Hi! and welcome to the forum! How exciting to have a 125! So many possibilities...
This forum has some really helpful and informed people on it. A great place to talk fish!

 

P.S. are you concerned about the dead coral causing some Ph problems in your cichlid tank? Something about the calcium. I always thought it was not usually used in fresh water aquariums for that reason, but I could be wrong.Maybe thats one of those "generally known facts" that has no scientific basis.

 

I have a PH test kit and I am sitting right at 7.5...I have had this rock in previous tanks with no issues

 

Good! Can't wait to see the new set up when you're finished!

 

That looks so good! Are you going to add any plants?

 

welcome... looks good, plenty of hiding places for the cichlids

 

yes I am adding live plants...going to put 6 plants in

 

you should upload pics once the plants are in.

 

Remember alot of African cichlids eat algae and plants.

 

I know they do

 

plants are in and I adjusted the rock

 

Dead coral raises hardness which tends to raise pH. Same as limestone, dolomite, cuttlebone, oyster shells, etc. In an African rift lake tank, this is a GOOD thing.

I have, however, removed dead coral from my tanks after a chase ended in an scrape which got infected. I stick to smoother rocks to also protects my hands.

 

I only have two pieces of coral in there now and they don't have sharp edges...I just like the contrast they give to the tank

 

Welcome to FF!!! Your tank looks nice

 

Do you have any other current tanks?

 

MarrineSmith your fish tank is great i like it'' try aquire paroon and di shark e very good swimmer always swim all the time. but reduce your sharp edge. paroon is like a shark or they call fresh water shark. their movements fins. if you dont mind i shere my little knowledge and expirience including medication. please read below.

Hey guys I’m new here: from tropical country of Philippines: i would like to share my experience and knowledge about Paroon and ID shark; we have a lot of that species here.

Paroon other name: commonly known here High Fin Hammerhead:/Pangasius Sanitwongsei/giant chow praya/

Body figure: pointed High Fin : mouth and head wider than ID shark. dark gray color and white silvery to its bottom.


ID Shark other name: Iridescent id shark/Hammerhead/Pangasius hypophthalmus/
body figure: Fins not hard and Not pointed; dark gray slanted 2 to 3 stripe color to silvery or there is all white color.

Experience

i give my 3 inches id shark to my friend and place it to 5 gallon tank only and it was 6
years ago, until now the fish is alive. the fish only grow to 8 inches only. he only feed sinking pellet.
the price of ID shark that is 3 to 4inches = 25.00 pesos or $0.45 USD only.


Now my Paroon Experience

Now i acquire 2 paroon 3 to 4 inches for only 300.00 pesos or only $6.00 dollar USD there. i notice the other one is balloon shape.

Im very observant. i place it in 20 gal tank only 36 inches L x 18 inches H x 10 inches W.

My paroon not eat for 3 weeks. when i feed my paroon they swim away from food and panic, but i know paroon eat anything. i gave them fresh food from my refrigerator. Small slice meat pork/slice fish meat /sinking pellet/floating /frozen crab stick meat/fish balls nuggets fish flavor/or live guppy fish. but he swim away and don’t eat. then one time at night i see he grab floating small dead fish.

i switch my observation at night'' no light is on. everything is dark i have only one led light or very small flashlight to limit the light. i notice that the behavior of paroon change at night it becomes a monster. A normal swimming at night become hunter swimming when light is out i don’t know how they can see without light.

i observed they ate what they encounter, from meat that i give to live fish. Then i see their stomach is big. And so big i thought they die because of too much food. But they vomit excess food in their stomach.

that is why every morning i saw dead fish with form in 30 degree angle body something is swallow and out again.

the following day i control feeding.

this is amazing their skin is translucent when i open the light every morning their color is almost white but after a few second it turn to black. or the original color of paroon.

take note: too much food is bad for your fish.

Medication experience.

My paroon become sick i see a lot of ich in their skin and fin rot their skin is become salty look. i expect that my paroon dye after 4 or 5 days. i search for medication. ill only find Ocean free general medication. in two days i see the result, its healed but not all there is left in their skin. they called resistant ich. so i search for antibacterial but the problem not available in my country so i try human anti bacterial erythromycin 500mg 1 capsule and apply to 20 gal i dissolve this first to a water then testing first, i put some guppy to small tank and place small amount of medicine if they die but they did not die.

2nd day i put another human anti bacterial Clarithromycin 250 mg (medicine of my kids 3yrs old :liquid type) i put it in a cup almost 5 drops mixed with water then dissolved and apply to may 20 gal tank.

Result: my two paroon totally healed and now healthy including their tank mates oscar albino bala shark tinfoil barb. Parrot and other live fish for feeding purposes (guppies)

Under medication i replace almost 15 percent of water every day.

i am not suggesting human antibacterial, ill used it because anti bacterial for fish is not available in my country.