Tanksman

Thats a great film. I was curious if anyone knows what fish is on at 4min20sec. Is it a dolphin with yellow spots on it?

The purpose of this thread was for me - A newbie to malawis - to get some feedback on my assumption - ie is that an estherae. To my untrained eye he looks alot like the estherae in the cichlidforum profile picture. I have had to do quite a steep learning curve upon arriving home with 9 large Mbuna and 4 hungry haps - one is obviously a major carnivore but is some sort of cross poss fryeri something else but he is the least of my worries - It's the mbuna I'm fascinated by so please excuse my enthusiasm. Now that you have pointed out the zebra's a hybrid I now know I need to seperate him from the estherae, and in fact all the other males really should come out. Is that right? species only and all that. And thanks for directing me to the right people like Ad Konings as some of the drivvle on the net is shocking. I posed the question about hybridisation in the lake because I would like to know more about one piece in particular - and wether it has been updated as it was written By Ad Konings and others in June 2003. http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/ab ... 03.01905.x You can look for yourself it is quite interesting. It is the genetic study of M. zebra (Chiofu bay), M. sp (Makanjila) and M. thapsinogen who are in the same region but seperated on "islands" in like you say deep water or sandy bottom. It concludes that "genetic analysis of the .... M. Makanjila sample indicates that this population has arisen as a result of extensive hybridisation." They also said that further research is needed on the benefits of hybridisation on genetic variation and species diversity. However I am not saying or trying to imply that we of poor selection already should wreck the lines we do have by producing hybrids of little benefit to the hobby. We definitely should keep specimens that we can be proud to tell evryone about and that it comes from such and such a location in lake Malawi - What a long post thanks for reading it.

So in other words you don't know?

So Frenchy Another thread has link to underwater film from lake malawi. There are alot of different species and subspecies in the lake. Also other sources say that there is as many as 20 fish per square metre living in the lake. So how do the various lines stay pure in that environment when in aquarium conditions they readily interbreed?

I guess thats why fish have latin names. Never mind I will keep him for a while. It beats looking at pictures in a book

Absolutely Luke - I have enough problem with the #^@*^ cat putting his mits in the tank let alone little Tanksman prodigees in there as well.

Where would I get the gold flakes from tho? :lol:

Boats are great to add "rocks" without weight. I am nervous about big rocks in the tank but not big boats. The best part is that when you need to catch a fish out comes the boat easy peasy. Not rocks the same size tho.

Mooloo (from Manukau :lol: ) was looking for 4 inch apple snail shells which I was amazed by and did some research on them - I posted this on that thread but will put it here to see if someone can disprove it for us. On a side note anyone Know a restaraunt / deli in Hamilton that sells / consumes snails.

Thats a good question. Does it have epsom salts as well as sea salt? I was looking at a little pottle of african salt selling for $30 and I wondered what was in that. Gold flakes maybe?

Thanks - he actually is just starting to pose if you notice - 2 seconds later and he was flaring right up for me. Still 1 good photo and 50 in the recycle bin . :roll:

Nice pictures thanks Shannon. Whose is this tank. It's looking great but aren't they all

Been playing with the Macro and tripod. This is a better one

Good on ya Mark. Malawis are so colourful. Glad I didn't go for Discus 8)

I got some new malawi's as alot of you may know. They are awesome fish and once I took out the hybrid with the huge mouth they have really settled down nicely. I been mucking about with my budget camera and trying to ID a couple of them. The main one I would like help ID'ing is this male zebra. It looks like an Estherae to me. I'm gonna try and get some better shots but i think it's time to buy a decent camera.

I have stopped using it in my tank - total treatment time would have been three weeks. I am watching to see what happens - there is evidence of it coming bakc on the heater but I can't be sure yet. Flourish excel sure nails it quick tho.

Dan your newsletter is absolutely fine. It had just got a little out of order somehow in the process of making it a pdf file. Technical glitches happen to the best. Even if it had been in the right order I wouldn't have seen the "notice" because I just thought Dave was just waffling on about the old new venue again. I'm just sad I missed another great club day.

Even tho I havn't seen the new new venue yet it must be better than the little one where we had the Auction. But you don't expect your club to keep moving like it is of no fixed abode. If the message had of said we have a NEW new venue I might have taken more notice. And I am not the only one - There were 3 others besides me who were waiting at the old new venue. When you only get a chance to attend about 1 in 3 meetings it leaves a bit of a sour taste when you finally can get there and it's not even there anymore.

How many new venues do we need? Can't keep up with all the surprise announcements coming out in the upside down back to front newsletter. Would be good to get a reciept at least for my fees and a membership card but I guess thats too much to ask. Maybe I need to buy more obsolete stock being passed as new at our auctions to get a fair deal. :evil:

Think of it not as a cost rather an investment 8) Most tanks when correctly built with the right glass cost around $1 per litre so it depends on what you want in addition. I am happy with concrete blocks and 8" * 2" planks for my stands and have had no problems with them. Hoods and stands are not cheap and the fish really don't care too much about them at all. They must have the water conditions required tho and you either give them that in your "investment" or you regularly buy new fish to kill.

Do you know much they are Sharn and whereabouts in the supermarket are they likely to be? If the polybox is taped right around the lid could be warm for a long time.

Are you sure about the 47" part? Maybe 47cm? If not then that tank is over 400 litres and needs a bigger filter. But sounds like you have reassembled it again correctly and it's working fine - These internals need frequent rinsing of the filter sponges or they get clogged and reduced flows. Just be sure to always rinse in some tank water which you then discard. And anotha good trick is to only rinse one of the filters and do the other one next time.

Yeah thats where I got mine from - It is a bit rickety tho and I did have to spend as much again on a fitting so that the american product would fit my English faucet - or was that the other way round? :roll: But it hasn't broken yet as I thought it would so I would buy it again unless I could find a stronger one.

Hi. Nice to have you join us Bad luck with the broken tank bottom. Did you learn anything? I have done it twice - Anyone no where I can buy some patience?

Have never seen mine with white blotches without a problem existing - usually poor water quality. Once water problem remedied problem goes away. Maybe I'm lucky. They sure don't look quite right with it do they?