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The coral is to help raise and buffer the ph for the fish.

However not all cichlids require a raised ph.

What kind of fish do you have? Check through the profiles section on this site if you're not sure.

And what is the ph, and kh of your water?

Gravel should be fine but it is always better to know for sure.

^_^

Any info will be dependent upon what kind of chichlids you have. If they are little fish from a "mixed chichlid" tank they are probubly african chichlids. Either way, gravel should be fine.

Inky

Hi,
If the fish are from the "Rift" area of Africa, then the
water should be "hard" and the pH up above an 8.0. The
easiest way to get the tank to those values is to use
"gravel" (substrate) that is a carbonate. That is, you
would use either crushed coral, crushed dolomite,
crushed limestone, or crushed oyster shells.
A mixture of crushed coral, and a few crushed
oyster shells can look good, while a tank
with nothing but crushed oyster shells looks like
"reef rubble" and IMO, looks ugly... I'd skip the use of
the oyster shells.

In an already established tank, you could use lots of
rocks (limestone or dolomite) and, over time, they will
influence the water chemistries. The added advantage
in using the rocks, is that you could build caves out
of the rocks which the fish can stake out for their own
territories.

Frank


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