My 55 gallon Mbuna Tank

[MNfishy]

Ok so i went to get the tank yesterday with all the other stuff. I got it from a guy that breed african cichlids and he said he could sell them to me for like $2 a piece!! so i think im going to change all my plans and get those. Also my tap water is straight out of a well so there is not chlorine or anything and he said that would be perfect for the cichlids he has. BTW he also breed discus and had some 1" one he said if my tank was established and eveything he would be able to sell them to me for like $5 a piece!!!!

Heres last night, it was 11:30 and i had school at 6 today, but i couldnt resist setting it up...

Then this afternoon after school i finished up

Let me know what you think, im getting plants and drift wood this weekend

 

[drunkenmonkey]

cool looking thank... be sure to update on your progress.

are you using an undergravel filter? if you are i would avoid plants that you would have to plant in the gravel. try to stick to plants that you can attach to things (ie java fern, anubias).

 

[MNfishy]

Ok, ya the guy i bought it from insisted i use an undergravel filter. Ive been researching and have found that undergravel filters are a big hassle with Mbuna tank (which is what i want) What should i do? would getting one or two Penguin Bio Wheel 330 filters even it out? What should i do?

 

[drunkenmonkey]

hmm... i'm not too knowledgable with mbuna but i'll try...

UGF are a real pain imo. i had one, and it would always clog up. everything in the tank had to be removed and the UGF cleaned. it was a big hassle, and that was only a 5gal i think mbuna prefer a sandier substrate. it is more like their natural habitat. your tank isn't too big, so 2 Penguin 330 should be ok i guess. you might want to consider a canister filter instead though. they work like a dream.

other members that know more about mbuna cichlids would be able to give much better answers than me. hth anyways

 

[konrad05]

cool looking thank... be sure to update on your progress.

are you using an undergravel filter? if you are i would avoid plants that you would have to plant in the gravel. try to stick to plants that you can attach to things (ie java fern, anubias).

Actually, providing you fertilizer properly (not excessively), an undergravel filter has been known to give great growth to rooted plants. Since the water is constantly passing through the substrate, nutrients reach the roots and they're also kept warm, hence, voiding the need of an gravel heater. Only problem them is most people end up using air pump, which is horribly loud, so power heads would be better, but that would mean you'd need 4 . Good luck HTH>

edit: you're definately going to need to upgrade your lighting, even if both of your light fixtures are double bulb, that still only gives you a total of 60 watts, and if single than only 30...

 

[lizard]

Nice tank! I bet you can't wait to put fish in there!

Did the person you got the tank from have a HUGE tank of Cichlids? I met a guy down here who had a HUGE tank with some Cichlids, and he was selling some fry, as well as other tanks.

Pamela
aka Married Lizard

 

[-cAtFiSh-]

ooooooo nice big tank!
i must say though i think you should change the substrate to something more natural, like sand. although with sand you would have to remove the UGF.
thats just my opinion though, i'm not a big fan of coloured substrate

 

[MNfishy]

Well heres the deal...
Ya the guy had like a 240 gallon tank with a bunch of african cichlids and some plecos, he also had a huge pleco, it was awesome.
My parents chose the gravel, since they let me get it, they said they choose where it is and wanted a "colorful" gravel, i guess im not going for real anymore since its in the family room. But hey, its still a 55 gallon tank, no matter what color the gravel is!!! Im going to plant it and put some drift wood in it, so im going to cover like 75% of the bottom with stuff. I cant wait. I was anciouse to get fish untill i went to my LFS to get a thermomter and saw that all the gouramis had ICH OH well, im going to stick some xebra danious in there in a week to start cycleing it

 

[MNfishy]

Ok well i went to the fish guys house to get some new stuff
heres before i went to his house

And after...

And heres a pretty bad pic of one of my new Metriaclima callaino cichlids (cobalt Blue)

 

[fufanu360]

very nice he sold you the tank for 2$ ?

 

[MNfishy]

no, the fish were $2

 

[MNfishy]

Some pics of new fish... Sorry for them being so big, the trial on my photo editing program ran out

My new yellow labs, got em yesterday

And my week new cobalt blues....

And the two together and happy

I know thats a lot of pictures but hey

 

[samthefishman]

i think they are called yellow labs for a reason... why are they white?

 

[fufanu360]

hey buddy, dont get too warm and excited, having a tank of africans is NEVER peacefull, they will fight out the weak ones but they are still amazing fish

 

[MNfishy]

I dont know why they look white, but I assure you they are yellow, Right now i have 6 cichlids in there and the day after thanksgiveing im getting 9 more so hopefully that will be enough to keep the weaker ones safe, im also adding a lot more rock, even though there is already a bunch in there