malevolentsparkle

I've just got to get past my 'it's overstocked!' instincts. I know the filters can handle more fish and aggression will be less with more but so many years of more typical community tanks is hard to shake!

Here's the video:

Hi everyone, sorry for the long time between updates! I've had the tank set up for several months now, The filters are setup with ~1 kg of Fluval Biomax, 1kg of Biohome ultimate, and ~0.5kgs of Ehiem Substrat pro. So biological filtration should be more than enough. I've hotrodded the Blue Planet filter so it fits the Biomax and the substrat pro as well as some decent sponges for 3 stage mechanical filtration (if anyone is interested I can give a rundown of what I did). The Ehiem classic has the biohome and 3 stage mechanical as well. Both filters have intake prefilters to (in theory) stop sand getting into them. Anyway enough with the technical side, the fish are currently 6x adult Electric Yellow Cichlids that I got from a local guy who was selling all of his setups as he was working away from home. From what I can tell there is probably too many males for them to breed, but that's probably not a bad thing as I don't have another tank to raise them in. I also have a Synodontis Sruptus (Featherfin Catfish) who is awesome and growing fast. Aggression is a slight problem, I've had some fin nipping towards the catfish. I've been trying to get enough caves so everyone is happy and it seems to be working. As for hardscape, I've got fine sand for the substrate which looks cool but gets everywhere! I've changed the rocks several times but I've settled of some local red chert (basically red flint) which I really like. I had volcanic rock to start but the chert looks so much better and is easy to rearrange for water changes. I've also got some wood which the catfish loves to hang upside down around. As for the future, I plan to add one or two male peacock cichlids eventually, maybe out of strawberry peacock/Red Kadango/Butterfly Peacock. I've got a video that I will try to upload.

Yeah I tried that. Apparently hff say they have had lots of the 150watt Jaeger heaters fail like that lately.

Progress update: Couple of setbacks! Heater was faulty and wouldn't turn off (was still heating when set to 18 when tank was 30+) the pump for the integrated filter broke as soon as I turned it on, the argonite wasn't included in the free shipping (fair enough though!) and I cant find a source down here for less that $100 (so I'mm giving up on that idea).almost everything else seemed to have more issues that I expected!. Hopefully all sorted now, got replacements on the way. I'm using a blend of Mitre10 play sand (nice golden brown colour) and Caroline Bay sand (dark grey) for the substrate. I found lots of awesome rocks on a road trip to Mt Cook (mostly from the shores of lakes Tekapo and Pukaki). Got it all in the tank and it looks awesome! I'm going to use crushed oyster shells in the filter to help with pH and hardness but the water down here has pretty high pH and hardness anyway. I am thinking about cycling it with some mollies (and then probably giving them away once I get the cichlids) it will probably be a few months before I get the cichlids anyway as setting up has cost more than I thought! I was thinking only 3 or 4 mollies, will that be enough to allow me to add 8-10 Electric Yellows at once? (don't want to add them slowly due to aggression) I'll post a photo once the water clears up a bit more.

Just put an order in at HFF for a jager heater and a bag of aragonite. Just need to find my rocks (looking at finding some timaru bluestone, which is a real nice basalt), and set it up!

I have heard that can be a problem with electric yellows and red zebras, but I think I i'll skip the zebras, for that and that they are more aggressive. I'm only going to keep males of the blue orchid and butterfly. Adding females would overload the tank I am thinking.

I've been doing some more thinking and researching and I am thinking about not having the red zebra's. May be pushing my luck with aggression! What I'm unsure of is that if the male Blue Orchid and Butterfly cichlids would be a good choice for my sized tank.

Hi all, I'm back on the forum after a several year break. I haven't kept fish for a while now, I moved to the south island and decided to have a break. In the past I have kept several freshwater community tanks, a south american community, and a brackish tank over 20 years or so (not all at once). I have also kept turtles and native NZ geckos. I am looking at starting back with something a little different - A Lake Malawi biome aquarium! So you might see me around asking stupid questions as I learn. Thanks!

Hi all, I'm getting back into fish keeping after a couple of years off due to moving to the south island. I have a lot of experience keeping freshwater aquariums (south american and community tanks mostly). So I want to try something new. I'm thinking Lake Malawi cichlids. I have a Blue Planet Vista Aquarium (167L) with a EHEIM classic 250 external canister (in addition to the built in filter). I know this is on the small side for Africans, but I was thinking of keeping it pretty simple. I have read a lot about how to stock an African tank but most assume a massive tank. I am thinking along these lines: 2x Male Electric Yellows, 6x Females 1x Male Red Zebra 3x females 1x Male Blue Orchid 1x Male Butterfly (Freiberg) Would this work? I know mixing rock dwellers with haps/butterfly can be problematic, but I am thinking that this combination should work. Any recommendations? Am I on the right track or way off? Thanks

I HAVE to do this sometime! thought about lighting it like the native tanks at Auckland zoo? very low light with LED spots.

can you get living seaweed like that in a tank?

I use decap for large fry. still got loads left of a small container from my last spawning.

the trouble with fish books is that they tend to not be that relevant to NZ. that said 'the ultimate aquarium' by Mary Bailey and Gina Standford is a good general book. i'm sure the library has it.

i'm no expert on sumps but at that size i would seriously consider other materials than glass. there must be a cheaper and more durable material to use, maybe semi-transparent acrylic? i know clear stuff costs more than glass.