Boom

I was reading that you could do two very different species, like a group of Duboisi and a group of Moori species or Sp. Blacks. As long as they were different enough they wouldn't cross breed? Of coarse no gaurantees I guess. What about a group of larger fish, like Fronts?

So my wife and I were talking last night and she said that for our anniversary, she wants to get me a BIG tank and let me build it into the wall in the basement. It'll be either a 150 or (preferably) a 180 gallon tank! I do custom woodworking so it'll be built into a wall space that is 11'9" wide and 2' deep with custom cabinets underneath, canopy, and shelving all around for storage of books, games and kids toys etc. Filtration will likely be handled by a large sump tank (about 50 gallons), and I am considering heating that or having in-line heaters. I will post progress pics as I go. Now, what to put in it...??? I was thinking 2 large groups of Tropheus. Could I put other tanganykn fish in with them? Other thoughts? I'm so excited!

So my wife and I were talking last night and she said that for our anniversary, she wants to get me a BIG tank and let me build it into the wall in the basement. It'll be either a 150 or (preferably) a 180 gallon tank! I do custom woodworking so it'll be built into a wall space that is 11'9" wide and 2' deep with custom cabinets underneath, canopy, and shelving all around for storage of books, games and kids toys etc. Filtration will likely be handled by a large sump tank (about 50 gallons), and I am considering heating that or having in-line heaters. I will post progress pics as I go. Now, what to put in it...??? I was thinking 2 large groups of Tropheus. Could I put other tanganykn fish in with them? Other thoughts? I'm so excited!

I didn't really watch her take them out. I think they were just on the bottom and I didn't see them out. I called today and (Mike?) told me they're probably not dead, that they can stay in their shells for days? So I'm gonna wait another day and if they still don't move I'm gonna get my money back and go to Nature's corner.

Well I think I paid $10 for 2 dead snails! They are sitting on the gravel, not attached, and their bodies are inside the shell with the door closed. Been that way for over 30 hours now. I'm gonna take 'em out and go get live snails or a refund. Thanks guys.

I will see if I can find some. Thanks gobies!

I could do a rainbow fish. Would it be a good tankmate for the rummy-nose and serpaes? What about the frogs and snails?

redO, you've gotten some good advice. I'll agree that you should keep the similar looking fish seperate. i.e. don't keep both calvus and comp's in the same tank. I have a pair of black calvus and a single W.C. goldhead Comp in my mixed tank and the comp always picks on the female calvus. I will sell you the goldhead comp if your interested, p.m. me. I love juli's and if I did a Tang. only tank I would have a large group (at least 12) of them. And I would also have a group (at least 5) of syno's. I have 3 syno lucipinnis and love them and they stay smaller than the petricola's (I also have 2 of them). Then I would add about 5 white calvus (1 male) OR goldhead comps. and call it stocked. I'm not a real big fan of the rest of the tang. fish like brichardi's and similar fish.

I bought two zebra snails at B.A's yesterday and added them to my 20 gallon. It has been over 24 hrs now and they havn't come out of their shell or moved. They are both just sitting in the exact same place. They are "right side up" cause I know they can't self right themselves. Do I have dead snails or what is going on??

What would be my other options for "pretty blue fish" for that tank? I had about 10 cardinals in there and they all got ich and died. Should I try them again? Also, anyone know where I can get some nice rummynose in Edmonton for less than $5 each? I would like a few more in there. Anyone breed them?

I have never kept a Betta fish before. I've been told I could add a single one to my 20 gallon community tank thats at work. Some people want a "pretty blue fish" in there. Current contents are 5 rummy nose, 4 serpae, 2 B.N plecos (1.5" each), 2 african frogs in there somewhere (never see them), and I just threw in 2 small zebra snails. Would that work? Any special considerations for one of those? And don't worry, I have a place for the B.N's when they get too big, but they are sloooooww growers.

I'll chime in. I was given a used fluval 404 for FREE last year. I needed to replace the seals and a broken plastic handle. It has run great without missing a beat for that time. It restarts after a power failure without issue and priming it after cleaning and and reconnecting it EMPTY has never taken me more than 30 seconds. I think it's a great filter. I will admit that I like my Rena Xp3 better just because of the looks and media containement design.

scrubby, were the wires wrapped together or folded over on themselves? Heaters draw a lot of current and that can creat heat within the cord, if the cords are wrapped together or coiled, it creates a heat coil effect and this can melt the cords and even start a fire. Working in my garage last winter I had an electric space heater plugged in for a while. The extension cord I was sing was wrapped in an enclosed coil. After a few hours I smelled a burning plastic / rubber smell and looked at the cord coil to see it smoldering. I quickly opened the garage door and tossed the whole thing in a snow bank. After it was cool I looked at the cord and a whole bunch of it was melted down to the bare wire! I'm sure a few more minutes and it would have been up in flames, maybe my whole garage too! Anyway, now I keep all my cords seperated and not coiled up. Also, instead of a regular power bar, get a surge protected one and that will eliminate any issues with power surges and protect your equiptment as well. Glad it didn't turn out worse. Boom

So in my 55 gallon tank I have a real mish-mash of fish. Many of them, I am aware, will be too big for the tank when they are full grown. I am also aware there are too many and not the best mix. I currently have about 20 fish, all males. And a mix of lake Malawi and Tangynikan fish. I do love all the fish, for the most part they get along and many of them are always displaying full colors. I like the all male set up for the color and the fact I don't have to deal with breeding. My plan was to upgrade to a bigger tank, at least a 150, but due to several reasons that won't be happening. But alas, I am thinking about a change. And seriously considering a species tank. I really like Tropheus Duboisi and Moori. But I wanted to throw this out to you guys and gals. What should I do with my 55 gallon? A species tank? what species? I do want to stick to African cichlids. Thoughts?

MODS, THIS SHOULD BE A STICKY. EXCELLENT WORK CRYSTAL.

How long have they been in there? They may still be getting used to the surroundings. Do they hide all the time or just when u walk by? Try sitting out of sight of them and watch for a good 20 minutes or so. Do they come out? Also, they may have found the guppies comforting to be in there. Often smaller fish are used as dither fish. i.e. fish that let them realize that there is no danger around. I use tetra's and Giant danio's in with my Jack dempsey and firemouth tank. Before the dither fish were in there, the Dempsey and Firemouth would hide alot, now they are always out. They may also hide if they don't like the water conditions. What are your pH, hardness, temp., nitrite, nitrate readings? What substrate do you have? Decor?

Sound advice appreciated. And that is actually my plan anyway, once I get the 150 the Peacocks, Haps and Mbuna will go in there and the Tangs will stay in the 55. But for now they all get along fine and there is actually alot more swimming room than what appears it the pics. Guidelines are just that, guidelines. There are no hard and fast rules, and many many options can work. :beer:

There is a law to how a tank should be set up??? Unfortunatley it's this attitude that makes this hobby turn undesireable for so many people. Nobody should be told how to set up their tank. I certainly hope you didn't mean that. I would count these in the "very close" category. The real problem is that the real lakes have huge boulders on the bottom, not really small rocks, from what I've seen. So replicating that in an aquuarium 1 millionth the size of a lake is very tough. There are no plants in the lake either from what I've seen. Just algae and Auwfuchs. For anyone who hasn't seen videos of lake Malawi, here's a few youtube links. This is for anyone wondering if their fish like current. (also notice the O. Do a search on youtube and there are tons more.

They just built it and need to come repair it already??? Yikes!!

Wow that article has a lot of big words! I had to stop trying to read it.

Unbelievable that any company would make an aquarium stand out of MDF. MDF essentially just dissolves when it gets wet, which is inevitable in an aquarium application. Ditch that stand ASAP! Before the tank crashes to the floor. Get yourself a good one or have someone who knows how build one for you (like me). Best luck to you.

Thanks everyone! I got the brick from a brick place just south of Argyll Rd on 86 st, can't remember the name of it. They had all colors but I wanted a stark contrast to the black. I think I achieved that. To each his own. But I think the before looked fake too with the crappy plants I had and the background isn't condusive to a real natural look. So I wasn't going for that. "Most of my fish are Haps"??? Not sure where you got that from. I have 4 Haps out of 21 fish in that tank. And lots of swimming room in front besides. The pics don't show the space well. The bricks are a bit on the large size tho. Maybe they won't look so big when I switch to a 150. And I like Pez. Unique was my goal, thanks for the compliment! I just feel that everyone and their brother tries to set up a "natural looking" tank. Most fail miserably IMHO. Thats just from the experience of looking at hundreds and hundreds of pictures of African Cichlid tank setups on the net. Compared to the pictures and video's I've seen of the fish's in the actual lakes Malawi and Tanginyka, few people get it even close. So my thought was "why bother?". But of coarse as long as the fish and the owner like it... Thanks for looking everyone. Keep the comments coming, good or not. I will definitely post more pics with algae. And I got 3 new fish today I want to post pics of too. A wild caught goldhead compressiceps, a Tropheus moorii "Kaiser II", and a Ps. Acei "yellowtail". Real nice additions I think.

I have a pair of Black calvus and love them. I just got myself a wild caught Goldhead Compressiceps today. He's full grown and beautiful! They are all in my all male peacock / hap/ mbuna / tang. tank. I havn't bred them but research suggests they are fairly secretive breeders and you may not even know it's going on. The female does require a small cave or shell that she can fit in but the male cannot. They are not as active as other africans, but I think they're very cool fish and well worth keeping. Shop around for deals on them, they are out there, especially from breeders. I personally would not spend $100 on a single fish, but maybe that's just me.

Thanks guys. I think I'll check out Golds for sure. Any other suggestions?

So a few weeks ago I changed out my tank decor. This is what it looked like before: I got some new bricks from a brick yard. I spent some time with an angle grinder and dremel tool getting rid off the sharp edges. I've had some bad luck with fish getting cut up on sharp edges on other rocks so now I get rid of them. I then power washed and soaked the bricks in pails for a good week. Testing the water revealed that the bricks raise the pH and Carbonate hardness somewhat, not a bad thing for my Africans. I gave them a final rinse in old tank water (at the time of a water change) as I added them into the tank. I also got some new fake plants from Michaels and rinsed them well also. This is my tank now: This is the Pseudotropheus I bought at the last auction. He's doing just great in my tank. Please let me know what you think! I think it will look even better after some algae grows on the bricks.