I've been a bit out of love with my tanks and the hobby for probably a year or so, the tanks were healthy but not looking good but the last month or so I've really started to feel the love again so thought I'd share what I've been doing.
First is my 300 litre Mbuna tank which I've just about doubled the rock in - thought I'd share a before and after.
The is the front view before
This is the front view after
This is the 3/4 view before
This is the 3/4 view after
I'm nearly there with this I think, just want to move one of the big rocks on the right a bit. I've just sold my other 300 litre tank so tomorrow I'm swapping the FX4 for a Biomaster 850 which I have on the other tank but I've sold it with the FX4. Hidden heater, better maintenance, better practical flow (better maintenance = better flow) and nicer pipe work.
I'm currently trying to decide on what else to add in here, I definitely want more Msobo Magunga females (the orange one) but very hard to track down in the UK at the moment. I'm 50/50 on the rusties, I only have one male left, I genuinely don't know why the others have dwindled but I might try to repopulate that group but... I might swap this guy out (though I worry taking him to a store tank is a death sentence - they'll put him in a rusty tank and he'll just get targeted)... you know what lucid typing here but thats just made my mind up I'm keeping the rusties! So the other species I want to add is some Labidochromis Perlmutts - males are a metallic, glowing white with yellow fins and head and females are black and white vertical stripes with yellow fins.
Then my 100 litre tank is doing pretty well too - definitely a diatom problem but it is getting better. I can keep on top of it better too, I got some new steel toothbrushes to help with the rocks but sand and glass are clearing up. I've lost one Gourami, of the 5 I got initially there was one that was much smaller than the rest and had deformed fins. They developed a strange lump on one side, and started struggling to swim but everyone else seems ok. I am pretty confident that of the 4 remaining Gourami they are all female too, none are fully orange and have that more honey sort of look that females are said to - I really like them too!
In my 30 litre shallow tank I had a group of Red Dwarf Rasboras but they've reduced to just one and the more I looked at the Rummy Nose Rasboras in the 100 litre I'm not sure they are... or at least if they are just uncoloured they look at lot like the Red Dwarf, so after a bit of patience I managed to catch the single one and add it to the bigger tank. I've been watching them all afternoon and I now can't spot the odd one! For reference there should be 1 Red Dwarf and 7 Rummy Nose but I couldn't tell you which is the Red Dwarf!
I've not got any recent pics of my 30 litre but will try and update tomorrow as that is doing pretty well with shrimp and Rosy Loaches in, I'd like to add something else in there but not sure what. It is an oddly enjoyable and very low maintenance tank, though it has its faults - a cladrophora infestation and a duck weed infestation!
Wills
First is my 300 litre Mbuna tank which I've just about doubled the rock in - thought I'd share a before and after.
The is the front view before
This is the front view after
This is the 3/4 view before
This is the 3/4 view after
I'm nearly there with this I think, just want to move one of the big rocks on the right a bit. I've just sold my other 300 litre tank so tomorrow I'm swapping the FX4 for a Biomaster 850 which I have on the other tank but I've sold it with the FX4. Hidden heater, better maintenance, better practical flow (better maintenance = better flow) and nicer pipe work.
I'm currently trying to decide on what else to add in here, I definitely want more Msobo Magunga females (the orange one) but very hard to track down in the UK at the moment. I'm 50/50 on the rusties, I only have one male left, I genuinely don't know why the others have dwindled but I might try to repopulate that group but... I might swap this guy out (though I worry taking him to a store tank is a death sentence - they'll put him in a rusty tank and he'll just get targeted)... you know what lucid typing here but thats just made my mind up I'm keeping the rusties! So the other species I want to add is some Labidochromis Perlmutts - males are a metallic, glowing white with yellow fins and head and females are black and white vertical stripes with yellow fins.
Then my 100 litre tank is doing pretty well too - definitely a diatom problem but it is getting better. I can keep on top of it better too, I got some new steel toothbrushes to help with the rocks but sand and glass are clearing up. I've lost one Gourami, of the 5 I got initially there was one that was much smaller than the rest and had deformed fins. They developed a strange lump on one side, and started struggling to swim but everyone else seems ok. I am pretty confident that of the 4 remaining Gourami they are all female too, none are fully orange and have that more honey sort of look that females are said to - I really like them too!
In my 30 litre shallow tank I had a group of Red Dwarf Rasboras but they've reduced to just one and the more I looked at the Rummy Nose Rasboras in the 100 litre I'm not sure they are... or at least if they are just uncoloured they look at lot like the Red Dwarf, so after a bit of patience I managed to catch the single one and add it to the bigger tank. I've been watching them all afternoon and I now can't spot the odd one! For reference there should be 1 Red Dwarf and 7 Rummy Nose but I couldn't tell you which is the Red Dwarf!
I've not got any recent pics of my 30 litre but will try and update tomorrow as that is doing pretty well with shrimp and Rosy Loaches in, I'd like to add something else in there but not sure what. It is an oddly enjoyable and very low maintenance tank, though it has its faults - a cladrophora infestation and a duck weed infestation!
Wills
I always try and get plants in somewhere even with plant eaters like Mbuna, they have the peace lilly at the surface. 
