smidey

If recommend using those large black containers, about 80L and 3/4 full with tank water and addthe fish for transport. As long as the container moves regularly the water will remain oxygenated and as long as the stocking isn't to high they do well in transit. Once you get there add heaters and air pumps and they be good for as long as you like. Once you've got the tank set up add the water and fish, full the tank with new water like a water change and they should be fine. Ideally use large chilly bins but that may not be possible.

I clean my canisters about every eight weeks by rinsing them under the tap, I've done so for about eight years I guess with out an issue. I have aqua one canisters, don't know anything about the sun sun ones the house unscrew from the to, I leave them in and only clean the canister itself

good choice, i like them a lot. have a few fry growing out to

Algae eaters

laid back northlanders mate, not much stress here haha i think it's an accurate generalisation that bulu points and ikola and significantely more aggro than pemba and duboisi.

i'd say 5ft minimum for one species of troph for you to enjoy them and them do well. as far as i'm aware bulu points are similarly behaved to all the others except ikola, they are by far the nastiest tropheus in my experience. I have found tropheus really easy to keep, never had any health issues in 6 years or so of keeping them.

I have a tang community and it is awesome to watch. The tropheus populate the upper areas generally and are rarely still, always someone chasing someone. The mid and lower areas are taken by the bright orange leluipi, altos, shellies and juvie tropheus. The dark tropheus, bright orange leluipi, golden altos and pale shellies all contrast well off each other colour wise and the blue back ground and algae covered rock piles make it an interesting setup. There are other species around like julis as well that you can keep so not too hard to get hold of a few tang species. If you do want to go with tropheus the tank foot print is very important. i wouldn't put them in anything smaller than a 5 foot for a single species of troph or at least 6 foot for two species (duboisi and one other species) as they won't have the space to create their own territories. I have a 2.0m tank that is only 450mm high and 450mm deep, works awesome.

like all things if you set up correctly and maintain that then anything will be fine. Some fish are more work than others in regard to feeding requirements or water changes etc. It will be easier going with which ever suits your water from the tap. Town supply or concrete tank water is more suited to africans, water from plastic tanks is suited toward south american species. You can keep south americans if using town supply as most do but you'll need to change the water parameters to suit them more.

i had some males in the past that had some egg spots as did some females and some had no egg spots at all so it is hit and miss. it's probably more accurate to look for colour but the only sure way is to vent them. males have to vents the same size, females have one that is much larger than the other.

the timber is plenty for vertical but i'd be putting a diagonal brace from bottom left to top right of the "back wall" uprights and diagonally on each end from front to back. Just screw them in, once they are cut t length it will only take a few minutes to fit them. Better to be safe then sorry. this is a pic of my tank stand, see the diagonal braces? they made a huge difference to the rigidity and stability of the stand

your water conditions are favourable toward what you want to keep so i'd say run with that, it'll be easier than trying to change the water conditions to suit africans.

good sized tank for sure! what are the water parameters? what would you prefer to go with? Aaron

what species are you talking about?

i think they go in cycles from my experience, it's an influx of fry or none for a while usually

I feed a range of foods to Africans when I kept them but I think it's best to have two main food and give them the odd treat if you like. I feed my tropheus two main food, nls and JBL novorift. When I had Malawi species I would also feed shelled peas, sushi wrap, cucumber and blood worms occasionally. They did well without any issues so I figure it was good for them but maybe it wasn't ,I just didn't feed to much to make it an issue. Only scientific studies wood prove that for sure either way. I'd also give them mosquito larvae, was cool to watch then hunting them in the tank

males have much larger lips than the females. females lips are more smooth and flowing with the nose area and males look like they have been punched in the mouth and have fat lips

you know the easiest way to tell their sex is the mouth shape a? colouration can be down to many things so until you try and test different things you won't really know whether it's group, food or enviroment so i'd only be guessing which one or other factors it could be. You have always said they have been dull haven't you. might be their breeding but i'm not sure how you'll know exactly what the cause is.

nice nige, looking really good. they are a good size now.

if you have the spraybar and outlet at the same end aiming down the length of the tank it'll create a nice "down and back" flow. you may want to be conscious of how you arrange the wood etc so they don't trap debris as well preventing it from getting to the outlet.

awesome alright, and watling 124.

Not a bad looking set up. Which fish are you favouring with regards to water parameters and feeding?

Is it a ceramic one that he's broken? What brand power head is it? I had trouble with a soho or sobo branded one, I ended up using some plastic welding rod because I couldn't get parts, actually it came broken and so did the second power head

i only feed 1mm NLS to trophs 1.5cm to 12cm. the pembas have a much smaller mouth than duboisi and leleupi and they don't have any issues eating it. they may not eat a whole pallet but they still eat it in bites. A good food to feed is JBL Novorift, it's a much larger pallet/stick but softens as it soaks up the water so gives them all something to graze on. I feed my tank about 1.5 teaspoons of NLS and JBL twice a day.

my 12cm duboisi don't get the fry that i leave in the tank and they have plenty of opportunity from what i see.

i had one of those but it seemed to be all over the place when the battery starts to get low. I use the glass ones but like you have had a few broken ones after the fish crash into them. i just replace the glass ones.