Ed's Oddball Tank.

[wayne the pain]

They do appreciate brackish, but lot of people keep in fresh with no problems. There is supposed to be a completely land locked area in Africa where they live where they thrive.

 

[aether.ed]

Just found a cool vid on youtube, an mbu vs an otter! Both come off unscathed but man isnt it mental how these things puff up? I would have thought an otter with its sharp teeth, claws and strength could have punctured the fish but no, the puffer just baffled and confused the otter so much it just gave up. Amazing!
http/www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkXhC7yzISI&feature=related

Reading up on the tiger scats it seems they are just as at home in fresh water as brackish, good sign, means they are probably quite hardy tough fish if they can handle such different water conditions and still thrive.

haha my spotted bush fish yawning so much this morning. its as if theyve been partying all night and diddnt get an ounce of sleep. each one is yawning every few mins lol. Unless theyre just opening wide when they see me trying to tell me somthing like 'feeed meeee!' usually they come to the glass snapping away like crazy with their mouths if they want food, haha amazing seeing such huge extendable mouths on such reasonably sized fish!

 

[aether.ed]

Okay ive just had someone offer me a tank, 7ft x 4ft floor space and 3ft deep, brand new build for someone who bailed at last minuite (strangely it was for an mbu aswell)so the guy is stuck with it taking up space in his workshop. Hes asking £400 and says thats literly giving it away. Dont think he'll be making any money on it at all! Id snap it up right now if i had the space, gotta get a new place before i can contemplate a tank that big, but im tempted to just get it and put it into storage until i find the place to live. even then tho i doubt this tank will be a suitable final home for the mbu (i was looking 8-10ft, 7ft seems abit small), should i just skip this one and save myself the £400 towards an even more massive tank? or is this size a suitable tank for an adult mbu?

 

[wayne the pain]

That video is from "Tanganyika, jewel of the rift" an amazing wildlife documentary, well worth watching. If anyone knows where i can buy it on dvd let me know.

 

[wayne the pain]

If your into Mormyridae, look at cornish Jack (Mormyrops anguilloides) they might take your fancy

 

[aether.ed]

If your into Mormyridae, look at cornish Jack (Mormyrops anguilloides) they might take your fancy

Been very intrested in mormyrids, have especially been intrested in this large predatory aparantly delicous fish for some time, strange i didnt realise that this is the cornish jack, heard of cornish jack before but just assumed it was some sort of small pike like fish from cornwall haha! Been reading they can be very dangerous fish but i doubt they would be much worse than the mbu with their pure damage dealing ability.

 

[JoeGuzzo]

your tank is sick bro! i hope one day i can get my tank to look as good as yours

 

[aether.ed]

your tank is sick bro! i hope one day i can get my tank to look as good as yours

Ah thanks, I think the trick is to go all natural and not go too mad with it! it doesnt take much to clutter the tank up, i did have crypts and moss balls in there but all they were doing was taking up space making the tank look abit mismatched. Stripped it back to java fern, anubias and grass and much now happier with the appearance. everything seems to compliment each other well and the fish seem to love it!

 

[aether.ed]

Anyone know much about papyocranus afer, the african reticulated knife?

Im starting to get a good idea of what this beastly tank will be like, its gonna be a one of a kind regarding stocking thats for sure!

I just wish it wasnt so far down the road so i can get started with it all. But its nice to have a plan, when it comes down to it there will be no messin about! Unfortuantly at the moment, the very quickest i can plan to implement this is just under a year from now, im aiming to be sorted and get the tank next spring, around march/april time.

Will keep y'all posted on my current tank and rocky the puffer in the mean time!

Thanks for the amazing suggestions so far, very much appreciated!

Ed

 

[wayne the pain]

A friend of mine had P afer, he said it was a mean fish at night once out n about

Papyocranus afer, Mormyrops anguilloides, now your getting into the mean fish of Africa, Gymnarchus niloticus next??

 

[JoeGuzzo]

your tank is sick bro! i hope one day i can get my tank to look as good as yours

Ah thanks, I think the trick is to go all natural and not go too mad with it! it doesnt take much to clutter the tank up, i did have crypts and moss balls in there but all they were doing was taking up space making the tank look abit mismatched. Stripped it back to java fern, anubias and grass and much now happier with the appearance. everything seems to compliment each other well and the fish seem to love it!

i hzve such a hard time keeping real plants for some reason. they either have random leaves that die on it or they get overtaken by some brown algae. that i also dont know really which plants to get i would like some nice type of grass or something like that to go across the floor but i dont know what to get. i also would like some tall plants that reac more towards the top of the tank like the ones you have in your tank but again i dont know what those are either

 

[aether.ed]

A friend of mine had P afer, he said it was a mean fish at night once out n about

Papyocranus afer, Mormyrops anguilloides, now your getting into the mean fish of Africa, Gymnarchus niloticus next??

Haha, it seems that way. When it comes to africans it certainly seems the bigger they are the meaner they are. I dont want an aggro tank but id like it to be feisty like i have at the mo. As long as the other fish can handle themselves the odd mean fish may not be too bad. I just dont want any out-right killers tho, a monster sized semi aggressive community is what im after!

I guess as long as all the fish are too big to be considered food, given ample space and ensuring that the different species inhabit different parts of the tank, with careful selection i should be okay. The odd territorial dispute would be fine but anything thats just a mean nasty killer fish (tiger fish maybe) i would not be willing to take the risk. As long as the compatibilty with the mbu is fine thats all thats important as this tank will be built around him.

Ed

 

[aether.ed]

your tank is sick bro! i hope one day i can get my tank to look as good as yours

Ah thanks, I think the trick is to go all natural and not go too mad with it! it doesnt take much to clutter the tank up, i did have crypts and moss balls in there but all they were doing was taking up space making the tank look abit mismatched. Stripped it back to java fern, anubias and grass and much now happier with the appearance. everything seems to compliment each other well and the fish seem to love it!

i hzve such a hard time keeping real plants for some reason. they either have random leaves that die on it or they get overtaken by some brown algae. that i also dont know really which plants to get i would like some nice type of grass or something like that to go across the floor but i dont know what to get. i also would like some tall plants that reac more towards the top of the tank like the ones you have in your tank but again i dont know what those are either

Helloo again, my suggestion would be to go low light as you can, algae wont grow then. You will be limited to the type of plants you can get with low light set up but you really cant go wrong, java fern (and variants), anubias, crypts and vallis grass (also known as eel grass, thats what mine is!) should work for you. Ive also had success with amazon sword in low light. When i say low light i mean 1 watt of light or less per gallon. Any more an you may get the algae problems unless you u have suitable fast growing plants like elodea that can out compete the algae.

As for a carpet of grass, its very hard to do without a high light high tech set up. However i have had success making a java moss carpet, got some plastic mesh cut it into shapes, weaved the strands of moss into it, weigh it down with a stone. a couple of months later the moss had formed a thick carpet. its not as fancy as the dwarf hair grass carpets you see but unless u spend the £££ on lighting, fertilisation, co2 injection etc the moss may be your only option. Only downside is you gotta keep it trimmed and it collects alot of gunk so needs a good vac regularly.

Heres what i managed to do.... Note the excessive use of elodea (the green stem plants) This stuff kept the algae at bay nicely!

Ah the good old days, I do miss my mini tank was a joy to keep. Those days are long gone haha!

From what you are saying about leaves going brown it seems that you may just be chosing the wrong plants for ur set up, or... you should stick with it and hope they spring back to life, quite a few plants have a habbit of metling when put in a new tank but if the roots are all good they usually spring back to life, but as said as long as ur lights are low you can keep java fern anubias no problem, they will grow with just ambient room light, if lights are too bright tho they will become algae magnets. The trick is to find the perfect balance between fish stocking (for plant nutrients), light and plant stocking. Too much (or too little) of any of these and you may have problems. My parents had a bad case of black beard algea caused by lack of co2, huge 150gal tank with just 2 goldfish in it, diddnt want to bother with adding chemicals or co2 as my parents arent very cleaver with these things so I upped the stocking adding a few more fish to produce enough co2 to keep the balance of the tank in check. (careful tho overstocking will also have undesirable effects, much worse than just algae)

When it comes to planted tanks Its all about balance my friend, just got to nail what the issue is and rectify it (preferably without the use of chemicals tho!)9 out of 10 times its the lighting, im guessing u have low lighting and have been using high light loving plants or the opposite using low light plants in a high light tank. Whats the tank size and the wattage of ur lights? could point you in the right direction for sure!

http/www.thetropicaltank.co.uk/algae.htm found this, brown algae seems to be to do with silacates to phosphates ratio, would have thought things like fast growing elodea should mop up excesive phosphates. Silicates however its just a matter of time and water changes (is it quite a new tank? new gravel maybe? silicates leach out of gravel and sand even new aquarium glass can leach em, not alot you can do till it settles down if thats is the case. not harmful tho!) Try doing it as natural as possible before considering adding algae eaters or chemicals tho, just find that perfect balance i keep raving on about haha! Never know, it might just be a case of a larger or more frequent waterchanges. If i diddnt do my 25% mid week and 40% weekend waterchanges i think my tank would be a very different story. also consider dead spots of circulation where nutrients can linger, could simply be a case of filter angles.
edit: anyone? am i right in thinking vallis grass may absorb silicates?

Let me know how u get on, once i have an idea of tank size and ur lighting i can certainly give you some suggestions. planted tanks certainly add a little something, that slice of nature in ur living room sort of thing. They require a bit of extra work with the occasional bit of aquatic gardening but theres nothing quite like sitting back and admiring ur handywork. the fish appreciate it and the plants help keep some of the harmful nasties at bay. fast growing stem plants like elodea (pond weed pretty much) are perfect for this and great for a begginer (if you have enough light of course!)!

Ed

 

[JoeGuzzo]

i have a 55 gallon with a 40watt light bulb and hood. also i currently have amazon swords in my tank those are the plants that get overtaken on their leaves by algae however the algae started to clear up recently and its looking a lot better. also i went to my LPS and the guy gave me plant buds for free have them floating in my tank currently have no idea what types of plants they are though.

 

[aether.ed]

i have a 55 gallon with a 40watt light bulb and hood. also i currently have amazon swords in my tank those are the plants that get overtaken on their leaves by algae however the algae started to clear up recently and its looking a lot better. also i went to my LPS and the guy gave me plant buds for free have them floating in my tank currently have no idea what types of plants they are though.

Right, from what you have said it works out you have 0.7watts per gallon. This is far too low for the majority of aquarium plants and may be the reason you havnt had much success. You are going to have to stick to low light plants like anubias, java fern, crypts and mosses if you want any success. My tank has less light that urs, under 0.4wpg but then i only keep java fern and anubias, im suprised the vallis grass does so well tho. Good news is once the brown algae has cleared up you should not have a problem with algae as ur light levels are nice n low. Unfortuantly ur very limited on plants for low light but hey so am i and ive managed to pull something together. There are many varieties of java fern, needle leaf, lace leaf etc and should all do well. same with anubias and crypts lotsa varieties to choose from! With javafern and anubias do not bury the roots, attach to rocks, wood and other decor with a rubber band, cotton or cable ties! Everything in my tank except the grass is all attached to things so its nice and easy to move about and re-scape not having to uproot plants and make a huge mess.

To rid brown algae, bigger or more frequent water changes and a good clean of ur filter can work wonders!

Ps. your only other option would be to add an extra 40w light, will bring you up to 1.4wpg and will greatly increase ur plant options!

Hope this points you in the right direction!

Ed