UNS 60S - Tanganyikan Shell Dweller tank.

[Wills]

I'm on a spree with setting up tanks at the moment and have finally set up my UNS 60S which is the planned home for a pair or small group of Shell Dwellers from Lake Tanganyika.

The tank is a UNS 60S which is 60x36x18cm and a total of 38 litres, the light is a Chihiros A601, the filter is an Oase Biostyle 75 which is a HOB (first one I've ever had) and I have a small Denerle 50 watt heater that hides quite nice behind the rocks.

One of my favourite things at the moment in here are the shells, I managed to source real Neothauma Tanganyicense shells which are actually from Lake Tanganyika and have 12 of them in here.

This is the layout I made before transferring it to the tank which is in the pic below.

The fern in the pic above unfortunately died before I got chance to set up... so growing out of the top is an Asparagus Fern and a few strands of Wandering Dude. I am quite disappointed with the Wandering Dude as it was just a few plantlets rested on the soil, only one of them rooted and some of them just rotten... I've put two stems in for now so lets see how it does.

In terms of plants in the tank I've got some regular Valisnera to the right of the big rock, some Valisnera Nana to the left of the rock along with some Crypt Crispulata and quite a bit of Hair Grass, this is the regular Eleocharis Acicularis which is rated as easy and should be quite tall growing, I'd like this to be quite dense overtime but we will see if it survives! I've never had much luck with hairgrass but this is the first time in a long time (probs 10 years) I've tried it so I know a bit more now.

I'm not too sure why the red light appears on the wall behind the tank but I thought it looked cool so I'm leaving it here

I have access to the following species

Lamprologus brevis
Lamprologus stappersi
Lamprologus multifasciatus
Lamprologus ocellatus "Blue"
Lamprologus ocellatus "Gold"
Lamprologus ornatipinnis
Lamprologus signatus
Lamprologus similis
Lamprologus speciosus

I have ruled a few out for different reasons, I think the Ocellatus will be too aggressive for this size tank but the Golds are my favourites... I'm also ruling out Multifasciatus and Similis as I think I want a pairing fish rather than the groups that these guys prefer - lower numbers mean lower maintenance . I think... I want L.Brevis which is a strongly pairing fish with a reputation not to dig too much which will help the plants but Ornatipinnis and Stappersi peak my interest too any pointers would be appreciated though .

Wills

 

[Colin_T]

Time for an intervention. Wills, we need to talk.

 

[Lcc86]

Loving the shells, absolutely beautiful!

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

Looks lovely Wills, looking forward to seeing what you choose and how they get on. I've always wanted to have a go with some shell dwellers....I think I'm going to have to start buttering up Mr Barnicles for another tank, excuse me ...

 

[Wills]

Thanks everyone I think this one should be easier to set up than my bigger ones. I just want the plants to get growing and then I can seed the filter with enough media to add fish in straight away.

I've got the timer set for about 10 til 4 at the moment but not started any ferts, I will probably add in some root tabs before too long as well. I want to try the API ones MD Fishtanks uses as they are a solid disk rather than the capsules like Tropica - as soon as you add them to water the casing just disolves... never had much luck with them.

Also just to add - I changed the height of the main rock quite a bit so that it still breaks the water line which I really like but it also is low enough that I can get a jump guard on there with cutouts around the light and filter. I want to get a clear mesh for this one though.

Wills

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

The API root tabs may be hard to find, seems like they're in high demand! I use the Seachem tabs, they're a hard plug rather than a capsule so you may want to try those as well?