hehe....no worries. i was going for that look. wanted something different than our other 2 tanks w/ rocks.

yeah, all the rock based cichlid tanks that i've seen pile smaller rocks so that there are spaces to hide.

 

huh. i'll have to look in to that.

 

they are very territorial fish and they kinda guard the spaces when they sleep or are scared. its pretty cool to watch.

 

red devils > *.cichlids

 

here is a cool article: http://badmanstropicalfish.com/afcichlids_setup.html

and a quote of what we were trying to do
" Also, by "overstocking" your tank, you can distribute inter-species aggression. Not just one fish is a target of abuse, and aggressors tend to lose victims more easily when the tank is crowded. Just be sure that you "over filter" your aquarium if you are going to "overstock it."

 

see, where can i find cool rocks like that?

 

dunno...lots of stuff on ebay.....do you live near the ocean? I see that kinda stuff all the time near the beach and actually use it in my other tanks. i've just soaked them for days etc to clean out the salt. (been a while, but there is a cleaning process)

 

petsmart or some other pet store. they're like $15-30 a pop though

edit: for you go to Aquarium Center in randallstown

they have anything you could ever want for aquariums. pretty good prices too

 

I really don't want to say it but you should only have one in a ten. Two in my 30 is a bit much.

Also they'll be much happier with some smaller/fast fish. Serpae tetras look neat and are usually cheap (1.20 a piece). Get about 5 of them. I noticed when my old tetras died (they like to killl eachother it seems) the cichilids weren't very...happy

 

the 7 i have seem very happy. :dunno: