Lake Tanganyika 240 Litre Aquarium

I am currently in the process of setting up a Lake Tanganyikan aquarium. I have always kept freshwater tropical fish, mainly community tanks, a Betta sorority and some species only tanks. I have always wanted to set up an African Cichlid tank, but due to several factors I've not been able to do it. Now I have a little more of everything that I was missing, I'm now ready to dive head first into Lake Tanganyika.

Firstly, a bit of a background on Lake Tanganyika. Lake Tanganyika is an African Great Lake. It is the second-oldest freshwater lake in the world, the second-largest by volume, and the second-deepest. However, it is the world's longest freshwater lake! The lake is shared between four countries – Tanzania, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Burundi, and Zambia, with Tanzania (46%) and DRC (40%) possessing the majority of the lake. It drains into the Congo River system and ultimately into the Atlantic Ocean.

The lake's water is alkaline with a pH around 9 at depths of 0–100 m. Below this, it is around 8.7, gradually decreasing to 8.3–8.5 in the deepest parts of Tanganyika. Surface temperatures generally range from about 24 °C (75 °F) in the southern part of the lake in early August to 28–29 °C (82–84 °F) in the late rainy season in March—April.

The lake holds at least 250 species of cichlid fish and undescribed species remain. Almost all (98%) of the Tanganyika cichlids are endemic to the lake. All Tanganyika cichlids are in the subfamily Pseudocrenilabrinae. Of the 10 tribes in this subfamily, half are largely or entirely restricted to the lake (Cyprichromini, Ectodini, Lamprologini, Limnochromini and Tropheini) and another three have species in the lake (Haplochromini, Tilapiini and Tylochromini).

Many cichlids from Lake Tanganyika, such as species from the genera Altolamprologus, Cyprichromis, Eretmodus, Julidochromis, Lamprologus, Neolamprologus, Tropheus and Xenotilapia, are popular aquarium fish due to their bright colours and patterns, and interesting behaviours.


I have decided to stock the following species, with thanks to the help from @Colin_T :

Cyprichromis Leptosoma (Kekese Yellow Head) - Open Water -

I will be buying a group of 10 juveniles. It’s an open water species, inhabiting the intermediate zones with scattered rocks and sandy bottoms.

Very peaceful. Do not keep it with boisterous fish such as Mbuna. Good tankmates include other Tanganyikan species that inhabit different areas in the tank. Rockdwellers such as Julidochromis or Altolamprologus are particularly good choices, as are shelldwelling species.

Julidochromis Ornatus - Rocks & Caves -

I will be buying a group of 4-6 juveniles. This will hopefully result in at least 2 pairs and then I will remove the others from the tank. They should be housed in a Lake Tanganyika biotope setup, with piles of rocks arranged to form caves. With the scape that I have arranged, there should be plenty of space for 2 pairs to live happily.

A territorial species. It can be maintained successfully with other small to medium-sized Tanganyikan cichlids that occupy different areas of the tank, such as Neolamprologus shelldwellers and Cyprichromis species. J. ornatus should be kept as a pair as it is aggressive towards conspecifics. A suitably large aquarium is required if several are to be kept.

Lamprologus Ocellatus - Open Sand Bed & Shells -

Again, I will be buying a group of 6 juveniles. In an ideal world, this will hopefully result in 2 males and 4 females. Based on the amount of open space and shells I'm planning to have, I will be able to house 2 males with enough shells and territory. It is found in areas with scattered rocks and areas of open sand around the shoreline of the lake, in areas where the substrate is littered with empty snail shells.

A territorial species that will defend its shell and the small territory around it vigorously. It can be combined with species that inhabit other areas of the aquarium though. Good choices include rockdwellers such as Neolamprologus brichardi or smaller species of Julidochromis and open water species such as Cyprichromis sp. If a number of fish are kept it will form a colony. If keeping it in this kind of situation make sure there are enough shells and try to keep more females than there are males or infighting may get out of hand.


Aquarium

Fluval Roma 240 Litre - L 120cm x D 40cm x H 55cm

Filtration

Fluval FX4 External Filter. This filter is suitable for aquariums up to 1000 litres and has an output of 2650 litres per hour.

Lighting

Fluval 6500k LED Strip Light.

Heater

2x Fluval M300 Heater. Purely as a back up in case one fails.


I will be splitting the tank into 4 key areas. The first area will be open water for the Cyprichromis Leptosoma, the second and third areas will be rock formations at either side of the tank for the Julidochromis Ornatus and the fourth area will be the open sand bed for the Lamprologus Ocellatus.

For the substrate I will be using sand. African Cichlids love to dig in sand and it also helps to aid their digestive system. To help make their colours really stand out, I will be using black sand. This may be an unpopular decision, but I have always used dark substrates.

African Cichlids natural habitat is very rocky, with lots of caves, tunnels and crevices. I haven't yet decided on which rocks I'll be using, so any suggestions are welcome (source-able in the UK). I have just placed an order for 2 custom made caves to be built for the Julidochromis Ornatus, which will be set into the natural rock.

In the middle of the tank, I plan to either use a large rock or tangled roots to help create in a broken line of sight between the 2 rock formations.

I will be attaching Anubias to some of the rocks and these will be the only live plants that I have in the tank.

Below is a photo which is where I have taken my inspiration from.



The tank is already here and set up. The sand will be delivered on Monday 28th as well as the custom caves. I am going out shortly after posting this to look for some suitable rocks. So if all goes well, the hardscape should be finished by this time next week.

I will be uploading photos here of the progress.

Thank you for reading and welcome to Lake Tanganyika.

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Tanganyika & https://www.seriouslyfish.com

This is going to be amazing! Definitely keep us tuned.

I have managed to buy my rocks/cave system today. I found slate which was my first choice as it'll be really easy to stack and create nice clean straight lines. I found it for £1.99 a kg, which is far cheaper than I've found it online. I have also picked up 4 really nice large white pebbles with orange and red running through them. I'm hoping that the slate and large pebbles will look really good together.

I've never been naturally good at hardscape. I watch a lot of youtube videos and look at tons of photos of tanks for inspiration. So we'll see how they look on Sunday which is when I plan on arranging the hardscape before the sand turns up on Monday.

I also bumped into the old owner of my LFS, he is now the Aquatics Manager at Perfect Aquatics (which is where I bought the rock from). He's super knowledgeable with African Cichlids, apparently back some years ago now, half of his shop was set up for African Cichlids and people would travel from all over the country for his fish and to pick his brains.

He's said that if there's anything specific that I'd like which is tough to find, to let him know and he'll order it in for me. Great guy and my new best fish friend!!

Make sure the tank has cycled before adding fish because the high pH will make any ammonia extremely toxic if you have fish in it while cycling.

Use limestone and sandstone rocks for decorations. These are calcium based and will help keep the pH up. Rocks should be hosed off every now and then to keep them free of biofilm that can stop them buffering the pH.

Make sure you check the general hardness (GH) of your tap water and add Rift Lake mineral salts if it has a low GH. You need the GH above 300ppm.

Anubias is a good choice for plants, it is tough, I had African Cichlids years ago and they moved my plastic plants all over the tank and dug everywhere.

Colin_T said:

Make sure the tank has cycled before adding fish because the high pH will make any ammonia extremely toxic if you have fish in it while cycling.

Use limestone and sandstone rocks for decorations. These are calcium based and will help keep the pH up. Rocks should be hosed off every now and then to keep them free of biofilm that can stop them buffering the pH.

Make sure you check the general hardness (GH) of your tap water and add Rift Lake mineral salts if it has a low GH. You need the GH above 300ppm.

Click to expand...

The tank is cycled, it has been running since April this year. Until a couple of days ago it was home to a tropical community. I've left the water in and everything running as usual. I'm going to empty the water, add the hardscape and then refill it.

I will check the water parameters before adding new fish as I am removing the substrate and adding new, so I'm not sure how much of an effect this can have?

Using the API test kit, my high range pH is stable at 8.2 and I live in a very hard water area, my tap water is 17.665 degrees german and 314 ppm.

Retired Viking said:

Anubias is a good choice for plants, it is tough, I had African Cichlids years ago and they moved my plastic plants all over the tank and dug everywhere.

Click to expand...

I'm hoping they'll leave the anubias alone, all it takes is for one of them to take a like or dislike to them.

The black sand has arrived today, that was really fast. I was expecting it on Monday.

My two custom caves have been built, the supplier is just waiting for the silicone to set and then posting them to me.

These caves are specifically for the Julidochromis Ornatus and the small gap on top is for the fry (if we get any that is).



Once the custom caves arrive, it will be time to empty the water from the tank (left it running to maintain the cycle with 8 Celestial Pearl Danios and some Red Cherry Shrimp - these will be going into my 25 litre), add the sand substrate, rocks and caves and then refill it with water. I'm going to test the water daily until the following weekend, assuming everything is ok I will buy my very first Lake Tanganyika fishes!

communityfluvalroma said:

I'm hoping they'll leave the anubias alone, all it takes is for one of them to take a like or dislike to them.

Click to expand...

I have found that Anubias does grow rather slow, don’t expect to much! It’s a really great plant once it grows out, and the leaves get all broad.

PheonixKingZ said:

I have found that Anubias does grow rather slow, don’t expect to much! It’s a really great plant once it grows out, and the leaves get all broad.

Click to expand...

They certainly do, I have them in all my tanks so I’m ready for the slow and painful grow

Today I managed to get around to emptying the tank and giving it a really good clean all over.

I then put some plastic mesh onto the bottom of the glass so that the rocks don't scratch it. I then added the slate and large pebbles. I soon realised that what looked like a lot of rock, really wasn't going to be enough. So I've added more to the shopping list along with the anubias and centre piece rock/driftwood. I then added the black sand and let the tank settle for a few hours.

Here is a photo that I took just now.



It's very much still work in progress. I need to buy quite a bit more rock to stack out either side and create lots of caves. The custom caves are turning up tomorrow, and these will slot in nicely to the gaps I've left at the bottom.

I tested the water and ammonia is 0ppm, nitrite 0ppm, nitrate 10ppm and high range pH 8.2. I'm going to check the water daily, but I'm sure as the filter media is well established there shouldn't be any issues. I was just worried that removing all of the old substrate and replacing it with new that it could shift the cycle.

Ok, off to trawl the internet for some anubias and a nice centrepiece rock/wood.

I have been busy behind the scenes. The tank is almost there now, just putting together the final finishing touches.

Recent additions to the tank:

15kg of dark Seiryu Rock
2 Custom Caves
2 Anubias Nana Paxing
1 Anubias Golden Nana
1 Anubias Barteri
1 Vallisneria Spiralis

On the technical side, I've added a Fluval CP3 Circulation Pump which has made a massive difference to pushing everything to the filter instead of settling on the sand.

Now the exciting part...I have fish!!!

I have bought 10 mature Cyprichromis leptosoma 'Jumbo' Yellowheads (3 males and 7 females). Two of the females have already spawned and are holding.

I have 5 juvenile Julidochromis transcriptus. I'm hoping I get lucky and get 2 breeding pairs (one on each side of the tank), but knowing my luck I'll get 4 males and a female.

I also have 4 juvenile Synodotis petricola.

Photos below of the tank, a few of the fish and one of the females that holding eggs.