cichlids and brackish water

Question
Hello Michael, I have a 36 gallon tank that have African Cichlids. Unfortunately one died of bloat so I only have two left. i wanted to add another fish and thought I'd try something new. I added a Silvertip catfish which is a brackish water fish. I'm slowly adding salt a teaspoon at a time until the mix is right. How will this effect my cichlids? They are mature fish and pretty hardy from what I can tell. Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,
Jeff

Answer
How long has the tank been set up? Temp correct? 78-80 area. Ph should be around 8.2 depending on what type of africans you have and what rift lake they came from, however this ph will be fine for any of them. With africans crowded is good, can;t establish a territory that way cuts down on aggression, perhaps your dead one had been beat up some as well.
Many ways to buffer ph, some dolomite in the gravel is an easy way. As for adding salt, use actual seasalt mix. Not the aquarium salt they sell, its just table salt. Get a general hardness kit and use that to test. Hydrometers are calibrated for sea water and brackish will not give you an accurate reading. In a nut shell, add real sea salt, or african cichlid salt mix. Either will work. If your ph is correct, and the hardness in a ballpark range of 160-320ppm. You should be good to go, remember that the buffers etc are not permanent and regular water changes once a week of about 10gals max depending on the tank load will keep things as they should be. You will get a feel for whats right just by looking at the fish. Make sure they get some greens, as the inshore cichlids browse on algae.If you don;t have any in your tank, supplement with baby peas or piece of lettuce etc. If you only have a couple in the tank, or if they are large, rearrange the tank to break up established territorys and add new fish, make sure there are hiding places. When the tank is "alive" with cruising fish, you are at the balance point.At that point it looks peacefull and aggression is minimal as there are no territorys established. So I am saying that a bit of crowding is good. That said and due to that fact the water changes become essential to the long term survival of the tank. Good Luck with your Aquarium.