Donk760

Melafix did not cure the cyano. Killed off the older growth but didn't seem to prevent new growth. It doesn't vacuum up well as it is quite heavy so I just let it get thick enough and then roll it up when doing water change. Doesn't look great though. Once I have recovered from the money wasted on the Melafix I will probably give Furan or Erythromycin a go. Fish have settled well and are growing fast. Cyano doesn't seem to bother them so I am reluctant to keep pumping things into the system.

Sucking out the cyano didn't work. Thought I had it all only to find it reappeared the next day as comprehensive as ever. I have started a course of Melafix today. The LFS tried to tell me I could get rid of it with an anti algae product. Can't see how that would work for a bacteria. With advice like that I hope I have bought an effective antibiotic. On the bright side the fish are vigorous and growing quickly.

If I cannot get it all by sucking it out can you recommend an antibiotic? Tangs are supposed to be very sensitive to water quality. Will they be adversly affected by an antibiotic? I can keep the filter cycling in another tank so can protect the filter bacteria.

All fish now feeding well. Does anyone know if I should be concerned about the bright green algae patches appearing on the sand?

Can anyone tell me whether the outlet current from the filter should dissapated across the surface. My outlet is angled diagonally along the tank so there is quite a bit of water flow around the whole tank. Do the ocellatus require stable water around their shells. I was about to alter the outflow to spread it across the surface but cannot find anything online to suggest whether this is correct or not. Have found an article suggesting the Julies like good water flow.

8 tiny shellies and 6 juvenile Masked Julies have settled in nicely. Took awhile to locate where all the shellies had taken up residence. Tank looks the size of an ocean with these little fellas in it. Found the two missing ones had moved to the far end of the tank from where all the other fish have settled. Worry that they are getting the food okay but they seem happy and active and the shellies have started picking shells.

Thanks to Ryan I should have (hopefully) 8 juvenile shellies shortly. I will add Tropheus at some stage, once Shellies have settled and budget is adequate to buy a colony at once. In the meantime I am looking for a third species. I have my eye on 3 juvenile Julidichromis Transcriptus on Trade Me. If I add 3 of these now will I have problems adding to the colony later? Open to other suggestions for something to compliment the Shellies and Tropheus. I have avoided Altos as I thought they might be a bit hungry to have the shellies in with them.

I see 10 Tropheus sp. "Black" Bulu Point on Trade Me at the moment. Starting price of $180 for 10 @ 20-30mm. Do you think they would be a good choice? Reading up on them I wasn't sure if that was a bit ambitious for a newcomer to cichlids. My thoughts were to get some shellies established first before introducing other fish. If I do it the other way around does anyone foresee any problems there? I have a couple of smaller tanks set aside for the Shellies to breed in as well, as soon as I can bring myself to sell the Bolivian Ram I got given with the new tank. He has grown on me very quickly and, if it wasn't for the naturally hard water from the bore, he would have convinced me to go with South American dwarves. When I said "focus on Shellies" I was meaning more that I would also keep seperate species and breeding tanks for them as opposed to making them the star of the big tank. I find their breeding habits interesting and want to see it first hand.

1.8m tank is set up. Filter is cycled. Just allowing new water to settle and ready to go. Does anyone know of a source of Tanganyikans close to Hawkes Bay? The LFS is waiting on some new cichlids to come out of quarintine but he cannot tell me what he is expecting. Really want shellies to be the focus. I have split up three rock territories with 2 large sand areas and have a little bit of Corkscrew Val along the perimeter.

I am taking the opportunity of setting up a new tank to move the existing 250l one to an outside room. I have set up a 135l holding tank using a canister filter from the 450l I have brought. It was left running up till when I collected it and was only turned off for 2 hours, but left filled with the tank water. It was then turned back on running into a bucket of old tank water. It has since been running for 24 hrs in the 135l tank. As it still should have the filter bacteria am I going to have a problem moving my fish into it for a couple of days while I move their existing 250l tank ? I want to get it done so I can get the new 450l tank set up inside before Xmas.

Thanks. I don't want to get too ahead of myself but my intention was to consider a Tanganyikan community as the end result. My thinking was that I could set up open sand, shell and rock territories in the 1.8m tank which could be filled with different varieties. If what I have researched is correct the Tanganyikans will live and breed in a community tank as they stick much more to their respective territories than their Malawi relatives. Research is one thing but reality another. I know very little about cichlids so hence the post. Can I start with something like the shellies and add other varieties to the different niches as I go or will that cause conflict? If I am correct what is the best way to allocate space to the different niches and what species are available in NZ to fill them?

Thanks to Trade Me I now have a 1.8m 450l, 1.2m 250l, 0.9m 135l and a small 0.6m 60l tank as well as a full 40l enclosed set up that the kids are using for their tadpoles. I want to look at keeping shell breeding cichlids but would like suggestions as to the best tank size and species mix to do this. Should I stay small and keep few or use the big tank and increase the territories available? I am running a mixed asian tank with Kuhli and Pakistani Loaches, Harlequins, Cherry Barbs and a couple of Angels. I am aware Angels are not asian but my daughter bullied me into getting them instead of gouramis. Whichever of the larger tanks I do not use for cichlids I will use for the existing fish. We use bore water from a tank which is quite hard so I want to steer away from soft water fish and want to see some interesting breeding behaviour. The current set up just sees the Pakistanis eat anything and everything so I wouldn't know if there were eggs. With cherry barbs I would assume we have had some but they would have gone straight down the terrorists gullets.