Quality food, and clean water Water temp worked really well for my African cichlids (Haps, Mbuna, and peacocks) also mix the food up with a variety of fresh and pellet formula. New Fluval pellets are awesome and keeps my water clear as well.
All the points you made are correct. I am not sure whether the pH plays a vital role in the color or health of the fish. As these fish are captive breeds perhaps they would have adapted to the pH different from the native. Maintaining a consistent pH is more important than chasing the pH like you mentioned. My tap water is high in pH which is absolutely fine for my African Cichlids. For my American cichlids I use a combination of peat moss (fish safe one), dry almond leaves, and almond leaf extract to soften the water (which indeed makes a dark water aquarium, but I noticed fishes love it).
Escape to Alcatraz a great movie I call my Tank The Show With the Starry night who wants to be in charge But I believe it's a female So Tangerine Tiger let's her us guys Run this show Just ask my most beautiful one the Red Empress bur the Res Fin Boreli s are great to look at Evan German Red peacock goes crazy Evan Have a Distachous Sexfasiaous with we all get kng great with a blue Dolphin and blue Cicilds with nice white streak all in a 75 Gallons wow we need bigger my yellow haps just told me
Hi, great video. I am interested in the zucchini you were feeding the gang. Do you take the skin off, and how often do you feed them zucchini. Are there any other veggies that you recommend to feed to the gang. I have a 108-gallon tank with 18 great inmates right now.
Definitely for me using a full spectrum light is the best way to colour up. I had a white (6500k) light and a full spectrum light on the same tank, and switching from one to the other was like looking at completely different fish.
Can you please do a video on all of your light settings and maybe play with the settings on video and show off the fluval marine 3.0, I would love that :)
Northfin is absolutely brilliant, my fish all had a huge growth spurt when i switched to it from Hakari. I still use hakari as a treat seem as though my fish love the taste.
Great vid! Also in addition to lighting a black background makes fish pop! Other colors work well too like dark green, med blue etc but it all depends on the color of the fish species in the tank.
This video is great! Thank you and for sure it’s more than great getting reassurance because there are foods and opinions that can drive a person crazy! Consistency is everything when it comes to stability!
One tip if you want the ripple effect in your tank that the 'Kessil' led lights produce but don't want the huge price tag that goes with it...The reason the Kessil lights are so good is that they use 'Cree' led's and luckily there are some brands that do strip lights for tanks now that use the Cree. I have an 'Interpet Tri Spec 2' on my cichlid tank and it does the ripple job for a third of the price of those Kessil's, I only need the one strip light instead of buying a few clip on Kessils!
@@CichlidCharmer I have clear perspex sliding lids and it just sits directly on top of them, no fixings so I just lift it off if I need to do anything major inside the tank
In my place we dont get Northfin or Xtreme brands. So, I feed them a concoction of NLS Thera A+, Tropical Spirulina pellets, Reef Nutriton Chromo Boost, soaked in Vitamin Supplements, and Galric extract (these two are local brands). Even these brands I said are difficult to get as they are imported and expensive compared to the equivalent US pricing. But my fishes are happy 😊 and they go crazy for the food.
I bet you’re talking about Tampa bay cichlids 😂😂😂. Great video thanks for the tips as I’m having trouble figuring out how to get my peacock cichlids to color up
I can neither confirm nor deny 🤣 The TDO colorboost helped a lot with red coloration in my fish, but it all matters. Thanks for the nice comment, DjPosey3
I too have ordered from TBC because they had a lot of the fish that I wanted and I couldn't find a lot of those fish at more reputable online stores. Most of the fish were barely bigger than fry when I got them. I'm still waiting for colors to come in to know if they are male or if I have some females among them.
@@CichlidCharmer sorry haven't listened to the full video, but only now I see you anyway mentioned that in the bonus tip. I'd say the lighting plays a huge role, through trial and error it gave nearly the best results good water quality and nutrition aside. Try going without the lights for couple of days and you will see the negative results this brings to the overall visuals of the fish 😉
First off, i love the south American tank, the way the light hits it is unreal andbits so clear!! Jealous, yes i am lol. But yea my color thing is water quality, food and the pecking order!
Awesome, Dennis! Thank you so much. I like focusing on water quality because it is a weekly task for me that makes me feel like I’m on top of it and taking care of them.
@@CichlidCharmer definitely water quality will always be number one whether the male is last in order or not. I have a Sulfurhead that I got 2 months ago and he thought he was gonna push everyone around and he was beautiful with the yellow blaze, now he barely has a blaze and his black color faded out. He found out the hard way that he wasnt going to push the venustus around lol. Now he knows his place, I'll never get rid of him though just because his color drabbed.
I did the African 125 today, and tomorrow I'll do the central american cichlid tanks (6) tomorrow. Trying to get over this flu. I barely had energy to feed them the past few days
Cichlid Charmer, This is all so true and appreciate this list so much. I love the channel and how you also take advice from us and other fish keepers. I also feed a variety of foods and my fish have so much color it’s crazy. Like my rainbows and Denison barbs have so much color. Yes you’re right about color and fish age. Most fish are baby’s and juveniles and most don’t get colors until later as they get bigger. Like rainbows and tetras and some cichlids. My Congo tetras are starting to put on size and they are starting to put out the blues and yellows and the awesome colors on there fins. A Jewel cichlid has amazing color I have one in my 55 gal planted tank and he is a stunner with my EBA. Nothing beats cichlids in color. ❤😊
Oh wow, thank you Jeremy! Lots of you folks are a wealth of knowledge. I’d be crazy 🤪 not to listen to you. It’s strange having so many silver juvies in Alcatraz atm. It won’t be too long and they’ll be coloring up! Glad to hear from you!
@@JoskiFN my pleco, like to hang out in places where fish had claimed territory. They didn’t like that very much. And it doesn’t matter how big the Muna are, because there are so mean.
the last tip is very important, unfortunately you presented it incorrectly. You say about the sun that fish look beautiful in it, it's true, the only way to achieve it is to build lighting based on the best LEDs on the market, High CR LED, preferably 5600-6500 K compliant with the D55 or D65 standard. No, I repeat, no factory lamp that is controlled by channels of individual wavelengths can compete with these LEDs,
And your Nut Job's are very handsome along with your community tank they are all beautiful. Say "WHAT" you're going to have swag I see a T in the future Yippee! I think you hit all the ways to color up fish having these Rams my 40gal has clear darker water but when they swim under the lights oh boy very flashy indeed. Thanks again for the great info and can't wait for your next video!
The Electric Blue Balloon Belly is stunning I had 3 more but the GBR's sent them to another dimension. I want to get more but I have been dealing with the GBR's fry and it's a real pain, one I might not do again. @@CichlidCharmer
Aw that has to be so cute, I keep losing babies right and left probably will be down to 1, what are they now 1-2 weeks old, next time the parents can do the raising in a diff. tank wow!@@CichlidCharmer
What type of substrate do you use in your African cichlid tank. I have a 180 Male african tank and im not sure what substrate to use but the one you’re using looks nice!
How do you get your fish to color up? Do you think all my tips are equally important? Let us know your experience!
Quality food, and clean water
Water temp worked really well for my African cichlids (Haps, Mbuna, and peacocks) also mix the food up with a variety of fresh and pellet formula.
New Fluval pellets are awesome and keeps my water clear as well.
Thanks for sharing your 5 tips on having colourful fish,highly informative. Well done
@@stefanosahretis5075 Thank you, Stefanos! I hope you have a Merry Christmas my friend!
@@CichlidCharmer merry Christmas to you and your family
All the points you made are correct. I am not sure whether the pH plays a vital role in the color or health of the fish. As these fish are captive breeds perhaps they would have adapted to the pH different from the native. Maintaining a consistent pH is more important than chasing the pH like you mentioned. My tap water is high in pH which is absolutely fine for my African Cichlids. For my American cichlids I use a combination of peat moss (fish safe one), dry almond leaves, and almond leaf extract to soften the water (which indeed makes a dark water aquarium, but I noticed fishes love it).
And isn’t their happiness the most important thing? Your tanks must be gorgeous for how much you obviously care about them.
Escape to Alcatraz a great movie I call my Tank The Show With the Starry night who wants to be in charge But I believe it's a female So Tangerine Tiger let's her us guys Run this show Just ask my most beautiful one the Red Empress bur the Res Fin Boreli s are great to look at Evan German Red peacock goes crazy Evan Have a Distachous Sexfasiaous with we all get kng great with a blue Dolphin and blue Cicilds with nice white streak all in a 75 Gallons wow we need bigger my yellow haps just told me
Cool tank and collection! Yeah those boys will need a bigger tank. Whatcha gonna get?
What is the cichlid at 1:21 ?
Yellow and silver bottom center
That is a furcicauda
I moved to Florida from Idaho 😊. Lived all my life in nampa and Meridian. I love Florida but do miss Idaho at times.
A fellow Idahoan! I would love the heat in Florida, but I would miss my Idaho.
Good ol Idaho! I miss it there!
Im wondering who the online seller was. I might need to avoid them.
Just read reviews. The good ones hardly have any bad ones. Also look on Reddit.
Hi, great video. I am interested in the zucchini you were feeding the gang. Do you take the skin off, and how often do you feed them zucchini. Are there any other veggies that you recommend to feed to the gang. I have a 108-gallon tank with 18 great inmates right now.
Definitely for me using a full spectrum light is the best way to colour up. I had a white (6500k) light and a full spectrum light on the same tank, and switching from one to the other was like looking at completely different fish.
You’re right, Gil. Sure makes a huge difference!
Can you please do a video on all of your light settings and maybe play with the settings on video and show off the fluval marine 3.0, I would love that :)
I will certainly keep that one in mind!
Northfin is absolutely brilliant, my fish all had a huge growth spurt when i switched to it from Hakari. I still use hakari as a treat seem as though my fish love the taste.
I haven’t found any Hikari that have nearly as good ingredients as Northfin. It’s great knowing you’re feeding them great food, isn’t it? 😍
Great vid! Also in addition to lighting a black background makes fish pop! Other colors work well too like dark green, med blue etc but it all depends on the color of the fish species in the tank.
That’s totally spot on. Thanks!
Besides good water quality . I like to put the male I am trying to color up in his own tank with a couple females seems to help me a lot .
Big time. Good one 🤘🤘
This video is great! Thank you and for sure it’s more than great getting reassurance because there are foods and opinions that can drive a person crazy! Consistency is everything when it comes to stability!
Well thank you so much! You’re right about consistency for sure!
What rock is the one with orange red color on it? Beautiful rock! Like to see a few more in there like it!
It’s from Aquadecor. I have a video on the unboxing. Thank you!
One tip if you want the ripple effect in your tank that the 'Kessil' led lights produce but don't want the huge price tag that goes with it...The reason the Kessil lights are so good is that they use 'Cree' led's and luckily there are some brands that do strip lights for tanks now that use the Cree. I have an 'Interpet Tri Spec 2' on my cichlid tank and it does the ripple job for a third of the price of those Kessil's, I only need the one strip light instead of buying a few clip on Kessils!
So you have the strip several inches off the tank lid?
@@CichlidCharmer I have clear perspex sliding lids and it just sits directly on top of them, no fixings so I just lift it off if I need to do anything major inside the tank
In my place we dont get Northfin or Xtreme brands. So, I feed them a concoction of NLS Thera A+, Tropical Spirulina pellets, Reef Nutriton Chromo Boost, soaked in Vitamin Supplements, and Galric extract (these two are local brands). Even these brands I said are difficult to get as they are imported and expensive compared to the equivalent US pricing. But my fishes are happy 😊 and they go crazy for the food.
Oh that sounds good though! Mind if I ask where you are at?
India. BTW, the idea of mixing different foods and complements came from you and Kaveman Aquatics. @@CichlidCharmer
What settings do you use on your fluval marines?
I actually change them all the time, it it's 7 2 0 0 8 in the 435.
@@CichlidCharmer thank you for responding but I don’t know what the numbers mean lol
@@Sroque729 That's the numbers for each color on the Fluval. 7 is red, 2 is cyan I think, and the last one is white light.
@@CichlidCharmerdoes the number represent the percentage /intensity of each color? 7=70%
@@Sroque729 Yes. The app give you percentages to enter for each color.
I bet you’re talking about Tampa bay cichlids 😂😂😂. Great video thanks for the tips as I’m having trouble figuring out how to get my peacock cichlids to color up
I can neither confirm nor deny 🤣 The TDO colorboost helped a lot with red coloration in my fish, but it all matters. Thanks for the nice comment, DjPosey3
I too have ordered from TBC because they had a lot of the fish that I wanted and I couldn't find a lot of those fish at more reputable online stores. Most of the fish were barely bigger than fry when I got them. I'm still waiting for colors to come in to know if they are male or if I have some females among them.
What a beautiful and informative video🎥❤
Well thank you! Merry Christmas!🎄
Hello, still using the Fluval Sea Marine 3.0 on your tank? :)
Yes, on Alcatraz. Why do you ask?
@@CichlidCharmer sorry haven't listened to the full video, but only now I see you anyway mentioned that in the bonus tip. I'd say the lighting plays a huge role, through trial and error it gave nearly the best results good water quality and nutrition aside. Try going without the lights for couple of days and you will see the negative results this brings to the overall visuals of the fish 😉
First off, i love the south American tank, the way the light hits it is unreal andbits so clear!! Jealous, yes i am lol.
But yea my color thing is water quality, food and the pecking order!
Awesome, Dennis! Thank you so much. I like focusing on water quality because it is a weekly task for me that makes me feel like I’m on top of it and taking care of them.
@@CichlidCharmer definitely water quality will always be number one whether the male is last in order or not. I have a Sulfurhead that I got 2 months ago and he thought he was gonna push everyone around and he was beautiful with the yellow blaze, now he barely has a blaze and his black color faded out. He found out the hard way that he wasnt going to push the venustus around lol. Now he knows his place, I'll never get rid of him though just because his color drabbed.
I did the African 125 today, and tomorrow I'll do the central american cichlid tanks (6) tomorrow. Trying to get over this flu. I barely had energy to feed them the past few days
Cichlid Charmer,
This is all so true and appreciate this list so much. I love the channel and how you also take advice from us and other fish keepers. I also feed a variety of foods and my fish have so much color it’s crazy. Like my rainbows and Denison barbs have so much color. Yes you’re right about color and fish age. Most fish are baby’s and juveniles and most don’t get colors until later as they get bigger. Like rainbows and tetras and some cichlids. My Congo tetras are starting to put on size and they are starting to put out the blues and yellows and the awesome colors on there fins. A Jewel cichlid has amazing color I have one in my 55 gal planted tank and he is a stunner with my EBA. Nothing beats cichlids in color. ❤😊
Oh wow, thank you Jeremy! Lots of you folks are a wealth of knowledge. I’d be crazy 🤪 not to listen to you. It’s strange having so many silver juvies in Alcatraz atm. It won’t be too long and they’ll be coloring up! Glad to hear from you!
Great Advice!!
Thank you, Cichlidman!
Can you pit vristlnose places with mbuna
I think most people would say yes. I had one with my peas and haps and they killed him.
Some people told me I would not meet a bristle nose lol eco because they will get bullied but they from bigger that the mbuna@@CichlidCharmer
@@JoskiFN my pleco, like to hang out in places where fish had claimed territory. They didn’t like that very much. And it doesn’t matter how big the Muna are, because there are so mean.
K@@CichlidCharmer
the last tip is very important, unfortunately you presented it incorrectly. You say about the sun that fish look beautiful in it, it's true, the only way to achieve it is to build lighting based on the best LEDs on the market, High CR LED, preferably 5600-6500 K compliant with the D55 or D65 standard. No, I repeat, no factory lamp that is controlled by channels of individual wavelengths can compete with these LEDs,
And your Nut Job's are very handsome along with your community tank they are all beautiful. Say "WHAT" you're going to have swag I see a T in the future Yippee! I think you hit all the ways to color up fish having these Rams my 40gal has clear darker water but when they swim under the lights oh boy very flashy indeed. Thanks again for the great info and can't wait for your next video!
Aw thank you Polly 🥰. Those rams have to be gorgeous with the light just right!
The Electric Blue Balloon Belly is stunning I had 3 more but the GBR's sent them to another dimension. I want to get more but I have been dealing with the GBR's fry and it's a real pain, one I might not do again. @@CichlidCharmer
@@pollylewis9611 my Apisto fry haven’t been too terrible.
Aw that has to be so cute, I keep losing babies right and left probably will be down to 1, what are they now 1-2 weeks old, next time the parents can do the raising in a diff. tank wow!@@CichlidCharmer
@@pollylewis9611a different tank is probably the way to go. Mine are in a different tank because the parents are dead 😮😢
What type of substrate do you use in your African cichlid tank. I have a 180 Male african tank and im not sure what substrate to use but the one you’re using looks nice!
It’s really good and boosts the pH if you need that. It’s Caribsea aragonite. You just setting your tank up?
@@CichlidCharmer No it’s been running for about 2 years now but I’ve had no substrate in it!