Introduction/starting A Cichlid Tank

[eggo]

egg crate arrived saturday was overjoyed has i was bored, so could not wait to start work on the tank,

cut egg crate with my grinder with a diamond tip blade made short work of it just had to remove the plastic burr left behind,

placing ocean base rocks on top off egg crate tried to think of what the fish wanted so put a large piece across 2 smaller pieces to make cave's for fish

added the coral sand substrate was over the moon with it i bought it second hand and only looked at it in detail when i started to cover base of tank, the sand is white with specs of red/black,

then started to add water from a bucket and syphon method learned my teenage daughter how to syphon so she took control over filling tank and i could then sit back and watch,

i have used fresh start to remove chlroine and heavy metals and the tank has been running a couple of days now, been to lfs for some used filter media to give my filters a boost but he recommened me not to do it has my filters could crash after a couple of weeks, so he has recommended Seachem Stability has that is what they use has it is cheap with a high bacteria content, i have told him the size of my tank and he told me to use 3 cap fulls a day for 7 days and after the first 2 days to start adding fish slowly,

with the power head in the internal filter and the 4000l/h powerhead at the other end of the tank i have a pretty good circulation in the tank sort of anti-clockwise has i have seen small particles move along the sand substrate also with the spray bar some good surface movement,

i am going to stock with mbuna will start of slow but looking to ultimately have 30 or so.

 

[eggo]

Updated tank shot

Also bought 27 new fish today

Pseudotropheus Acei 2m
Labidochromis Caeruleus 2m3f
Pseudotropheus Flavus 2m1f (and a few juveniles) a couple are holding
Cynotilapia Afra 'Chiwindi' 3m2f
Metriaclima Patricki 'Jalo Reef' 2m3f (from Carl@ Midland Malawi's)
Melanochromis Paralellus 1m (from Carl@ Midland Malawi's)
Otopharynx Lithobates 'Zimbabwe Rock' 1f (from Carl @ Midland Malawi's)

also my Melanochromis auratus is due to spit her fry this week in my new fry tank

 

[njstockley]

Great pic mate,

27?! Is it bonus month or something?! My Mrs would kill me if I did that.
It is a lot of fish to add at once though - Keep an eye on your parameters just in case. Looks like the tank is really taking shape though Lee - blue background works really well against the ocean rock. Just get the internal filter out, free up some space, and get yourself a 2nd external!

 

[eggo]

hi nick bought the fish of a guy who is selling up only paid £100, so thought it was a great deal for me and he was happy too, he delivered them to me in person sat morning the fish are A1 quality and i am very happy with them he also gave me 600grams of new life spectrum, i am overstocked at the moment so going to thin the numbers over the next couple of days.

i started of with the black but i like the blue better, only problem with my tank being fully stocked is i will be visiting less LFS to look for fish has i enjoyed that.

looking into a external also but was still thinking of keeping the internal aswell so i would have 2 external's and the juwel bio-flow 6.0 internal also.

also just bought 3 litre of prime for £30 of the same guy very happy has i have used a 100ml in a month or so has i have been doing daily water changes of about 10 gallon so has not lasted long.

also bought my self a 15 gallon fry tank with all equipment included and fully matured internal filter my golden mbuna is in there and is due to spit this week

 

[Malawi MaD]

Got some nice species in there mate, everything is looking good

 

[eggo]

Got some nice species in there mate, everything is looking good

Thankyou

 

[njstockley]

That's a great deal Lee - wish I saw more of that down my way..! With daily water changes and prime you can't go wrong

And even when the tank's stocked there is always an excuse to get to the shop.

 

[eggo]

Here is a few random pictures of my fish

 

[njstockley]

Great pics mate...the Flavus in particular looks awesome. You seem to have forgotten to upload another full tank shot though!

 

[eggo]

Great pics mate...the Flavus in particular looks awesome. You seem to have forgotten to upload another full tank shot though!

my new 20 gallon grow on tank

 

[njstockley]

How are you getting on Lee? Not seen an update for a while! Had to change anything since you posted above?

 

[eggo]

no nothing really i have over 100 fry at the moment, my auratus is holding again this time i caught them on video spawning her laying the eggs taking them in her mouth and the male fertilizing them with his anal fin, also the first batch most of them are around a inch or so with a couple of still very tiny one's

just read! auratus are not easy to sex they all start yellow but only one
male will colour up at a time as they dont allow two to colour up at the same time
(unless its a very big tank or as you see them in the lfs six males with no females)
so them females that are 5" could be males as any male signs they'll get outted
by the dom male as well as this ive known females turn to male colouration
they are unable to turn back and end it as a somewhere inbetween fish

I actually heard a report stating female auratus could turn into males
as they do with swordtails when no male is present? (im not convinced)
and reckon the are actually sub dom males holding back on there colour

mine are all looking like females but sinse reading this i have no idea how many males i have ?

 

[eggo]