sagerace

Hi! Thank you! If you click on the first url. Then it looks like the male transforming picture or the female below it.

So i have no choice but to get rid of them?? I don't really want to get a bigger tank. For one I don't have the money.

Back to the algae. I can just wipe it off the sides, vacuum the rocks, clean off the leaves. Take out half the water and put new water in. Then add the conditioning drops?? I do have a warmer in the tank and the temp still drops.

bless you all!!

Paser00

You don't have to get rid of them, but I think its safe to say that all of the fish that you have in there, at some point only one of cichlids will survive and probably not be very happy. You can take them, to a local fish store. they may give you credit for them or at least take them off your hands.

As far as the algae good tank maintenance should help with your problems. I don't know what you mean by clean off the leaves? If they are fake plants than yes I would give them a wipe once and while. A healthy live plant really shouldn't have any build up. Also if you want to keep the light on all day (assuming the plant is live), limit it to 8 hours or less. The more light you provide will increase your algae growth. Since you really don't have a planted tank the lact of nutrients and the excess light will favor the algae over the plants.

As for the warmer I would check to see if it is actually working. If the light was keeping the tank warm during the day, once the temp started to drop at night the warmer should have kicked in and kept the temperature stable.

Pinkrblu

If the plants are fake, one trick is to soak them in a bleach water solution, but make absolutely sure you rinse them as completely as possible, then rinse them again, then maybe even dip them into a solution of water and the water conditioner that removes chlorines.

You can buy sponges specifically for cleaning algae off, but you can use anything like scrunched up mesh bags, or scrubbie sponges safe for teflon (won't scratch if it is a plastic tank)

Crawdad= think small freshwater lobster. And yes, they will eat small fish if given the chance. In nature, they love minnows.

Regarding the fish, lots of fish shops will take the fish back on trade for something different.