Advice on a New Cichlid Tank

[beaker <pweifan at yahoo_com>]

All,

If anyone on-list has experience with a cichlid tank, I have several
questions...

What substrate do you recommend?
What do you add to the water to keep the cichlids happy?
Are you able to grow _any_ plants that the cichlids don't eat or
uproot?
Are you able to get them to breed?
What do you recommend in order to get them to breed?

We're about to move and I thought it was a good excuse to setup an old
tank.  It's a 30 gallon tank 1.5 watts/gallon.  I'll need to buy
substrate for it but I do have some lava rocks for stacking.  I was
thinking of wrapping java moss, java fern and/or anubias on the rocks
in the crevices.  I realize it's a small tank, but from what I've read
controlled over-population might work.  I've got a Penguin 250 BioWheel
for filtration.  I was thinking I'd put a sponge over the intake to
save fry.

TIA,
Scott 
aka beaker

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