elusive_fish

I probably wont go the peacock route... behaviour wise I find the mbuna so much more fun. Yellows are easy enough to come by, but demasoni still seem to be pretty rare, especially down here. I thought they are mean little suckers?

Thanks for the piranha 'option'... anyone else got any suggestions?

Where did you see that? I didnt think you could have them in NZ. I don't think my johannis would be stoked at the choice of tankmate. IMHO, piranhas are boring looking and unless you like watching things get eaten they are really boring behaviour wise.

I think Navarre has oamaru stone in his tanks. Like livingart says, it is limestone so it will up the pH. If you like the holey look, why don't you take a trip to motunau and take some of the rock off the beach there?

I'm not sure you're allowed to take any rock from anywhere without a resource consent :-?

Rather than starting a new thread I figured id just dredge up this old one as its a continuation.... So my 4ft aquarium has been up and running for 4 weeks now and all the inhabitants are looking happy. I currently have: *7 lionheads ranging from 1.5 - 6cm *5 Melanachromis Johannii around 3cm *1 bristenose plec *1 adult male electric yellow from my neighbour *1 5cm peacock. I got it off my neighbour, he thinks it was a sunshine yellow. The last two my neighbour gave me just so that there is something bigger and interesting ot look at while my littlies grow. So where now? What should I add? Im thinking id like 3 or 4 species of fish in grounds of 3 to 5... is that a good or silly plan? I probably have too many lionheads. I like them enough to want a couple in the tank, but not enough to make them the biggest number. The problem they are causing is that they seem to like the rocks and darting around between them... and it tends to make the rest of the fish in the tank paranoid. Something balsy that just sits out the front would be nice! I'm really undecided on peacocks as the males may look good, but they just dont have the same personality mbuna do. Im probably more attracted to character then colour. I guess I could add more electric yellows... they are beautiful and wont cause trouble... but maybe just a little too run-of-the-mill. I might get some greyshakeis from Navarre. What else would look good with my johaniis and be interesting to watch?

Cool, thanks Ryan. What are their temperaments like? Psycho like the auratus or considerably more amiable like the johanii? Could I keep them with my johanii, or is that a bad idea for behavioural or cross breeding reasons?

Organisms in Christchurch have some funky looking "rainbow Melanochromis" in their shop. Interesting looking fish that certainly have the elongated melanochromis shape... but can't find anything out about it? Is this a real species?

I've change things around a little - added some more interesting rocks and tried to make it a little more 'random'. Im not an experienced aquascaper, so any feedback (good or bad) is appreciated!

I've got a malawi tank, so I don't mind if the limestone puts up the ph I just tried one in the the tank with my araganoite sand - although it looks 'natural' (makes sense that white rocks makes white sand!) it just looks boring. I may just use the holy rocks with only a couple of rounded bits of limestone. Off topic for a second, I took a look at a pet shop in blenheim yesterday. It was pretty big and had quite a decent selection of fish, but I was a little shocked to see they are knowingly selling hybrids and putting several species of peacocks in together. Hmm.

Sorry to deviate the conversation away from physics and unprovoked rock attacks :lol: I just wanted to ask people about the rocks I just picked up from Motunau on the way home from Blenheim to Christchurch. There are two types - the first looks like limestone that has been rounded by the river/sea. The second is some kind sedimentary rock that has holes all through it. From what I understand, those holes are from shells in the rock, which disappears over the years leaving only the hole (some 'new' shells have got into the holes) My Q's are: 1/ Do both of these types look safe? I figure both limestone and sea shells would add hardness/increase pH. 2/ Will I need to soak these a number of times to remove any salt? Should I pick out any shells in amongst the holes? I was just gonna give them a quick hot bath, followed by a cold water blast/scrub... but figure its much better to be safe and ask on here than be sorry!

Hi, I thought others might find this interesting. When I was setting up my new aquarium Phoenix posted a link to this amazing looking tank: http://www.aquahobby.com/tanks/e_tank0902.php Many DIY backgrounds I've seen I havent liked that much, as they really just look like concrete. From what Ive researched the ones that really appeal to my eye have been made by coating in epoxy resin (like youve been talking about on here) then covering in sand. His link is bound ot provide plenty of inspirational to all us budding DIY backgrounders I emailed the creator of the above background to confirm a couple of things and here is his reply: Hello Ben, the rock shapes are cut with ordinary knife. The send I used is brown and white as soft as you can find or buy. Yes, the algae is real. This background was my first one. Nowadays I made and sell my backgrounds according to the anybody wishes. http://www.akvamalawi.com/phpBB/album_personal.php?user_id=57 BR Robert

Currently I have the spray bar at one end, the inlet on the other. The spray bar is pointing directly down on the left hand side, which creates quite a strong current. I heard lionheads like it, but it seems to be the johanni that spend all day swimming into the stream like a fish treadmill lol. Should I turn this up towards the surface? My actual aquarium design makes it awkward to stick on both outlet and inlets to the wall, which is complicating issues somewhat.

A quick update as I've added a few more rocks. Am I heading in the right direction?

Hmm. You may be right... but it would really suck if the fish got confiscated. Anyone else got stories of going through security with fish?

Sorry to dredge this one up again, but as I am going to Auckland next week for work I was wondering if it was worth the risk sourcing some fish up there. I am flying air NZ and when I asked officially about fish on planes they said 'no'. I know I could put them in a backpack or something to hide them, but the security screening people will either have to be told or they will find them when they xray. Is it worth trying?

Do you guys think the rocks from Motunau beach would work well for a malawi tank? Some have rounded holes right through them.

Thanks for the lovely paint diagram! So you have the out hose quite near the water surface? Does it still catch all the poop that settles on he bottom?

Thats my old filter in use in the new tank. Plus a whole bunch of the garbage from the bottom of the tank stopping the white sand from looking good..

A good observation I have a 54L I am hoping to sell in the next couple of days. When it goes, the water from it will go into this tank (heard its good to help cycle the new tank)

I've changed a few things around. I'm no good at landscaping even on dry land, so any feedback would be appreciated. Please excuse the undersized fluval internal filter, its just a placeholder from my old tank until the new external arrives.

Hi, I'm currently setting up a 250L tank and have a Aqua One Cf1200 on the way. I have never set up a canister filter - and although I know I can follow the instructions to make it work I don't know what the best placement is. I've tried searching for this answer, but the search function doesn't want to return results due to the words being too common. Bah. I'm imagining that I'd put the spray bar just above the sand at one end of the long axis to move the mess down to the other end, where I'd have the inlet hose. Does this sound about right? The sand I have is around 1-2mm. If anyone has suggestions - especially if you have a diagram - please let me know.

I know re-arranging the aquascape is what people recommend when introducing new fish to a malawi tank... never kept oscars so can't really say for them. I'm sure its worth the try - it certainly puts a dampener on your hobby when one/some of your fish are being mercilessly attacked!

Hello and welcome! I'm pretty new myself. This forum is almost as addictive as the hobby itself

Hey there Caper... I didn't expect to come across any canadians on here! Thank you for the compliment on my girls, they are even mor adorable in person I lived in Windsor, Ontario for almost 4 years. It's right on the border with Detroit michigan in Southwest Ontario. Not exactly the most picturesque part of your beautiful country, but I met a lot of awesome people there (including my wife!) I'm not sure what those plants were, but man did they grow like CRAZY. I almost had to get an aquatic weed whacker. They aren't floating, they are rooted in the substrate on either side. Navarre saw a bit of it on Saturday that I put in for cover for my fish... maybe he could tell you what it is? I've only been a member for like a week, but I already have to re-post a picture of my tank as I've changed to a 250L african cichlid tank (I can't really say malawi cos half the fish in there are lionheads)