Water Changes & Breeding

Question
QUESTION: Hello ,
I currently have a 55 gallon tank that has been up and running for about 2 weeks now. I used all of the materials from my old 10gl to help build bacteria. Theres 3 goldfish, 3 juvi cichlads, and about 10 guppies. How much water should I replace and how often? Is it safe to use tap water that I have store in gallon jugs? Question 2... The cichlads, 1 male and 1 female golden malawi(had no idea upon purchase) and one solid orange colored cichlad.(idk...any ideas what kind?) I noticed the female spending time investigating rocks and "playing" with the male. She seems to be larger bellied now (may be in my mind) At what age/size to these fish begin to breed? They are still small maybe about an 1 3/4?

ANSWER: Hi Armand,
 I strongly recommend that you replace 25% of the water once a week, every week to keep your fishes happy and healthy.

 I use tap water that sits in buckets for 24 hours.  It depends a lot on the quality of your tap water.  If your tap water is REALLY bad, then don't use it.  

 Many cichlids can breed at rather small sizes so it is possible that they are thinking about breeding.

-- Ron
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
  Cichlid Research Home Page <http://cichlidresearch.com>


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Ok I know that I should have added these questions to my first email but Im new to this hobby. And just thought of these things. Sorry. As i said i have a 55gl tank and a hang on back filter thats filters 340gph. Theres 3 goldfish, 3 cichlads, and about 10 guppies. Is this enough filtration or should I upgrade? Its had not been running long 2 weeks, and from what Ive learned) I have to many fish to soon. I had 7 goldfish in a ten gallon that wasnt cycled at all...I then moved them to 55, but they all already seemed sick. 3 have already died. The remaining goldfish seem be fading to, I believe they have some sort of fungus, but the 3 cichlads SEEM to be doing fine. I am going to the pet store later to pick up some medicine, but I dont trust the people at that store. Any suggestions?  I would take the goldies out and put them back in the 10 gallon till they recover but I have the rest of the guppies, 2 convict fry and a small pleco in it waiting for tranfer to the large tank. Again sorry for asking so many questions....

Answer
Hi Armad,
 Personally I would get the goldfish out of the large tank.  Goldfish are notorious carriers of various diseases and I generally try to avoid them at all costs. If you have no other tank, I would put the "other fish" (currently in the 10 gallon tank) into the large tank and put the goldfish in the 10 gallon.

  Your filter sounds okay.  It depends a lot on how much you feed and how often you change water.  Rather than upgrade your filter, a better idea is to add a second filter.  That way, if something happens to one, the other keeps working.  I always have mulitple filters on my larger tanks.

-- Ron
  rcoleman@cichlidresearch.com
  Cichlid Research Home Page <http://cichlidresearch.com>