african cichlids?

Question

stock:
2 female 1 male kenyi 1 female is beat up such all missing fins and scales
1 yellow lab
2 convicts 1 male one female
1 red zebra missing fin and scales
1 albino pindani missing fin have treated
1 auratus female 3 inches doesn't seem aggressive
2 acei 1 male 1 female male looks like he is missing some scales
filtration: aqua clear 300 (about to add another filter to it
water change : every Sunday
set up - for 2 years



  I have had my 90 gallon tank running for about 2 years i had in the past year switched from tropical fish to african cichlids and now i have sand and a lot of cool natural rocks but i have some questions questions:

1.)how long does it take for cichlids to reach full size?

2.)Also some my my cichlid are looking beat up how do i treat and prevent this?
i had treated by putting them in a 20 gallon with melafix or something like that but the 20 gallon has 2 angels so i don't want to keep doing it.

3.)What kind of food should i feed them? i feed them algae disk 1 time per day and floating food 2 times also i had tried feeders before. Some times zucchini and also peas

4.) what other large african cichlid would you recommended as a addition to this tank ?

Answer
1) That depends on the cichlid. Most of your africans will reach full size in about 1-3 years.

2) Cichlids are always agressive, there will always be injury. However your convicts reallt should not be in that tank. They are SA cichlids, and tough ones by that. THey should not be mixed with africans. You can treat with melafix and twice weekly water changes.
You can buy a tank divider for under $10, divide the tank for the two.

3) Hikari makes the best cichlid pellets. All fish need a staple pellet. Hikari makes pellets in all different sizes. Hikari Cichlid Bio-Gold is, in my opinion, the single best cichlid pellet you can buy, and it is only a couple bucks more than the lower quality stuff. It comes in 3 different sizes, small, medium, and large. For your fish I would get small. You can also feed frozen bloodworms, but feed sparingly, only once a week or less. They are little packages of frozen misquito larvae, excellent protein. Zucchini is good, the algae wafers are good but don't feed it everyday. The pellets are the only thing you feed every single day, everything else you only feed as a treat a couple times a week. Peas are also a good idea.

4) You could try dolphin demasoni, or peacock cichlids.
If you want a really big african check out the Frontosa. They get over a foot long, and yet are rather tolerant to other fish, not very agressive.


And yes, I would add more filtration. Try adding an aqua clear 500 to the 300 you have already. The ratings on the box mean nothing really, and cichlids are produce a ton of waste. The more filtration the better.