in my tank and getting African cichlids. My substrate is flourite gravel, would that be okay or would I have to get sand? And if I did get sand would I lose my cycle or would my filter hold it? I was thinking I would just get a bunch of larger flower pots and make holes in them for caves instead of that fancy, unstable rockwork. Would that work? My tank came with African cichlid buffer, but it's a bit old. Should I use that or just fing some crushed coral and put it in the filter? For plants I was thinking getting some plastic plants and siliconing rocks to the base thatway when they get dug up they won't float and they won't have a base showing. Does anyone have any suggestions on what sort of Africans I should get? I like the peacocks but I don't think I want to try them yet. I was thinking about the species you can find at petsmart and petco, Auratus, yellow labs, bumblebee, and zebras. If anyone has any input or comments, I'm open to ideas.
Edit: or what about some astotalipia aneocolor?

[sumpnfishy]

First, the fish. Astatotilapia would be a great choice. The "mixed African tank" type of mbunas would not be the best first choice. I can tell you that auratus are mean little suckers. Zebras get pretty big and the yellow labs at those stores are usually poor quality. The better option if you want mbuna is to get some from an auction. You will get fish bred by hobbyists and you have a better variety of species. If you could go to the HAAS auction next month there will be a good variety but I'm sure some of those who are going could pick some up if not. You could also look into Victorians. They would like our water here just fine as they don't come from as hard of water.
Either way though you really don't need to adjust the water parameters. Our water here is fine for them and the lest adjusting you do the more likely it is you will do regular water changes.
I think your setup sounds good but if you end up with mbuna you will want quite a few hiding places. If there are only a few and there are several more fish then somebody will dominate the tank more. With mbuna it is best to have LOTS of hiding places or none at all. I think the flourite would work and it has the advantage of being darker so you may get better color out of the fish. They can't dig in it as well though so you may want to consider that.
Michael

[Jackielee]

Sad day.

I know you will enjoy whatever kinds of fish you decide on. Some of the smaller shell dwelling colony type fish are very entertain and not quite as aggressive as the zebras and peacocks and some of the others mentioned. These are fish that will raise families, live in shells or small pots with holes in them and can provide hours of peaceful enjoyment for you and your family.

I am not sure about availability but there are other types of geophagus than the red humps if you want to stay SA.

Jack

[kribkid17]

Jack: sorry but I would stay south American if I could find some green terrors or acaras. I have thought about shell dwellers and I think Kenna has a colony of them, don't know if she has any juvineles yet. I'll have to ask her and if she's willing to part with some then I would switch my substrate to sand and make a shelldweller tank.
Micheal:(I think) thanks for the help, I'll see what Kenna says about the shelldwellers and if I can get some then I will probably set up a tank for them but if I can't then I'll probably go to the haas auction with you guys(I was already planning on going)
edit: don't some species of geophagus take a couple of years to reach sexual maturity? Also, can you keep convicts with some Africans? On another forum there's a person that keeps africans and she has convicts with hers.

[sskruzr]

Oh man!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Too bad you didn't post this friday. A bag of green terrors went for a dollar at the HAAS mini auction and Brothers Pets has some blue currently. If you can wait until the HAAS auction, you WILL get the bst fish.

[dennysfishroom]

You're going to have to make it over to see my fish room Evan. I may try to convince you to go for the Peacocks. It would be worth the trip. Denny

[pinkrblu]

I believe I must have a colony of bunny shell dwellers.... I have somewhere in the neighborhood of a kazillion fry. I am attempting to grow them up enough to sell some, so if that is what you want, I will hopefully have them soon.