My New Cichlid Setup!

[rossyboy]

Hey guys after keeping freshwater and tropical fish for a few years I kinda got bored so ventured into keeping African Cichlids!

Below are a few pics of my new setup which i've made myself.

For the background I used the Juwel black tiered rock 3d background and then stacked slate/pebbles in front of this which is all held in place by Black silicone.

In terms of decor- I've used a fine white coral sand, have 2 patches of shells for my shellies and a couple of plants for good measure.

Filtration is by the included Juwel filter, with an additional juwel filter fitted by myself on the left hand side.

The fish are mainly all from Lake Tanganikya but i've recently introduced a couple of bigger ones from Lake Malawi.

Hope you like it and apologies for the pic quality, my camera isn't too good!

 

[catfish101]

cool tank how do you keep the cichlids from eating the plants? Iv never had good luck with cichlids and plants except for anubius.
-Nate

 

[rossyboy]

Yer, I heard this before about them attacking plants.

I've only ever seen the Brichardi digging his teeth into them once, but they seem fine. The LFS guy told me though that this is the only type of plan he's managed to keep in the cichlid tanks!

 

[kj23502]

Like how you did the rock work

 

[Ludwig Venter]

Like how you did the rock work

Great setup for spontaneous breeding..... just remove the slate if eggs are observed... Good thinking.

 

[rossyboy]

haha yer, i'm a bit worried about that actually.

we'll see how it goes though

 

[darrel69]

Great set-up and nice fish you have there... are they real plants ??

 

[Racerchic478]

I LOVE the rocks! Freaking awesome. I would pay big money to be able to arrange like this. Good luck!

 

[rossyboy]

thankyou so much guys for your compliments. I'm reeeeally proud of my tank it looks amazing with the contrast of Black background, vibrant fish colouring and the coral sand.

And yes, the plants are all real the only thing in the tank which isn't is the background which is made of a foam material

 

[KnuckleHead]

thankyou so much guys for your compliments. I'm reeeeally proud of my tank it looks amazing with the contrast of Black background, vibrant fish colouring and the coral sand.

And yes, the plants are all real the only thing in the tank which isn't is the background which is made of a foam material

Nice looking setup for Africans. Careful keeping Mbuna and Tangs together though. Different levels of aggression and dietary needs.

 

[rossyboy]

Yer, i'm going to keep a close eye. It was a risk i've taken but i'll make sure I do my best for them!

Any hot tips you've got?

 

[darrel69]

And yes, the plants are all real the only thing in the tank which isn't is the background which is made of a foam material

Cool.. are they the twisted (or is it spiral?) Vallisneria ?? .. i havnt had much luck with plants and my malawis but ive just ordered some of these to see how they go... do yours not bother at all with them ? Also have you got them panted in the substrate or tied to rocks ?

Any hot tips you've got?

Plenty od dark caves (which i see you have lots already).. id try to keep away from the overly aggressive malawi such as the Metriaclima Lombardoi or any of the Melanochromis genus..

Besides, your tank looks nice and big anyway.. i doubt youll have many probs.

 

[rossyboy]

Cool.. are they the twisted (or is it spiral?) Vallisneria ?? .. i havnt had much luck with plants and my malawis but ive just ordered some of these to see how they go... do yours not bother at all with them ? Also have you got them panted in the substrate or tied to rocks ?




Well when I made the tank I remembered from my previous cichlid setup how annoying they could be for digging up the sand around the plants, so i've made a little bit of 'edging' using small slender slate pieces and i've siliconed these to the base of the tank so the plants are essentially boxed in by a slate border, filled in with the coral sand.

I have only one fish who decides to play games with the plants and thats the brichardi... I saw him biting away at the leaves once and so thats why occasionally i find floating leaves.

But generally this plant is in my opinion the best one for cichlids, and in reply to your question yes the leaves are slightly spiraled but i'm not sure of the proper name sorry!

 

[tangokitty]

Your tanks looks great, love the shells!

 

[quaver]

oh, now that tank is just LUSH LOVE the shells