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So I got my self a 2nd 20 gallon tank. It is 20 Long. Substrate is FIJI pink sand, there is 2 Texas Holey rocks, heater, standard hood and light. It has a power filter though that was on a tropical soft water tank. So I put the old power filter I had on the new tank. And the new power filter I bought I put on the old 20 gallon soft water tank. I also added bio-spira. I added some Kent Cichlid Cichlid Buffer & Kent Cichlid Cichlid Chemistry to the water. And 4 PS Demasonis.

This is my first time ever having an african cichlid tank. I'm so excited!!!! Yet I'm still worried at the same time. I know the smartest thing would have been to buy the tank, and then get fish, but I couldn't wait. I hope these guys make the night . After some time, I plan to get some small shell dweller cichlids & shells.

Any comments, suggestions, questions?

For more aquarium decorations, I was thinking maybe getting shells and/or more Texas holey rock.

Here is pictures of the tank as it looks of today. Looks exactly the same as last night when I first got the tank.

http://img244.imageshack.us/img244/8295/dsc00345za7.jpg
http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/3594/dsc00346eg2.jpg

Images above are old. There is also shells and more texas holey rock in the tank now, as well as more fish. 4 multies and 2 Julies.

So I haven't had this tank long. January 17th is when I got it, and today is January 21st. Like I said in the first post, I took a power filter from an old tank and put it on this new tank as well as adding biospira. I took a water parameter test this morning. This is what came up:

Ph either 8.4 or 8.8 purple look too similar
Ammonia 0ppm (mg/l)
Nitrite 0.50ppm (mg/l)
Nitrate 0ppm (mg/l)

Is 0.50 ppm Nitrite something to be concerned about? I will continue to watch levels. I'm suppose to do water changes correct if the nitrite gets too high?

really should research your fish before investing into them. Hate to tell ya this but that is a disaster stocking list. Demansoni are insanely agro especielly toward each other. need 20 or so in a 75g or better or a solo fish to have any hopes in keeping them. Haveing 4 they will prolly kill each other off till one or none are left. The multies and julies are from a completly different lake. Juli get crazy when they breed and dont liek to share space with eahc other either unless you have a pair. The multis live in shells, escargot shells or walleyes are the best size. about 1inch + mouth opening. Julis will feed on their fry...they are specielised in it.

BUT WAIT. dont go nutts and start bagging everythign just yet. my personal opinion this is how you can make this work...kinda. Return the demansoni this is a loss cause. you dont have the tank size to accomidate these guys. Now your left with multis and julis. this isnt so bad and often works. here is a link for some shells cheap.
http://www.chefswarehouse.com/Catalog/DisplayDetail.aspx?prd_id=GF101
thats 3 dozen which should be nice for that tank for a while. what to do is put the shells on one side of the tank and the holey rock on the other. then place some fake plants or a wide stretch of nothing between them. the julis will liv ein the rocks and the multis will stay near the shells. the plants or wide open space should keep the julis from venturing over to often for a snack. if your real lucky the julis will be a pair and life will be good. keep an eye on them if one is hugging the surface or the other end of the tank then you prolly have 2 males. better return one at that point and keep one solo.

the multis are a colony fish and reproduce easily. they will quickly fill up the shells and look like a busy city. i have a 30g of multis and love them. they can move buckets of sand fast and even grab the shells and move them.

I have read articles about the masonies being very aggressive. However it has been very mild aggression. They show none towards the other fish. They don't show any towards each other either and constantly follow each other. At the LFS they were in a much bigger tank with much bigger fish. I'm not sure but I think all my multies might be all males. And I do got shells in there, I have seen the multies go in them. The multies kind of claimed one spot of the tank to themselves. So if the masonis go in that sport, they puff up their gills and chase the masonies. Masonies dont do any thing back and swim away. The multies leave the julies alone though. The Julies are kind very shy except when I put shrimp pellet in. Basically until there is a serious problem, going to keep the current fish. I might go to a LFS and get some snails with cone shape shells, the kind that burrow into the substrate. So they can burrow through the sand and stuff. I'm pretty sure I got a pair with the julies, they tolerate each other and one is much bigger in size than the other. They were kept in the same tank at the LFS. The LFS had a third one that was kept in a seperate tank. I kind of want to avoid plants for this tank, live or fake since with the shells, substrate, texas holey rock and the cichlids themselves, it looks kind of like salt water fish.

So yeah like i said above, until I see a problem with aggression, going to keep those fish for now.

Deifnatley take the Demasonis back to the LFS. Turn it into a sucussful shelli tank. They will thrive in a 20, 10, or a 5G if in a pair. Go to shelldwellers.com and that will help you alot. To be a sucussful fish keeper you need to do research! Impulse buying is a HUGE NO!

20 GALLON LONG CURRENTLY EMPTY ~~~~ 10 GALLON W/ STRIPPED CONVICT

the agression is low right now for 2 reasons. they are new to the tank and they are young.

People blaim LFS for lack of info and giving out bad info. I blaim people for NOT LISTENING!

I have kept Mbuna for the better part of 3 yrs now. I JUST got a demansoni about 6 months ago. ONE! in a 75g tank allready fully stocked. He was the last addition to give the current fish in the tank a head start in territories, growth, and dominance. 6 months later he is doing very well and no issues other then small chaseing. He has his favorite cave and the rest of the tank is fine with that.

Do as you like your going to anyway. Personally think those fish are to large for a 20g anyway. I suppose one alone would be fine. Which is what you will have in about 3 months or less.

Well when the trouble starts, that's when I will give them back to the LFS.

Itll be too late, you wont even see it, youll wake up the next morning and find a FLOATER. Its pretty sad that you wont man up to your mistake and take them or at least one back..

20 GALLON LONG CURRENTLY EMPTY ~~~~ 10 GALLON W/ STRIPPED CONVICT

IF there was aggression. Wouldn't 4 be better than 3, 3 better than 2, though 1 better than 2. Seriously though, they are very tiny right now, about the same size as the multies.

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/p_demasoni.php
http://www.gcca.net/fom/Pseudotropheus_demasoni.htm
http://www.aquahobby.com/gallery/e_demasoni.php

These are the first 3 results from google. Read the first paragraph of each. Then decide if your makeing an educated guess or a huge mistake. If these 3 links arnt enough then google Demasoni and continue reading links. If an entire internet of quotes of scientist and hobbyists saying EXACTLY the same thing i have just told you cant convince you then you need a helmet.