Tanks Mbuna Tank Diary (pics & Video)

[denis coghlan]

Very nice, it looks great!
What is that blue light? and how do you put it on the tank?

The light is called a cold blue cathode and I attached it to the light bar using superglue as I didnt want to drill holds in the protective casing.

 

[Luke_e]

Looks awesome in moonlight. I love how the moonlight is darker at either side and te light is concentrated in the center, looks very nice like that!

 

[denis coghlan]

Looking good matey I would also recommend that you dont put all 10 fish in, in one go, you dont want to risk it, apart from the cost if they do die, no one likes to see ill fish floating around their tanks (says he looking at the whitespot problem in him own ). Add 4 and watch the NO3 and NH4, if you dont see any increase in a day or two, you're probably ok to add a few more. I guess this also depends how much you've cycled the filter, guess the more ammonia you've been using the more it will be able to cope with a high bioload. Cant help further than that, been ages since I've cycled a tank.

Enjoy the shopping trip!

Sam


Thanks for the input sam. For the past week the biofilter in my tank has been converting 5ppm into 0 ammonia daily. I would put the ammonia in in the morning, test it. Then when I go to test it again in the evening time there is hardly a trace of ammonia and the nitrites stay constantly at zero. I think that there would be no problem with adding all the fish now, But to err on the safe side i'm going to stagger the numbers of fish going in.

If anyone who is reading this post is thinking of setting up a new tank. I would highly recommend that you use fishless cycling. As first I was a bit daunted by the process but its as easy as cake and not a fish was harmed.

Below is a quote by Chris Cow regarding stocking following a fishless cycle

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Finally, once the tank has been cycled, the bacterial colony created by this method can handle a large bioload immediately. The amount of ammonia added to the tank during the cycle is significantly higher than what would be contributed by a small number of hardy fish, therefore, a much larger, healthier bacterial colony exists at the end of the cycle using ammonia than would if you used fish. After cycling my 45 G, I immediately added 6 bosemani rainbowfish, 3 clown loaches and a plecostamus. This is far above the recommended stocking levels at the same stage if I had cycled with fish. All of the fish are very healthy, and there was no ammonia or nitrites spike after the addition of the fish.

Written by Chris Cow [email protected]
Ph. D. Organic Chemistry
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[denis coghlan]

So I had a minor set back. I know I said in this post that the fish would be going in last Thursday, but due to a sever lack of funds and other things on my plate I wasn’t able to get them. So today was the day. I originally wanted to get the labs and afras (cobue) on the same day then introduce the Pseudotropheus sp "elongatus yellowtail in a week or two. Unfortunately the LFS had just sold the remaining afra’s a couple of days earlier so I had to go with the labs and the yellowtails.

All the fish seem to be doing fine and all seem to be more interested with their own reflections then anything else.


I have a quick question……. I have seen this behaviour in the LFS where the Malawi cichlid “such as the species I have just purchased” swim directly into the main flow of from the internal and external filters. I was wondering does this happen to have anything to do with a lack of oxygen in the water, or is this just simply a natural behaviour. Like to here your comment on this?

Thanks I hope you enjoy the fish pics, I do!

Photographing these fellas is a completely different ball game, I have never taken so many pictures of tails in my life. None of them stay still at all.

 

[Nick Sw]

They look brilliant , you must have decent camera as well the pictures have come out really well.

 

[denis coghlan]

I have a Fuji finepix s7000, its not an SLR camera buts its as close as you can get. I'm not really very good at taking pictures I run on the idea that, If you take enough photos some of them have to be at least half decent.

 

[Luke_e]

Amazing pictures tanks! Love the tank layout and the fish are gorgeous.

 

[vancouver]

I'd be too scared to pile rocks up like that... would hate to have a bad earthquake

Looks cool though for sure.

 

[Animation]

Hey,
Just read the whole of the topic and have been feeling all the frustration and tenstion that everyone else has been feeling by the sounds of it.
So your fish have been in there a day now and are they still doing ok?
Will you be getting a plec?
James

 

[denis coghlan]

Never though about earthquakes!!! Fortunatly for me I live in an area with no seismic activity. The fish have been in for 24hrs and all is well. I woke up this morning to four labs staring out of the tank at me, its gas. I'm looking forward to picking up the afra's, they should make the tank complete. Not going to get any other fish speceis. its just going to be a pure mbuna cichlid tank.

I've asked this question but I didnt get a reply to it............................
I have seen this behaviour in the LFS where the Malawi cichlid “such as the species I have just purchased” swim directly into the main flow of from the internal and external filters. I was wondering does this happen to have anything to do with a lack of oxygen in the water, or is this just simply a natural behaviour. Like to here your comment on this?

Thanks for the comments so far

denis

 

[Themuleous]

Mate, I'm glad I got involved with this thread when you started it, seeing the fish and the crasy yellow and blue colours has confirmed in my head that I must at some stage have a cichld tank, it looks complete amazing I have no experience of keeping cichlids over rams and apistos and I have tended to go for 'normal' fish, this thread has given me a great insight into cichlid tanks and I can't wait until i have an opportunity to get one myself.

One quick and very newbie question, what do you mean by mbuna?

Keep it up mate, this thread is and will be really interesting

Sam

 

[denis coghlan]

Mate, I'm glad I got involved with this thread when you started it, seeing the fish and the crasy yellow and blue colours has confirmed in my head that I must at some stage have a cichld tank, it looks complete amazing I have no experience of keeping cichlids over rams and apistos and I have tended to go for 'normal' fish, this thread has given me a great insight into cichlid tanks and I can't wait until i have an opportunity to get one myself.

One quick and very newbie question, what do you mean by mbuna?

Keep it up mate, this thread is and will be really interesting

Sam

Thanks for the nice words, and yes they are quite the crasy yellows and blue colours. I am very happy with the way that the tank and occupants have turned out. I'm looking forward to picking up the afra's in about two weeks time. They have to come from the czech republic and then the tank will be complete. Like yourself I had no experience with keeping cichlids but only after having them a day and a bit I really see the attraction to them. They are always so busy and up to something!! And they go crasy during feeding time.

To answer your "newbie question" (I wouldnt call it newbie as I didnt have a clue about it up untill a couple of weeks ago) there are three distinct types of cichlids from lake malawi. Mbuna, peacocks and Haplochromines. I think that the distinction between the three has to do with the habitat that they inhabit i.e. open water, shallow rocky ground etc... and also to do with the body shape and the amount of finage!!!

Mbuna are a shallow water, rocky ground species so this is why I want them for my tank.

I wish you the best of luck if you do decide to set up a cichlid tank, its good fun and the rewards are quality.

I put together a short one minute clips of my new fish in the tank. I'm sorry its on a server with a load of popups but its the only place I could find that would host the file for free. Hope you enjoy it and let me know what you think.

New cichlids exploring



Thanks everyone from your input

denis

 

[Themuleous]

Well there you go thanks for the info, I'd prob get a mbuna tank too than, when I manage to get one sorted.

Sam

 

[clareriley]

Havnt been here for a while, thats looking excellent, I love the video. Are all those yellow labs pure bred?

 

[denis coghlan]

Are all those yellow labs pure bred?

I hope they are pure bred. I have faith in the LFS that I bought them from and the place also has a very good reputation. Then again this is the shop that sold me elongatus "yellowtail" and they turn out to be elongatua "mpanga". You have to put a certain amount of faith in the LFS as your never going to really know the true parental quality of the fish unless you go to africa and catch the fish yourself.