Thinking Of Changing From Tropical Community To Mbuna Or Tanganyikan

[elisew]

Well sods law, the egg crate turned up just as I was starting to put the new additions into their new home!
Oh well, looks like we`ll be saving it for when we go to the Salty side in a while

Anyway, pics of my new additions:
http/s569.photobucket.com/albums/ss140/Elisew/Tanganyika%20Setup/

 

[kiriyama]

DROOOOOOOL
Rockwork looks awesome, really nice tank, like the blue background also, was thinking the same on my own now it's a definate

5 bar cichlid (?) I was asking Doresy as I fancies one a while back..
http/www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=1639
http/www.aquahobby.com/gallery/e_Neolamprologus_tretocephalus.php

I'm tempted with http/www.cichlid-forum.com/profiles/species.php?id=1759


Congratulations your tank is awesome, you've raised the standard

 

[elisew]

Thank you

To me the tank looks very simple after having such a heavily planted setup before but I really like the difference. I wasn`t sure about keeping the background on but it`s kept it looking quite light and clean so it`ll stay afterall. I stupidly broke one of my T5 tubes yesterday when emptying the tank so had to buy another one today, I now have 1 tropical tube and 1 marine white tube and I can`t believe how much difference the marine white has made, it looks much lighter and crisper.

Yes the five bar cichlid (Neolamprologus tretocephalus), the guy at MA said it would probably be a less aggressive option than the frontosa but after reading a bit about them I don`t think they`ll be low on the aggression at all
In general the Frontosa does appear to be more placid, i know it`s a piscivore and any fish kept with them are at risk so I think I`m going to just leave things as they are for now, well I may up the numbers on the leleupi and cyps though.
The black ocellatus looks quite nice, I prefer the multies myself and have to say I`ve found them really entertaining so far. They have no problem giving the cyps a bit of a nip or shove, they`re gutsy little things

I`m looking forward to seeing them all mature and colour up, they`re going to look lovely I reckon

 

[kiriyama]

Thank you

To me the tank looks very simple after having such a heavily planted setup before but I really like the difference. I wasn`t sure about keeping the background on but it`s kept it looking quite light and clean so it`ll stay afterall. I stupidly broke one of my T5 tubes yesterday when emptying the tank so had to buy another one today, I now have 1 tropical tube and 1 marine white tube and I can`t believe how much difference the marine white has made, it looks much lighter and crisper.

Yes the five bar cichlid (Neolamprologus tretocephalus), the guy at MA said it would probably be a less aggressive option than the frontosa but after reading a bit about them I don`t think they`ll be low on the aggression at all
In general the Frontosa does appear to be more placid, i know it`s a piscivore and any fish kept with them are at risk so I think I`m going to just leave things as they are for now, well I may up the numbers on the leleupi and cyps though.
The black ocellatus looks quite nice, I prefer the multies myself and have to say I`ve found them really entertaining so far. They have no problem giving the cyps a bit of a nip or shove, they`re gutsy little things

I`m looking forward to seeing them all mature and colour up, they`re going to look lovely I reckon

I wondered if it was a marine bulb in there, they do make some difference, probably bring the colours of the fish out, the Multies are very endearing, still my favourite Tang, I have 2 at the moment, getting a female fairly local and when I do eventually get set up will add a fourth....
Looks like there's plenty of hiding places there and the Cyps will colour up quite soon I would imagine, really nice tank, if your Multies breed I imagine you'll sacrifice one of your smaller tanks just for them
Looks like a nice mix in there, glad you didn't get the Malawi now ?

 

[elisew]

I wondered if it was a marine bulb in there, they do make some difference, probably bring the colours of the fish out, the Multies are very endearing, still my favourite Tang, I have 2 at the moment, getting a female fairly local and when I do eventually get set up will add a fourth....
Looks like there's plenty of hiding places there and the Cyps will colour up quite soon I would imagine, really nice tank, if your Multies breed I imagine you'll sacrifice one of your smaller tanks just for them
Looks like a nice mix in there, glad you didn't get the Malawi now ?

Yeah the uy at MA said the marine tube would bring out the colours much better, it`ll be good when the cyps colours do actually come out. One of the cyps is darker than the other 7 and he`s already got some orange/yellow on his tail.
The multies are great, feisty and definitely not afraid of the others, they`ve even been chasing the Brichardi away this evening

All the fish are staying at one end of the tank, not sure if the current from the filter is maybe a bit strong for them? I have an FX5 and although the filtration is good I`m not sure if I can ideally turn down the output flow

I think I`ll definitely up the numbers of the leleupi to get more colour in there but will keep googling for more of the Tangs that are mildly aggressive and would be good tankmates. I can`t wait to get the caudopunctatus, after seeing the ones at MA in their huge tank I reckon the colouring will look lovely.

IF the multies start to breed, MA have said they`ll take the babies but I may just decide to set up my second 35L tank for them, I think they`re gorgeous
Hope you get to up your numbers soon enough
Am I glad I didn`t get the Malawi??......Errr ......... Hell Yes!!

(p.s, also meant to ask opinions on which synodontis would fit in with my Tangs?)

 

[kiriyama]

ha ha I knew one of the arc 35 would get "borrowed" for the Multies, the dark cyp may be a male, I don't know much about them but I think the females are a bit paler, you'll definately love the "punks" when you get them, swim all levels of tank with dorsal erect, I think the males have more red on the fin edge, not 100% on that one though, all the spots on the tail and delicate hues are lovely though

I know absolutely nothing about Synos, there are so many of them, I liked the featherfins, eupterus (tank to small and they like soft water ) I think if you added them though you would need to move the Multies to the arc..hope these links help
http/badmanstropicalfish.com/syn_catfish.html
http/aqualandpetsplus.com/Catfish,%20Synodontis%20(spotted).htm

 

[elisew]

Hmm, I like the profile of the featherfins and the Synodontis lucipinnis but I don`t want to have to move the multies though, so maybe I`ll have to just stick with my 3 bn plecs instead
I wouldn`t have a clue at the moment what the caudopunctatus sexing is like but I read a lot and the ones I`m getting are meant to be a pair, so I guess I`ll see some difference between them

A bit off topic but I googled for some info on Tanganyika catfish and found Goat`s new addition, looks like he got a nice little newbie for his tank
http/www.planetcatfish.com/cotm/cotm.php?article_id=156

 

[kiriyama]

Cheers for the link, bonus with the size there, it stays very small, would be an intresting addition

 

[elisew]

The multis have really grabbed my attention, I cannot believe how feisty these little guys are yet they still look so cute at the same time I was sat watching them last night, thought I'd only got 6 but was chuffed to bits when I counted 8!! There must have been 5 of them hiding in one shell instead of 3 when I bought them

One of the cyps looks a bit poorly, he's struggling a bit to stay upright and keeps going over on his side. He also has a split in his dorsal fin
My Gourami never got picked up yesterday as planned so I'll have to take them over to MA today, I'll ask about the poorly cyp while I'm there

 

[kiriyama]

Good stuff with the extra Multies Sorry to hear about the Cyp though, think they are like Paracyps in the way that they don't travel to well, I'm sure the MA will sort you out with something when you go back

 

[elisew]

The cyp is still holding on and is now swimming with the other 7 so hopefully he`ll be ok, if not then MA will credit me for another one when they get some more in......I emptied their tank of cyps yesterday

I took the gourami and a couple of female rams over to MA and with the credit I got I returned home with 3 Opthalmotilapia ventralis (featherfins) After seeing the mature ones in the display tank over there and having read a little bit on them I thought they`d make a good addition, especially seeing as the others I have (with the exception of the Brichardi) are recommended, peaceful tankmates

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Oh, so the Cyps are not from that ad on AC? Was the because they were the "jumbo" variety? Hope the struggling one pulls through!

As for the FX5 current, I believe you can rotate the orange inner section of the output pipe to restrict flow.
Also, how have you got the double outputs positioned? Setting them up to face at 90 degrees from each other will help calm the flow further. Its one fothe few grumbles I have with my one, as my riverine 5-footer would get a stronger flow by having a single, concentrated outflow (I have mine set as close to each other as possible, something like 45 degrees apart).

 

[elisew]

Oh, so the Cyps are not from that ad on AC? Was the because they were the "jumbo" variety? Hope the struggling one pulls through!

As for the FX5 current, I believe you can rotate the orange inner section of the output pipe to restrict flow.
Also, how have you got the double outputs positioned? Setting them up to face at 90 degrees from each other will help calm the flow further. Its one fothe few grumbles I have with my one, as my riverine 5-footer would get a stronger flow by having a single, concentrated outflow (I have mine set as close to each other as possible, something like 45 degrees apart).

Hey Goat

No, I decided against the Jumbo cyps in the end, didn`t want to take the risk of them ending up too big for the tank and it would have made it more difficult to add more at any point because of the hybrids that can result. The struggling cyp seems a bit better now strangely enough, still not what I`d deem 100% but fingers crossed. All the fish have become more active and they`re all over the tank since I added the featherfins earlier, I guess they`re getting braver now. The multies are my very, very favourite (if you haven`t already guessed) and I`m finding them all really interesting to watch.
I can honestly say that out of the whole of my Tropical tank I think there was actually only the Celebes that I found anywhere near as entertaining as the new lot. The Tangs don`t seem so skittish either which is good.
Just got to wait til Saturday to get the Caudopunctatus and the stocking will be all sorted. (Well, when I say sorted.....I mean I would like to add some more leleupi soon but MA don`t have any more in yet)

The FX5 is a pain in a way because of the flow situation, I`d much rather have a proper spraybar for it. The outputs are approx 90 degrees apart as I`ve found it to give good even flow round the tank. I`ve turned down the filter flow now though, thanks for the info

 

[kiriyama]

WOW this tank is quickly filling up, I really like featherfins, is this the blue gold tip cichlid ? , think they get quite big and like a bit of open space to cruise in, they will look good with your cyps, any chance of posting a few pics of them when you have time ? Really nice display going on there, oh did I ever tell you I really hate you I had my whole tank and stocking worked out, after many a sore head and tons of homework and research you have me nearly changing my mind and wanting to do a similiar set up to your own green with envy....
Be watching to see how it all works out once the punks are added to the mix and everything settles in, nice tank

 

[elisew]

lol I`m sorry you hate me kiriyama

Judging by the colour of the one in MA`s tank and the slight colour on these featherfins now, I`d say they`re very similar in colouring to the Blue goldtip cichlid, I don`t know though. Obviously I`ll have a better idea when their colours come through more.
I can`t believe the difference in all the other fish since the featherfins went into the tank, all of them are all over the tank now instead of just one end.
I`ve had to put some more shells in another couple of spots as well today because a couple of the multies seemed to be looking around for their own place, the other shell areas have been taken over already

I was chatting to one of the guys at MA today and he said I`ve obviously done my homework because I`ve chosen the most peaceful out of the Tangs, I was more than happy to tell him I`ve had some brilliant info and advice on here and I would probably have ended up with aggressive fish that are happy to rip each other to pieces if it had been left to just me

I`ll get some pics of todays additions and post them tomorrow

I have a few of you to thank for all of the help and advice I`ve been given so.......THANK YOU